CHRIST CHURCH, NZ (NEWS1130) – There’s standing sewage, empty streets, and crumbling buildings. It’s been exactly a week since the earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand. Montreal’s Cameron Campbell, who now lives just outside of Christchurch, says the face of its downtown will be changed forever and it will likely take decades to rebuild.
“It looks almost normal in some places. And in other parts it just looks like a war zone,” he observes. “I feel guilty that I’m not helping, but by the same token I’m not really sure I’m ready to be out of the house. There’s whole areas that just have basically ceased to exist as they did before. So I don’t think we’re all coping with that at all.”
He says aftershocks are violent and frequent which makes it hard to feel settled. “It’s really quite terrifying. They seem to be acting different than after the one in September. They’re a lot more violent.”
On Monday, the country paused for two minutes of silence, to remember the 150 people that were killed by the quake. It was the second earthquake to hit Christchurch in six months.