Sobering Christchurch Realities

First time in Christchurch since the September earthquake (which was followed by Boxing Day, February and now June quakes).

Landing in Christchurch, things at the airport looked normal. Driving in, the first signs were in fact signs..many street signs and bus stop signs are now leaning over. Every now and then a fence is down, a window shattered.

Getting closer to downtown, the destruction intensifies. Entire shops and houses are gone. Instead empty sections or piles of rubble sit there in their place. In some suburbs entire streets are wiped out. 12 000 homes are gone.

Every hotel I have ever stayed at in Christchurch is closed or destroyed:

• Hotel Grand Chancellor- the lean on the 26 story building is extraordinary
• Hotel off the Square - has been closed since February as its right in the centre of the off limits Red Zone. While closed the hotel was ransacked systematically 
• I saw the  Latimer Hotel and Conference Centre which has had extensive damage
• The Crowne Plaza which was designed to be earthquake proof has had some damage but is expected to reopen in 2012
• Terrace on the Park  is on a lean and there are shipping containers stacked against it to stop them collapsing into the street. Whats weird is that there are apartment doors and windows open
  -clearly people had them open on the day of the quake and no ones been able to go back in
  the building

The Christchurch Convention Centre, New Zealand's largest purpose-built convention venue where I spoke one year ago has severe structural damage and may not open again.

The Oxford Terrace Baptist Church  (right) where I spoke for the first time ever in a public forum in New Zealand is a ruin.

I went into a bottle shop to buy wine  to take to dinner at my friends' house. The first thing that struck me was the smell of alcohol. Then I noticed the alcohol soaked carpet. The shelves of the store were almost empty.  It didn't take long to realise the bottles came crashing down in Monday's earthqauke.

We walked around the cordon which hugs the heavily hit CBD area. It is eerie and quiet.  The question on many people's minds is when the city re opens fully, will people bother to come back to the city to shop and eat?