earthquake

On the 22nd February 2011 I was at home and about to head outside when suddenly i felt the earth move. At first i thought it was one of the small aftershocks that had been rattling the city from the September quake, but then i realized this was different, this one was still going when it should have stop, this one was shaking power polls outside like kids toys, this one was going to kill someone.

Thankfully our house stayed in one piece and all my friends and family came out of it alive and unhurt. Sadly this was not the case for many others, today there are 166 confirmed deaths from the quake ( still likely to rise) and much of the CBD of Christchurch is destroyed with many eastern parts of town severally damaged. My favorite cafes and shops are now nothing but dust, I can only hope that the staff whose faces i knew and names i never remembered made it out alive. As the city fell apart it was amazing to watch people look after each other, the sense of pride and community spirit was amazing: students digging out whole neighborhoods filled with mud, water being pumped from farm tankers to retirement homes, the whole the just overwhelmed me and often left my fighting back tears.

I use to hate taking photos in Christchurch, its so normal so familiar to me i use to find it really hard. I ended up shooting a lot in the week after the quake, it was tough and i often didn't want to, but i knew that for my own sack of history i had to keep making pictures, this is my home town after all.