One year on

I've been out of Christchurch part of this weekend but back in early this morning.

This house is about 15mins from my place. I pass it on my Saturday morning run and I always stop to stare. A house completely off it's foundations, wrenched, broken, with windows hanging off their hinges and tiles askew on a the roof.

After September 4 it looked damaged, after 22 February it was munted and even more wonky post 13 June.

It's brutal and confronting but I find hope in it too.

We live with a mix of chaos, frustration, hope, the best and the worst of humans, sadness, humour, things the same but everything changed, things the patched and fixed with extraordinary speed, ruins that sit and aren't dealt with and things that just don't seem to change. Progress can seem so very slow.

We have a visionary draft plan for our central city, hope for our futures and a city that will be even better. We remember too those our lives are entwined with who bravely face the details of coroners inquests, those whose homes and land are damaged who daily deal with enormous insurance battles. We all live with uncertainty - seimic, jobs and the future shape of our city.

I've learned this last year that when the media moves on to another natural disaster, war, terrorist attack.... the disaster isn't over. It's only just begun.

The experts tell us we could have several more years of "raised seimis activity", with an 80% chance we'll have an earthquake >magnititude 5 in the next year. Not great news.

But life is good. We have spring flowers and new growth. Opportunity, beauty and gratitude. They're still there. Our live have changed forever but we have hope.

Friday - Daily fix

Saturday - Sunset near the Greendale Fault

Edit: Still waiting on tests etc for Mum. I'm up to date with blip again will get onto commenting tomorrow.