Thursday 7 November 2013

Sepia Saturday 202 - A beach scene and the plight of Christchurch

This weeks Sepia Saturday is a tricky one.  I don't have any photos of a camera.  The camera is always invisible on the other side, in my family photos.  I also don't have any photos of Corky the Cat and actually have no idea who Corky is!  However, I do have some very old beach photos such as this one below which I think was taken by my very own amatuer beach photographer, my great grandfather! 


Pearce family photos 24

My photo for the week shows a picnic on a beach.  I think it is a beach near Christchurch, New Zealand, possibly Redcliffs, although nothing was written on the back of it, like most of my family photos!  I love it because the man in the middle is handing the photographer what appears to be a biscuit (or cookie to those of you who are reading from America).  They are looking so relaxed and dressed up for their picnic, having a lovely time together.  It is from a bygone era that will never return.  Our family don't know anyone in the picture and we are pretty sure they are not related to us.  It is a relaxed and happy photo. 

I have recently entered many of my photos into a photo hunt competition.  Christchurch, where I have lived my whole life, has gone through many earthquakes in the past few years and the Christchurch Library is collecting photos of old Christchurch to preserve online.  I contributed 46 old photos including the beach scene above which I'm sure was taken by my Great Grandad Arthur Cyril Pearce.  

For those of you who don't know my city, let me explain what happened in Christchurch.

Christchurch has been described by some as the most English city outside of England with beautiful heritage buildings and gardens.  It is often called "The Garden City."  On 4 September 2010 we had a massive 7.1 earthquake which was centred about 40 kms from Christchurch at a place called Greendale.  Not much is at Greendale except sheep, but the shake was enough to really rattle the city in the early morning at 4.35am.  The earthquake just didn't seem to stop.  It was about 30 seconds long, but felt like an eternity as I ran down the hallway and ripped my children out of bed.  I really thought that the house was going to fall down on us and we were going to die.  The house stayed up and was virtually undamaged, but we sat in bed in the cold and dark (the power went out) of the night hearing the rumbles of aftershocks coming towards us like freight trains going through the house.  Literally through the house.  I was shaking with shock.  You can try and explain a large earthquake to those who have never been through one, but they just will never understand what it is like!

The centre of our city was damaged extensively by this earthquake with many old buildings toppling but we couldn't get over the amount that had survived.   Plus noone died in the earthquake.  Yippee!

However there was a second large earthquake which was labelled as an aftershock.  It happened on 22 February 2011, but this one was a different story.  It happened in the middle of the working day at 12.50pm and even though it was smaller (a magnitude 6.3) it did more damage as it was so close to the city and had extremely large accelerations which made the earth bump up and down as well as sideways.  I was at home.  I knew my sister was going to lunch at 1pm and that she would be on the 19th floor of a large office building, the Price Waterhouse Building.  I burst into tears and my four year old daughter was rubbing me on the back and saying "it's all right Mummy."  Luckily my sister was ok, but tragically 185 people died that day.

I turned on the TV soon after the massive shake and a line of text ran across the bottom of the screen.  "Breaking News.  Large Earthquake Hits Christchurch."  Then a few minutes later a TV cameraman pointed his camera at the Christchurch Cathedral, an icon of our city, and the image showed that the top of it had come off.  My heart lept out of my chest.  I knew at that moment, without being told, that many people had died that day.

The aftershocks continued for many months.  They would always come at the worst moments such as on 23 December 2011 when another massive aftershock hit and closed down all the malls and stopped Christmas shopping in its tracks.  My family couldn't be bothered with Christmas day that year and illness hit the family, probably from the stress we had been facing.

Our central city has now had a large percentage of its buildings demolished and many of the very old ones have gone.  The aftershocks are getting less and the rebuilding is slowly starting.  Nature however continues on.  The daffodils still bloom every year and the trees still change colour in autumn.  We have so much to appreciate!

If the above photo is indeed at Redcliffs or Sumner, then great chunks of the cliffs have now come down and shipping containers keep the road safe below.  Houses hang precariously on the edge, their owners long gone.  Click here for a blog that shows the earthquake damage at Redcliffs, Christchurch.


The loss of heritage is why the local libraries are looking for old photos!  They don't just want old building photos however.  They want people shots as well which is the category that my photo fits into. A lesson we have all learnt in Christchurch is that buildings and possessions really don't mean as much as human life.  And of course nature continues on.  This photo shows how we should all try to feel on a daily basis, relaxed and happy on a summer picnic at the beach, surrounded by our family and friends, as we never know what is just around the corner!

If anyone is interested in seeing other photos entered in the photo hunt please click here.

21 comments:

  1. Hi Bel, we've been in touch elsewhere, re William Forbes and the Glentanner, and you sent me a copy of your book on its voyages, thank you. I was born in Chch and was back there visiting just last week. It's very sad to see how desolate and empty the city centre still is. I may have some photographs i could contribute from my mother's collection. That is a lovely group shot at the beach.

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  2. Hi Jo, yes I do remember you. Amazing who is on this Sepia Saturday!!!

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  3. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area so have been through many earthquakes small to moderate - the biggest, at 6.0 (quake & aftershock), actually occurring after I moved to the mountains near Yosemite! Fortunately I was not living in the Bay Area when the 1989 quake hit there. It's one thing to be blaze about minor quakes, but quite another when serious ones strike. Hopefully bad quakes will leave Christchurch alone for a while!

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    1. I'm glad you weren't there for the big one Gail. They can be terrifying!

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  4. Wow, this was interesting, and your photo beautiful! I've learned much of this place through another Blogger that once lived there, so I found this so exciting to learn more.

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  5. I cannot imagine living in an earthquake zone. It must be terrifying.

    What a great idea though, to have a photo hunt competition. How exactly does that work? Isn't it frustrating when photos have nothing on them to indicate when they were taken or who all the people in them are?

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  6. Earthquakes...we had one here in Maine on October 16, 2012 (my 66th birthday); scared us pretty badly. Thought the furnace was blowing up...but sounds like you folks in/near Christchurch have had a rough time of it! More on topic: the photo is wonderful!

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  7. That's a great photo. As far as I know, we are not subject to earthquakes where I live. I am always afraid of tornadoes. They can do a lot of damage, but they don't have aftershocks.

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  8. Postcardy I don't envy you having tornadoes. They look absolutely terrifying on TV!

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  9. Very very interesting from the photo of the grand gathering to all the information...I learned a lot from this.

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  10. I found this post most interesting as I recently read "A History of Silence" by Lloyd Jones. Have you read that? Even though I had seen so much of the earthquake on the TV news it was his descriptions of visiting Christchurch soon after the quake which made it real for me. He also included his search for his family history which was also fascinating. And you have a beautiful photo, too.

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  11. The State Library here in Victoria actively collected copies of personal photos a few years ago, and maybe they still do. That's what I like about a lot of the Sepia Saturday photos too - the glimpses of personal lives are so interesting and valuable.

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  12. A very emotional and well written post that made a big impact on me. Thank you for the links also.

    I visited Christchurch in 2003 and it was a beautiful city. The church was an icon. I hope that they are rebuilding it rather than replacing it with a newer version?

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  13. Thank you for a very moving post. I remember the horror we felt here at the earthquakes that hit Christchurch. Your photo might well be seen by the family depicted.

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  14. What a nice CLEAR photo of the family. That certainly helps in identifying everyone. And bravo for participating in the photo hunt. That's a worthwhile project.

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  15. Maybe someone will know the people in the photo, if this is one that you donated. I wonder about sand in the food, not a blanket between them and the sand.

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  16. That’s a wonderful and detailed photo. The earthquake story is both shocking and moving but the hunt for photos is a vital project; well done for participating.

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  17. I can't imagine experiencing such earthquakes - they certainly made big news here in Australia. Bushfires are scary enough for us but I think they may be easier to distance yourself from.

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  18. I learned much about Christchurch and its earthquakes from another inhabitant soon after it happened; her experiences match yours. Loved th photo and glad it will be saved in the project.

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  19. The photo is perfect for this weekend's theme, but your story is better for the personal touch on your city's efforts at recovery and preservation of history.

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  20. Thanks for the lovely comments!

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