Works End

We wish......

The Christchurch earthquake was more than two years ago now, and we're heading towards the second Anniversary of the devastating February aftershock that did most of the damage around our city. Life is something like back to normal in the western half of the city, but those of us on the eastern side find that all our services have migrated west, and we now travel further for everything. Our suburbs are full of empty, boarded-up houses, many awaiting demolition, and weedy, overgrown sections. Some hopeful residents battle insurance companies to rebuild while others have given up and put their damaged house or desolate section on the market. But sales are very slow around here.

While politicians suggest making more land available for development to solve the reputed severe housing shortage, what is going to happen to all the vacant land in the East? Not all of it is red-zoned and unavailable for rebuilding.

Some progress is being made, though. We now have a new motorway around the southern part of the city, which was under construction when the earthquake hit, so at least we can travel across the city faster now. And when, finally, all the sewers are fixed and roads mended, we'll have some of the most modern infrastructure in the world.