To date there have been 7760 shakes in the Canterbury region. 25 were 5.2 and stronger with 3 major quakes. Based on the Richter scale there was a 7.1 on September 4th, 1010. 6.3 February 22nd, 2011, and another 6.3 on June 13th.That's a whole lot of shaking.

It has been a trying time for residents, city administration and everyone involved in infrastructure recovery.

This week the official Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, Cera, has released a map depicted the zones where people can rebuild or must demolish. The Red Zone has 5100 houses which are to be demolished in the next two years and the area will not be rebuilt on for many years if ever. Houses in the green zone are repairable The orange zone is still to be decided as is the white zone. Both areas need further investigation by scientists and engineers.

Wayne and Amanda's house

It's hard to see the damage in this photo but the ridges have slipped and there was a big slump in the roof making it no longer waterproof.  The roof has been covered with tarpaulins twice. The first time wind ripped them loose. While we were there, late May, two heavy duty tarps were delivered and put in place, all done under EarthQuake Commission, EQC, a Government organisation  working with individual property insurance.When we take out property insurance a portion of the premium is paid to EQC. It works for us although it does mean another layer of red tape.

Our city son and his parents-in-law are in the green, less than 500m from the red zone. We expected this. Wayne and Amanda have a new roof courtesy of EQC. The tiles have been replaced with grey colour steel and looks very smart.

Many older buildings are being demolished. It's so sad and there will be gaps in once busy streets for years to come.

Christchurch and some other Canterbury civic Councils are having trouble renewing their Insurance. It's proving almost impossible and is very costly when they do find limited insurance.

The following is an excerpt from Prime Minister Key's address when the official earthquake damaged zones were announced.

"To put this in context, Treasury has estimated the combined cost of the first two Canterbury earthquakes to be equivalent to about 8 per cent of New Zealand's GDP.

Damage from the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan was just over 2 per cent of Japan's GDP, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 cost about 1 per cent of US GDP, and March's Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster was an estimated 3-5 per cent of Japan's GDP.

This has been a major event and the government is committed to getting things right for the people of Canterbury. We're moving as quickly as we can to give some certainty to those affected," Mr Key said.

"Based on conservative assumptions, Treasury has estimated the net costs to the government to purchase all of the around 5000 properties currently in the residential red zone to be between $485 million and $635 million."

The earthquakes have been compared to eight or 9 Hurricanes Katrina. That's a huge impact, socially and economically on a small city, by world standards, and our nation.

But there's lots of good news too.

There are many heartwarming stories. The SPCA is re-homing pets, many are going outside the quake hit area to live in peace again. There have been some substantial donations. The latest is 5 million dollars to be used exclusively for the benefit of children in the hardest hit areas.

Photo by Tom Bisset Timaru Herald

These women are having soooo much fun.



Ballantynes, an iconic Christchurch department store, a little like Macy's has found a fun way to keep it's customers happy. They have a shopping bus twice a week transporting people, mostly women, to their Timaru store, about 100 miles or 165 km from Christchurch.

Read more here