The Earthquake that shattered the centre of Christchurch on February 22 will be one of the worst natural disaster that this country has seen since records began. The tremor, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, has brought the Garden City to a state of collapse.
As we wrote this Leader, at least 75 people were feared dead, hundreds were missing and scores of properties destroyed beyond repair. The Cathedral, located in the City Square and an icon for more than 160 years was destroyed. All the hotels were evacuated and reports suggested that the City looked like a morgue.
Our hearts go out to the people of Christchurch who have undeservedly suffered a fate that was beyond human control. Nature’s fury went to its zenith in ordering an unheard of devastation in modern New Zealand.
Christchurch has been the target of Nature’s attack since September 4, when the first earthquake of a greater magnitude (7.1 on the Richter scale) struck but mercifully spared human lives. Many aftershocks were felt thereafter but none of them had the terrible effect as the February 22 tremor had.
The Government was quick to take measures and the whole nation watched or listened to the developments with bated breath. Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders from other parts of the country and overseas called their families and friends to inquire after their welfare. We received scores of calls from people in India, Fiji, Singapore and other places expressing concern.
As rescue teams, made up of officials of the Government and Government Agencies, Non-Government Organisations and support groups go about their work in removing the dead bodies, rescuing people trapped in buildings and doing all that they can at this difficult hour, we mourn the irreparable loss that the latest earthquake has caused to one of the most beautiful cities in the world and its innocent people. We pray in a state of helplessness that the souls of those innocent people may rest in peace. We hope that the suffering people of Christchurch would come to terms with the harsh reality and try to return to normalcy as soon as possible. We also hope that the Central Government and the Christchurch City Council would do their best as quickly as possible to bring relief to the crippled City and its people.
No one deserves such disasters and no one is able predict their occurrence.
We wish warnings would come minutes, rather than mere seconds, earlier. We wish there was technology to do so. Low-orbit surveillance and communication satellites have put in place in some centres alarm systems that are being used along the eastern edge of the Indian Ocean to warn coastal communities of imminent tsunamis. In Japan, they tell speeding bullet-trains to slow down in time to prevent derailments.
We hope that one day such earthquake early-warning systems would be as ubiquitous in the home as smoke detectors, at least, in seismically active areas.
We believe that someday people could be warned of earthquake well in advance. Meanwhile, we stand by the people of Christchurch in their sorrow.
