These are photos from Quake City, the new earthquake exhibition that opened last week in the Restart Mall. There’s something there for everyone with audio visual displays, photos, a liquefaction simulation, and a lot of information about the science behind the earthquakes. Overall, I think it is very well done, and will tell our story well. The only part of the exhibit that got to me was the photos of the CTV building rescues (like many people in Christchurch I knew someone who died there). So a very definite lump in my throat and a strong need to move on from that section.

Fortunately, there are some quite funny exhibits – in particular the cartoons covering the issues Christchurch has faced and still is facing. I was also fascinated with the actual seismograph they have on display – I found myself wishing for just a small quake to happen to see those lines go up (maybe a 3.0).  Also very interesting is the earthquake timeline which goes back to the early settlers and their earthquake experiences. When you see that timeline it makes you think that we should have been much better prepared and a lot less surprised that it happened to us as a city.