The $42BN Plan to Rebuild the World’s Unluckiest City

[@BeardedApostle]

Christchurch resident myself. I was a tier one Construction Contractor for heritage restorations. We are still actively working on ongoing projects more than 10 years later. My brother was part of the Insurance Industry before, during, and since this event. My wife was an employee at the Cathedral cafe. My twin boys were only 1, and don't remember the quakes. To them they have grown up in the ruins of the city my Wife, and family watched collapse in front of our eyes. They have also grown up watching us rebuild that wreckage into something that will carry them into the future. It hasn't been easy, and not everything was done right, but we are getting there.

[@orangewarm1]

Why did you stay if it could happen again?

[@Groaznic]

Glad your family is safe. Can you share some of the things that you described as "not done right"?

[@BeardedApostle]

@@orangewarm1 We talked about it, a lot of people i know did. Leaving. At the end of the day, its our home. We can see the difficulty ahead, and run away, or we can stand form and push through it. Everywhere has difficulty and hardship, we are not special. This is one of the challenges we have, and will face as a city, and we will come out of it different, but still standing. It was admittedly much scarier in the immediate days and weeks afterwards. One poignant moment happened that day of the February quake. I had been at a separate location to my wife, who was at her mothers house with our 1 yr old twins. The main quake hit while she was with them, and she bundled them outside. I managed to make my way to her location relatively quickly, and after a few hours when the shaking seemed to have lessened somewhat we finally managed to get the boys asleep in their crib. Unfortunately for us, a very large 6.2 magnitude aftershock hit us. We both rushed into the bedroom they were in from opposite sides of the house. We realized that trying to escape the building would be impossible so we bent ourselves over the boys in an attempt to protect them from anything that might fall. You feel very helpless. It was then that my wife broke down in tears. I wanted to cry, but i didn't. Not because im manly, or braver than her, but because she needed something stable. Everything around her was literally falling apart. So i tried my best to keep it together, and cried by myself later, when i was alone.

[@BeardedApostle]

@@Groaznic There were systems in place, like a national insurance coverage of sorts, called EQC. After the September quake, a lot of money was given out by the EQC to repair damage. When the 2nd event happened in February, the taps had to be tightened. This mean that some people were left fighting for payouts, that they were entitled to, while it appeared others were given fat handouts. It was never intentional, but it happened. There were also some groups, companies, or individuals who worked very hard to take advantage of things, and profit from the disaster. Some of the rebuild decisions were not popular, others were just plain insane. Some of it i would put down to the council simply being overwhelmed. They were very badly under insured for council owned assets. So they found themselves without anywhere near enough money to repair everything. This caused a lot of problems in its own rights.

[@igoromelchenko3482]

Good that you managed to save it. It is not "first" in something but it's a part of heritage.

[@rcarterbrown1]

A small clarification... It was 80%+ of the city center that had to be rebuild not 80% of the city.

[@geofflye4582]

over 10,000 homes were lost on the eastern side of the city and including Kaiapoi.

[@ryancampbell8416]

He meant city center/CBD by saying city but definitely not clear for people who assume city means more than just CBD, eg you could say 'I'm going into the city' as in the CBD even if you live in another part of the city

[@Battleneter]

@@geofflye4582 but that 10,000 out of 135,000 ish, so yea depends how you want to do the math but we can all agree he got 80% wrong.

[@joshduthie3401]

​@@geofflye4582yes. Some areas were basically all damaged beyond repair, but most houses were fine, at least for a while. 80% needed *some* repairs, but often just a few cracks filled in. Mine still has a cracked driveway.

[@educatedskeleton1803]

YES YES YES only in chch city center will you see any investment

[@digimanga]

For just the price of one third of a British high speed rail line, you too can re-build yourself an entire city.

[@dalismers]

Fun fact - Indonesia built its first high-speed rail line between Jakarta and Bandung for US$7.3 billion, that's less than the US$10 billion pledged by Rishi Sunak to fix potholes across northern England

[@djsmithe]

After the Romans left, construction has never been the same.

[@wanderingbufoon]

@@dalismers I came from a place where politicians' best slogan is "fixing the roads" because they are never fixed and when they do, they break down just sometime BEFORE the elections. It's a great way to embezzle funds and makes for an EZ political campaign. BTW, the constructions of these roads would undergo up to 50% of their term and they degrade after 80% of their term just so they can run again addressing that problem all over again. Also during that 50% of their term, the construction team just block the roads up and not do any work at all. There was some "repairs" where they made the roads way worse than having the potholes as well. Basically the patch job to fill in the holes where so poorly done and not flattened that they create multiple road bumps and some were tall, making the bumps just as deep or even deeper than the original holes. Any infrastructure campaigns are essentially embezzlements. The politicians and their friends (like their respective parties and sponsors) get majority of those funds. This is like donating money for charities. It's a trickle down economy. A pyramid scheme.

[@Deepthought-42]

Ah but the Nombies wouldn’t have had all that compensation and the contractors and consultants wouldn’t be able to make so much money.

[@MyFiddlePlayer]

@@wanderingbufoon You are seriously clueless about economics.

[@paulbo9033]

Port-au-Prince: "did someone say world's unluckiest city? 👀"

[@none3763]

Wasn't me, said Beirut.

[@svenblubber5448]

Thought this video was going to be about Skopje (bit too long ag though...)

[@boodashaka2841]

I'm so glad we had the same idea lmao

[@jasonbrady4894]

Pompeii would like a word…

[@Joshua429]

Yeah I’m pretty sure port-au-prince is 10x worse

[@alimanski7941]

Had a friend die in that earthquake. He was just 21. Rest in peace, buddy.

[@paulclarke245]

workmates wife was in the ctv building, not good

[@jadedrealist]

I wish this had covered more about how the rest of the city was rebuilt with updated earthquake "proof" technologies, instead of focusing on just one building.

[@nakfx134]

this.

[@BeardedApostle]

@@nakfx134 theres a lot of information online about the rebuilds. They could easily have dedicated a solid hour to all the various projects and run short on time. The estimate about 80% of the city center being demolished rebuilt of repaired is by no means an exaggeration. Some of the rebuild projects are actually incredible to see happening. The city has transformed twice in the last 13 years. From something loved, into some lost, and now into something new.

[@joshduthie3401]

You might think it was, but in reality while the standards were increased generally, most buildings were and are built to the "can walk out of" standard. I.e. they don't fall down on you, but if the quake is strong enough they'll need rebuilding. Only 2 office buildings actually collapsed in a bad way, the rest were just not worth fixing and were taken down and built new.

[@ryanwood93]

if you count cracked plaster on walls, then you may get close to 80% @@BeardedApostle

[@DanielSchramm]

The post-earthquake building requirements have impacted the entire country in such a massive way. Would be great to see them do a more in depth investigation.

[@MichaelB_89]

Christchurch local here! I’ve lived here for 30 years, both before and after the earthquakes. Happy to help with any questions!

[@dominikr8428]

first of all: how do you sleep at night

[@chickentoucher55]

@@dominikr8428I’m from chch also, i grow up with the earthquakes (5 at the time) I don’t know about others but I find them fun more than anything, cause we used to have lots of aftershocks a few years after you just got so used to them

[@MichaelB_89]

@@dominikr8428 Haha it’s taken a while, but we sleep fine for the most part. The first initial earthquake in Sept 2010 actually happened at about 4am, so when we do get the occasional late night tremor, most of us don’t get much sleep.

[@chickentoucher55]

@momytikold tourist trams, and an ok bus system, bike lanes are pretty good, but mostly cars which isn’t too bad because are traffic isn’t insane

[@BeardedApostle]

@@dominikr8428 generally in beds. Those survived as a rule.

[@Gary-zq3pz]

And Beirut says...'hold my beer ..'

[@ricksantana1016]

😂

[@unconventionalideas5683]

That was mal governance, though.

[@RodneyAvery-o2q]

Does Beirut get earthquakes?

[@cyberpunk.386]

Australian here. Our mates across the ditch and we are battered by natural disasters but the communal spirit and support has always held us together.

[@Manawatu_Al2844]

We thank you for sending help to us so quickly.

[@RodneyAvery-o2q]

We may be rivals on the sports field but when disaster strikes (bushfires in Australia or earthquakes in New Zealand) we forget that and help each other as much as possible.

[@adamfahey108]

As someone who lived 130kms away, and felt both quakes badly, its quite possibly the biggest reset to a city I have seen. Churches, convention centres, transport infrastructure, Stadia, commercial areas all before even discussing the residential rebuild.

[@finnlissaman]

Same felt both and had to help clean my grandparents house

[@boodashaka2841]

As a Kiwi I can firmly say that Chch isn't the world's unluckiest city. I'd say Port-au-Prince would be haha

[@andyyang5234]

Large earthquakes almost always come as a series, with foreshocks and/or aftershocks. Having numerous large earthquakes strike the same place isn't even unlucky, but _expected_ . The "luck", if it can be described as such, is whether the city or country where the earthquake happened has the means to absorb the impact of the quake as it happens. In this light, both Haiti and Turkey could be considered unluckier in the XXI.

[@boodashaka2841]

@@andyyang5234 I meant like the earthquakes that have ravaged there are overshadowed and made to look like a walk in the park compared to what is currently happening there

[@lucasrem]

why only keep that church ????

[@annakeye]

@@lucasrem Bigger question - why did the Anglican church not stump up the bucks to fix it? Because they didn't want too. This way, they get their church by getting puff pieces like this one to be made. Unluckiest city? So why not show the frigging city instead of one piece that feels more like propaganda than the truth of the misery so many have endured. The manipulations by insurance companies and worse, the EQC (Earthquake Commission) which had a lot of its funds basically stolen by an earlier iteration of a National party government.

[@BeardedApostle]

@@andyyang5234 one thing that sets the Christchurch quake sequece apart, is that the February quake was not a direct aftershock from the September one. They happened on completely different fault structures. The common consensus is that the February sequence was possibly triggered by the September one, but they are still seperate. The September events were located a long way away from Christchurch and very deep. The February ones were literally directly below the city, and incredibly shallow geographically speaking, less than 10km from city center, and less than 10km beneath it. This made the energy expended in February drastically different. There was up to 2 meters of verticle and horizontal displacement during the event.

[@mmsmits2868]

I was in Christchurch in December 1989, and days before that in Timaru. While I was there a 4.2 quake hit. Buildings shook, stuff fell, alarms went off, and it scared the crap out of me. Locals didn't even look up. It's a gorgeous country with some of the best people in the world, and some day I'll revisit if I can.

[@davenz000]

4.2 ain't worth moving for, when you're at risk of spilling your beer, that's when you take your beer under the desk.

[@djmixerdomo]

Wasn't expecting a B1M video on my city today. It is very well done, thank you.

[@CalderdaleKid]

Having been raised in NZ and having come back to the UK more than 22 years ago now, the earthquakes in Christchurch were just numbing for all NZ’ers. The Cathedral collapsing was devastating (and I was raised in the North). So to see the city and especially the cathedral being rebuilt is just fantastic considering how small NZ is and how money can be wisely spent. I wouldn’t say it’s the unluckiest city, but it is one of the friendliest cities in NZ. I was always told that the further south you went in NZ, the friendlier the locals.

[@nicholaseady2173]

my great great grandfather designed this! it’s amazing to see how important it is to the local community

[@LeoDevlin-q4f]

This is a great example of how long it takes to build anything in nz

[@dallasfrost1996]

Yup...

[@petercroft9895]

We still have more road cones than people. Cathedral Square is a construction site to this day.

[@mrbaker1739]

Visited Christchurch 6 months after the quake could have cried. Recently visited Budapest where they are still restoring buildings bombed during WW2

[@MTTT1234]

An event pretty much overlooked nowadays, mostly because I guess this was the same year of the massive earthquake and following events in Fukushima, which kept people on its toes for months and years. Once more, a really well done video. Thank you very much to the whole B1M team.

[@joshduthie3401]

Fukushima was the week after I believe.

[@eddcoomber]

That footage at the start is from the feb quake. CCTV from our architectural photographer Stephen Goodenough, the first quake was at 4:35am, so at night. I was in the city centre when the feb quake hit and witnessed my city falling around me. It's definitely come a long way. 2011 saw us live though something like 10k aftershocks, some as large as 6 plus. But the city has more life in it now than pre quake, even only half rebuilt. The cathedral is an important icon, and we fought hard to save it, but equally important and impressive is the town hall which we also fought hard to save and which is now open. A building with better acoustics than the Sydney Opera House. It's been a hard road, but a city is made of it's people, and the people of ChCh are a tough bunch, banding together in our darkest days.

[@KelvinYong77]

Christchurch resident, over 30 years living in Christchurch since 1991. Wow! This video debuted on the 13th anniversary of the Feb 22 2011 Christchurch Earthquake!

[@JH0364]

Fellow resident, this is how I found out it has now been 13 years. Wow.. Time goes fast.

[@Kenmcm1987]

❤ great to see it been rebuild. Hope the city is continuing to get better . Worked there in 2013/15 for Mac Dow on the rebuild. I wish to return one day to see a city i loved return to its glory. Love from Ireland. 😊 kia tutaki ano tatou

[@6yjjk]

10:02 That "temporary" church made from cardboard tubes is fascinating in itself.

[@PeterTodd]

I thought not mentioning that in the video was a big miss, at least it got an undescribed picture : |

[@danieljongerius2985]

The cardboard tubes have steel reinforcement inside I believe

[@BeardedApostle]

@@danieljongerius2985 i think they were filled in yes. The entire project was a bit of a vanity idea. Some loved it, some thought it was the silliest thing ever. Either way, it went up and it gives us something unusual to drive passed.

[@joshduthie3401]

​@@BeardedApostleit wasn't a vanity for the people who use it. The big problem was, it was going to be temporary then they decided halfway through to make it more permanent.

[@BeardedApostle]

@@joshduthie3401 Yes thats very true.

[@MorningThief_]

stayed in Christchurch for 5 days in January. my second visit after 2018. the place itself has changed astonishingly. the one thing i got from that was that it's a new city with old buildings scattered about the place.

[@WoShiJiaDawei]

There's something very touching about saving what was thought to be lost. Thank you for sharing!

[@DeDyson]

- World’s Unluckiest City: Christchurch Yea, that's a hard no.

[@Music-xp5wg]

Meanwhile an average city in Europe or the middle east was raided 1000 times.

[@educatedskeleton1803]

resident myself thats a load of bullshit be born here man you got free money free food etc very lucky to be born in chch

[@velocity5646]

We had two earthquakes and the countries biggest ever mass shooting, two massive forest fires, and a few other things. It's been pretty unlucky.

[@DeDyson]

@@velocity5646 All really tragic events for sure, and yet they barely even register on a global scale (the claim made by B1M).

[@armandoventura9043]

​@@velocity5646 normal day in Haiti, Mexico and California Nice try

[@LordSesshaku]

Two earthquakes and that's it? I think you guys went a little bit overboard with the title. I can think of a couple of cities with less luck: Fukushima (Earthquake+Tsunami+Nuclear fallout) or Pompeii (need I say more?)

[@grendel_nz]

He just mentioned the 2 obvious big earthquakes. There were thousands of aftershocks. Really rattled the residents for years. Liquifaction; areas of the city no longer habitable etc. Good for greening up the city :)

[@geofflye4582]

In actual fact there were 14,500 odd aftershocks that continued from Sept 4th 2010 until after Christmas 2013 .

[@korakys]

No, the title is correct, but the reasoning is wrong. The city was unlucky because, despite what is implied in the video, Christchurch was thought to not be in an earthquake zone. Therefore the buildings were mostly not built with that it mind. For a relatively small earthquake to hit _directly_ under the city in a place that had not previously known earthquakes, _that_ is very unlucky indeed. Meanwhile Japan gets hit with literally world shaking earthquakes regularly. There is no luck in that, everyone knows it is coming eventually and plans accordingly.

[@annakeye]

@@geofflye4582 I think there was something like 40,000 aftershocks in the 3.5 - 4 magnitude range. We're still getting the odd shake now.

[@alisterbennett]

1 x M7+, 5 x M6+ plus lots of M5+ M4+ and thousands of M3+. That was in the 1st 15 months..

[@johnlabus7359]

I was disappointed that the video was mostly about one building.

[@EricHunt]

Agreed. The content was interesting and educational but that title was a flat out deception.

[@rundown132]

What a weird title lol

[@shannoncloete8161]

And all about Bluebeam! It is one of the worst software for collaborating on-site via an iPad. It’s alright if you have a PC, but it's horrendous with an iPad 😢 so it's impossible to use on-site unless you want to bring your laptop and break it! Haha

[@maxzakh]

Compared to the usual content, this is incredibly low stakes

[@lloydwigzell9586]

As a local, that is the most important building there is for us. The fight to save it also included a plea to the now King and King Charles was a massive advocate to save it getting his Prince of wales trust involved in the rebuild. The church sits literally in the middle of the City ( central business area) and for almost 150 years been the literal heart of the city. Everyday literally thousands of visitors would go to the square and photograph the church, and tens of thousands of locals would walk past it. It is such a massive part of the city that roads have been bent around it over the years, at one point in history cars would drive right past the front doors. As for the rest of the rebuild, most of the inner city is rebuilt, and has lost most of its charm, a lot of the CBD was old buildings 1880's to 1940's, the Earthquake was possibly the largest loss of heritage listed buildings in one event.

[@oliviawardell2266]

Sad fact: Japan sent their earthquake specialist teams to NZ to help with the aftermath of that earthquake- many of them were still there when the Japanese Earthquakes hit 17 Days later.

[@beastdork19]

Port-au-Prince: am I a joke to you?

[@lucasrem]

is that humor for old people ?

[@Billybobble1]

@@lucasrem If you consider anyone over the age of around 14 as old, then yes, yes it is.

[@BlueRusso]

Port-au-Prince expected hurricanes but was entirely unprepared for the earthquake, and utterly lacked public and private bodies (and finances) to build a newer, better city. Politically, things have only gotten worse since then. The recent big earthquakes in Turkey at least had functioning government agencies and private organizations to help recover from the enormous death toll and massive destruction of poorly-built recent buildings.

[@bertplank9892]

Yep.

[@snapdragon9300]

​@@BlueRussoAlso the fact in Christchurch we were 'shocked' no pun intended, by the degree of damage as these buildings were 'earthquake proofed' but not to a 7.0 standard. Certainly not a shallow one.Or the fact we got a 6.4 in Nov 4 2010 that did extensive damage, a 7.2 in Feb 22, 2011, and the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016. And tens of thousands of aftershocks that further hampered repairs.

[@KiwiGirlG6]

As someone who lived in a town just north of Christchurch, please don't call Christchurch the un luckiest city. I would say we are lucky the community and the world came together and helped us and the Aroha was felt all round. Yes we have had a decade of bad luck but we are getting better. Also we had some serious earthquakes back in the 1800s which some of them fall on the same date and time that the latest ones was on

[@gotrik.a]

As a Canterbury resident it has been amazing to see the progress and change that has happened post quake. It is a big city and has been a massive undertaking - with a lot more still to do. I wouldn’t say it’s the unluckiest city in the world - it’s just one of many places around the world that has to deal with quakes. Happy to answer any questions :)

[@RCKennington]

What about the temporary cardboard cathedral. A picture was shown but nothing mentioned it is stunning. One of the things that stood out when visiting after the quake is all the inventive space savers in the CBD. Things put on cleared lots for entertainment like games and a dance floor where you could plug in your bluetooth device and pay for power for the speakers using a converted a coin operated washing machine.

[@jaydenmeads1258]

Love the video. I’m from Christchurch, suggestion… you should do a video on the library or the convention centre, the new stadium, court theatre. Let’s say there’s is a lot of impressive work and projects in the city

[@geofflye4582]

I Agree . There have been some amazing buildings built . The bus exchange . Turanga library Te Pae convention centre Te Kaha The new covered stadium currently being built Also the Bnz innovation centre which is all built of wood. Are just a few

[@itchysnakes14]

@@geofflye4582 don’t forget all of the terrace!

[@bbd121]

Dude... Christchurch is probably luckier compared to any city in Haiti.

[@Lesverts]

I was in Christchurch in November. I hadn't thought of the earthquake before going there and flew in and was immediately hit with the fact that the city is still recovering. The city was my favourite place I visited in New Zealand. Even thinking back on it now, I just cannot imagine the city being in ruin only a little over a decade ago. The CBD was utterly fantastic and so lively.

[@Myne1001]

Christchurch: being rebuilt Darwin, NT, Australia: Had to be rebuilt four times

[@wayneobrien3332]

Aussie here. I was staying down town when the 7.1 quake happened. It's great to see the rebuild happening. Watching this brought back a lot of memories of the destruction and the smell of all the fallen debris. Keep going Christchurch! It's a gorgeous city snd the people are even better. I hope to visit again very soon!

[@13Kreator]

Should have shown the rest of the city. Christchurch has changed pretty dramatically since the quake.

[@Battleneter]

Most the the suburbs were repaired or had little damage, but there are a few suburbs gone on the east side, and of course some new ones since.

[@HarrySatoshi]

Great video. I live in Christchurch and experienced the quakes as a 12 year old. AMA.

[@dshepherd109]

It’s 1am go to sleep

[@HarrySatoshi]

@@dshepherd109 thank you.

[@itchysnakes14]

Is it true that for the rest of the day, there was this rumbling sound coming from the ground? Even when there were no aftershocks?

[@annakeye]

@@itchysnakes14 No.

[@Andrei_Suckoffsky]

@@itchysnakes14 No

[@rgndusk]

As a Christchurchian, this is absolutely insane! I'm American born and have been watching your videos for months now, and logging in to see this video was enough to make me more than just excited. The problem with the response after the earthquakes here is the government not taking action on the many vacant and destroyed buildings sitting in the center city area. It grants for murals and tons of room for gorgeous street art, but looks horrid from sides without.

[@WilliamCarterII]

Its crazy to me that they rebuilt the Christchurch ... church -- a relic barely 150 years old but Saint Porphyrius Orthodox church in Gaza, the third oldest church period was basically unnoticed in the West unless you were Orthodox (like myself) and will probably remain destroyed.

[@RoryMarriott-ib8qv]

Thats a good point. Perhaps their government should run a similar campaign as New Zealand's government and people did to rebuild their historic buildings.

[@localzuk]

So its a rebuild basically on par with post WW2 rebuilding in Europe. That shows you how intense those quakes were. Took years of constant bombardment to cause that level of destruction to European cities, but a few minutes of nature can do the same or much worse. Great to see heritage being saved though. We only learn by keeping the past with us.

[@furTron]

I suggest you check out the Frauenkirche in Dresden, Germany. It was bombed to the ground and completely rebuilt after ~50 years

[@Alto53]

I was reading about that church yesterday, so had that in the back of my mind when watching this video. Apparently they reused over 8,500 bricks from the original building.

[@enigmadrath1780]

Video: The world's unluckiest city ..... CHRISTCHURCH! Port-au-Prince: 🤨

[@PROVOCATEURSK]

One is named after a prince, the other one after a death cult leader.

[@ricardodelzealandia6290]

The thing that's missing for me in this video is the temporary cathedral that was built nearby the Chch cathedral after its collapse and was made almost entirely of cardboard. It was totally fascinating and was symbol in and of itself.

[@DavidLimofLimReport]

Just remembered that it is 22 February as NZ watches this, i.e. the anniversary of the February 2011 earthquake so should say RIP and thinking of everyone who lost friends and family in this disaster.

[@mshai]

Wow Fred is on a roll with interesting things

[@Cam.a14]

Our new stadium is coming in 2026

[@philscott7949]

Kiwis are awesome. A few years ago, while skiing the Canterbury fields, we drove up a treacherous pass only to reach a carpark covered in ice. Cars were slipping and sliding into each other, so I decided to park on the far side of the carpark. This was not a popular decision with my group. After falling down multiple times, we all crawled across the car park on out hands and knees to reach the 2-person travellator. At the top of the travellator, there was a hire shop to get your nutcracker. Nutcrackers are steel clamps used to grip the tow ropes, for those not used to just using their hands for the purpose. You leave the hire shop and wander blindly into the wilderness, guided only by the sound of the tow rope motor off in the distance. The tow rope pulled everyone flat on their face multiple times until you get used to it. Then you get to the first guide wheel which will crush your hand if you are still holding the rope to balance yourself. There are several more guide wheels to avoid before reaching the top. From the top of the mountain, a picturesque chalet could be seen below which looked like the best place to recover from the last hour of trauma. Inside the chalet was an urn of boiling water, a jar of teabags and donation tin. After making a cup of tea and placing a $2 coin in the tin, I went out to the deck and met an elderly gentleman and his 2 toddler grandchildren. I looked around for some kind of transport and asked how they got there. "Oh, we just drove up, found a parking spot, caught the travellator, jumped on the tow rope and skied down here a while ago - why do you ask?". Respect! 🤩

[@DavidLimofLimReport]

Thank you for featuring Christchurch again. So nice to see a more positive angle on what has been a complex and long rebuild. We only see the issues with insurance and negative stories here.

[@k6usy]

Used to have family there and I got to visit in 2005… I need to stop going places because they keep getting destroyed after I leave.

[@mistermatm8285]

Worlds unluckiest city. Pompeii:

[@Yvaelle]

Atlantis.

[@threestumps7560]

I visited Christchurch in Dec 2016 and remember it very fondly. By then, the first batch of new modern buildings, mainly shops or offices, were completed and looking neat. But many more buildings remained out of bounds, boarded up and externally supported; and nearly half the lots inside the city was vacant and cleared land. My favourite memory of Christchurch was eating lunch in the square right in front of the cathedral and gazing up and looking into its big hole. Also, the outdoor memorial site with all the chairs. Rebuilding a city is a slow process esp. when its economy is not that big. Would love to visit Christchurch again to check out its progress.

[@bilinguismoparatodos6344]

KOBE: "seriously...i'm right here!"

[@pepsioverlord]

Luckily we're getting a new stadium,Just got a new convention centre and the cathedral is coming along well.Tram lines are being repaired and new commercial and residential buildings are being rebuilt,The city is reforming slowly.

[@jorgeluiscapiello414]

So sad that the Blessed Heart Basilica was demolished.

[@annakeye]

It was definitely the nicer of the two cathedrals but the Catholics are nothing if not tight fisted with the money they take off parishioners. One good thing is if they do eventually decide to build a new Sacred Hearted Basilica, it will be some interesting architecture. The catholics are good at that. Some of the coolest churches are roman catholic.

[@dondesmond7969]

Tight fisted? The Anglican Church in NZ has $3Billion in assets and has its hand out to all and sundry for the money. Which has now gone up to $248 million. The linger it takes the more it'll cost. The whole fiasco is a litany of incompetence.

[@Billybobble1]

Watching this I couldn't help but think of Monty Python's Holy Grail - "Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp."

[@visionguider]

All the things going on in the world right now and you think that that is the most unluckiest City😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@chickentoucher55]

Christchurch mentioned 💪 it’s 1:30am right now but I gotta watch this

[@davidiglesiasgomez7616]

Their current govt is NZ worst disaster.

[@lemster101]

​@@momytikJacinda resigned in early 2023

[@manyux6694]

Current govt is luxon

[@myusernameizgud1722]

as a kiwi i agree this gov is making mistake after mistake after mistake, or its not a mistake and the rich asshole we elected is just using his power for himself and his friends. one of the two. but we cant compare a bad government to the events of the 2019 attacks, or the 2011 earthquakes that killed 150+ people.

[@Me-ui1zy]

As a Christchurch Otautahi resident, how tf did I miss this video. Damn you KZbin Very cool to see my city on the B1M

[@mynameisjoejeans]

I think Gaza might be a bit more unlucky tbh

[@jvx358]

I am a Christchurch resident myself. I was 10 years old when it happened and vividly remember the chaos and how stressful that time was. There was a long somber period after the quakes, you could see it on people's faces where ever you went. But the city is getting better now, people are coming out into town and its getting its vibrancy back. I like the direction they are going with how walkable the city is. I think Christchurch is gonna do well in the future.

[@danmcclaren5436]

I would say pretty much every country in Africa is unluckier than New Zealand lol

[@KamirosPallas]

It's so interesting to see my home documented on this channel. I moved here directly after the earthquakes when the CBD was still closed as a student and now I live in my own home on the hill. Seeing the rebuild of the city happen over the last 13 years has been an absolute treat and I could never think about living in a city where the new is not an every day occurance. I love what Christchurch has become, even with my daily walk part the cathedral.

[@prismaticmarcus]

It's not like you guys to do clickbait headlines. slighlty disappointing...

[@quadruple_negative]

I visited Christchurch in 2008 and then in 2013. The difference was amazing. Apart from a lot of damaged buildings, I have a picture of a phonebooth twisted by the quake. It was quite amazing to see. I also have an NZ Tom Tom sat nav because I could not work out how to get out of Christchurch with a paper map. Very useful back home in Australia!

[@tylerbarnes209]

Omg thats my city. As someone who worked in the city centre for years after the earthquake it is amazing to see this city rebuild

[@JustRaiHere]

Good Morning, Fred. Thank you for another wonderful video. As someone who grew up in the SF Bay Area and witnessed the destructive power of the Loma Prieta earthquake, I can appreciate Christchurch's resilience. It's truly inspiring. Rebuilding is not as simple as tearing down and throwing up something new. Preservation of our past is just as important as looking forward.

[@luvelyjubely]

There is a bit of Irish history sitting right beside you in the first clip. Massey Ferguson. Harry Ferguson was an Irish inventor who built tractors after growing up on a farm. He notably invented the Ferguson hydraulic system which revolutionised farming. He sold to Canadian tractor company Massey in the 50s and that’s where the name of Massey ferguson tractors come from.

[@liveinchange7058]

Hmm, I'm also from New Zealand, and while the city is unlucky, I wouldn't call it the most unlucky city in the world. For context: Now I'm traveling in Syria and I'm visiting Aleppo; The city has first had a 10+ year civil war, with major fighting and displacement, and massive damage, only to then be struck last year (while they were halfway through restoring the city) with a 7.8 earthquake...

[@MassiveBuild]

. The video and article highlight some of the remarkable projects and innovations that have transformed Christchurch into a modern and resilient city, such as the Cardboard Cathedral, the Turanga Library, the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct, and the Riverside Market.

[@SpectreMk2]

I visited in 2017, there were a lot of nice constructions happening in Christchurch. But building proper transit (1 or 2 tramway lines would have been great) and a proper bike network would have been even better. Seemed a bit of a missed opportunity here.

[@thehangmansdaughter1120]

I grew up in Chch, and though I was living up north when the quake hit I was deeply effected. I lost two friends in the ctv building. As Kiwis we are used to quakes, floods, cyclones and volcanic eruptions and face them all with a "get on with it" attitude.

[@metricstormtrooper]

So where are your sources for the 80% damage? Being from Australia and taking great interest in it we visited just after the quakes, and there certainly wasn't 80% damage.

[@Battleneter]

Yea he got that wrong, its 80% of the CBD and even that is probably a tad high in reality. Most city suburbs had little damage to moderate damage, however 10,000 out of 135,000 homes rebuilt, so not nothing.

[@joshduthie3401]

@@Battleneter I think it comes from 80% of houses needing *some* repair, even if just a crack in a wall fixed.

[@lloydwigzell9586]

As a Christchurch local, this video being realeased on the 13 year anniversary of the darkest day our city has faced brings up soo many raw emotions, especially as the road to getting the Cathedral rebuilt has taken so much effort. For anyone in Christchurch that day, the events of Feburary 22nd had the same effect as some of the worlds biggest events, ask any local (over a certian age on that day) and they will remember exactly where they were and what they went through that day. Some of us had lucky escapes, and ordinary people became super heroes and rescued strangers trapped under rubble, people lost their homes and everything they owned, and 185 people lost there lives (people from 17 country's including NZ). The rebuild in the suburbs still has not been finished as there are still homes that have not been repaired, and vast areas where they have not rebuilt on vacant sections. As for the Cathedral, this building is more important to us than you could really portray, as the building had been the literal heart of the city for over 100 years, and had always been the city's main landmark. For a long time the Cathedral was considered the most photographed building in the southern hemishpere, as it had been a tourist attraction for 100 years, much longer than its rivals like the opera house in Sydney. The fight to save our heart went as far as King Charles, at the time still Prince of Wales, he put money from a trust he ran as well as his name behind the thousands of local voices calling for the church to be saved. The fact that we are now close to having the Cathedral to a point we can open it up again is a massive step to completing the rebuild of our city, as the new city feels so empty and cold due to all the new buildings, as we lost soo many historic listed buildings in the earthquake.

[@electro_sykes]

why is it being rebuilt in a car centric way. A lot of carparks and not much active or public transport infrastructure are being built. This is really a missed opportunity. If you want your kids to be safe and enjoy the future of this city, and have it sustainable and relevant for the future and suitable to future needs and generations, then you can start by making it less car-centric. When there's a tragedy, there is also opportunity. You really need to invest more in bike lanes, walkable neighbourhoods and a light rail system. The earthquake cannot be an excuse of making the city less pedestrian-friendly and more car-dependent. Why is everything also been re-built so far apart? Again, car-centric planning is not the right way to rebuild Christchurch.

[@TimmahNZ1]

@@electro_sykes CHCH is on the right track with all the cycle ways, but shot itself in the foot with public transport, e.g. better bus routes or light rail.

[@lloydwigzell9586]

@@TimmahNZ1 Too many cycle lanes, not enough bus lanes, and yes there is rail lines available to the north and south, but they refuse to make use of them, or put a tram through the city that is not just a tourist thing.

[@lloydwigzell9586]

@@electro_sykes They are actually trying to make bike the main thing, with too many bike lanes and housing development with small 100m2 sections and no parking and no great iner city transport, it is becomming impossible to live in the city centre and find a place to live with off street parking where you dont have to walk to the city or walk to the nearest bus stop and hope there will be one running on time. unfortunatly the people in charge, both at local and at national level failed our once beautiful city.

[@TimmahNZ1]

@@lloydwigzell9586 That sounds too logical and forward thinking ;)

[@deerfootnz]

Christchurch is an excellent example of how NOT to rebuild after an earthquake. Put two different authorities in charge and watch them get into a decade long power struggle wasting time and money while capital and population flight decimates the city.

[@joegordon5117]

So glad the people fought to save the cathedral. As you said, it would be like Paris without Notre Dame, or Edinburgh without her Castle. Some buildings are more than architecture, and their worth to the people of their city is not one that can really be counted in dollars.

[@SirWickMusic]

This video is just amazing!! Please keep doing content like this on historical preservation! The b1M is doing videos like how the BBC used to do! AMAZING!

[@harryb2742]

Wish you had talked about other projects - the metro sports facility, central library, convention centre and stadium?

[@annakeye]

I'm sure a puff piece on the stadium will appear in time.

[@pvanb291]

Interesting video. As an ex Christchurch resident, now calling Brisbane home, we are amazed by how much HASN"T changed with every subsequent vist to catch up with family and friends! Yes there are some cool new buildings like the convention centre, new cafe's, bars and eateries. But I just get worried there's not enough people to make the city thrive again! There's more apartments in the center, which I think is vital in getting people back in there to become customers for all the new cafe's etc, but still don't think that's enough. Yes there are tourists around too. Maybe it's all just on a lower scale than Brisbane, with retailers paying lower rents and not having to make as much money, but I just get the impression it's all a bit harder than what it used to be. Good luck everyone!! 🥰

[@Battleneter]

I did a 6 year stint in Brisbane from early 2012. I suffered more property damage in Brisbane after my car got written off in the 2015 hail storm than in the CHCH Earthquakes lol . We decided to return to CHCH as we felt it offered a slightly higher quality of life overall. Christchurch metro population has grown steady since those events and now around 530,000, which is still a small city but that's what we prefer, 15 minute cycle to work anyone :p

[@Tom-Lahaye]

I visited Christchurch as a tourist twice, last time a year before the earthquakes. The people are amazing in NZ and I hope sometime to return and see how the city has recovered from the disaster.

[@ryancampbell8416]

give it another 10 years haha

[@itchysnakes14]

You’ll be a bit disappointed with some things, and very pleased with others. The Terrace is incredible, but the new city mall is just sort of bland now….

[@JeremyYing]

Mid. Cathedral reconstruction is underway, so are others, genereally residential areas are fine. But in the CBD there are still empty builldings and lots left alone.

[@haydonwood]

@TheB1M This reminds me a little bit of what is going on in Utah! You should look into the Salt Lake City Temple and the SLC Airport, those could possibly be some good video that the B1M could make!

[@rogerbrown5558]

Living in NZ I haven't seen quite a compact documentary about the rebuild of the cathedral. Very interesting and thank you.

[@KhandiCane]

To have this come up on the anniversary of the quakes was amazing. Some people did not want the Cathedral rebuilt, while others felt it must be. I watch all your videos from Christchurch, NZ. I lived, along with my fellow Cantabrians, through damaged homes, lost loved ones, and no central city for years. I was an earthquake rebuild, and the process was long and hard. In NZ, you are covered for the land via EQC, and you also have personal insurance, should you choose. As with many things, the devil is in the details. People ask why it has all taken so long. Well, Kiwis have very high insurance rates. So every policy, all that reinsurance overseas, all the land concerns, the properties we call "on solds", the people that were "Fletcherised" as the damage was under 100k NZ, every rebuild story (some as payouts and self manage but others forced into Project Managers and set companies or even by the designation of the land as TC3 being forced to move) have a story to tell. I am proud of my fellow Cantabrians and the city we are building.

[@Moncherelouis]

resident here, my gran was on the commute that decided to keep and rebuild the cathedral, it was not an easy choice but it was an important one. the council and govt have messed up big time with the money they have wasted on the new stadium and sports facility which have t even been completed yet.

[@kennymilsom]

I was in the city center that day. With the ground shaking in a way I never thought it could and buildings coming down around me. I remember being on my hands and knees in the middle of the road wondering when this hell will stop. We lost our house that day too. And 13 years later, we now live down south. Broken and struggling with debt. Hell didn't stop for us that day; it was only just the beginning.

[@nathangriffiths6218]

Unlucky? Luck has nothing to do with it, the whole of New Zealand exists on a boundary between two tectonic plates - earthquakes are a common natural hazard here and can happen anywhere in NZ at any time.

[@junaidanwar999]

The kiwis are humble people,very resilient and rarely would you see them bragging or moaning for something,i hope the country doesnt have to go through any more natural disasters,construction similar to japanese cities are required to safeguard from high intensity earthquakes.

[@1258-Eckhart]

A city called Christchurch makes no sense without a cathedral.

[@Battleneter]

The name technically has nothing to do with religion, its named after a University in the UK.

[@rachelcookie321]

I’m from Christchurch but my family didn’t move here until 2012, after the earthquake. Actually the earthquake is what made us move here. My family never went into the city centre for probably the first 3 years we lived here because there was nothing there, it had all been destroyed. I’d always fought of Christchurch as a pretty bland city because I’d only ever seen it post earthquake but in the past year or so I started seeing old pictures from before the earthquake and it just makes me want to cry. Apart from the cathedral, there was so many other beautiful old buildings that held so much charm that were lost in the earthquake. The city used to be so beautiful and had so much history and character but now that’s all gone. It seriously makes me almost cry just thinking about all those historical buildings that were lost only to be replaced by boring modern ones. The city has no soul anymore, just stock lifeless modern buildings you can find anywhere. I guess that’s why people thought so hard for the cathedral, it’s one of the last bits of character the city still has.

[@insano0077]

Christchurch resident here... A few months ago, I moved out of the place I live in due to re-repair of the house ( yes, re-repair.... they did a good-ish repair a few years after but going thru all houses with a fine tooth comb now!) So yes the quake is still affecting us to this day🤨

[@euangutteridge6402]

Thank you for making this video and releasing on the 13th anniversary of the earthquake. I have had the privilege of seeing this project first hand and it is so amazing.and great people involved. Whilst there was a lot of damage I wouldn't say that Christchurch is the unluckiest city in the world, though. Not long beforehand Haiti jad a similar size earthquake that killed many more and left so much more devastation. Then only a month later we watched in horror as the east coast of Japan was swamped by a massive tsunami killing tens of thousands. We've certainly had some challenging events in Christchirch recent years that have made us much more resilient but sadly other places have had it much tougher. Kia kaha

[@damonroberts7372]

I feel so lucky to have visited Christchurch pre-earthquake. It was a beautiful city then, and I hope I get the chance to see the reconstructed city for myself... cheers and best wishes from across the ditch.

[@davejones542]

Fantastic video and project. Best wished to those in NZ.

[@dallasfrost1996]

Thankyou! 🇳🇿

[@mattbosley3531]

It's not unlucky, it's built in a really bad location. It's going to have earthquakes. That's like saying San Francisco or Los Angeles are unlucky because of the earthquakes they get because of the San Andreas fault. It's a highly volcanically active area, a lot of tectonic activity going on.

[@Battleneter]

To be fair CHCH is a fairly small city with a Metro area of just over 500K people, most people live within 20KM's of the CBD, however the CBD is a little less important than most cities as many businesses moved to the suburbs business parks etc.

[@subman721]

Funny you made this video, I was just looking for an update on the rebuilding of the Christchurch Cathedral just the other day!😮😮

[@fkr202]

I'd say Antakya would be the world's unluckliest city since it got destroyed even worse and this is like the 8th time in history, also loss of many buildings from old Antioch was pretty painful

[@fanbladeinstruments]

Christchurch native here. It's difficult to sum up Christchurch in a short youtube comment, so I'm not going to try and keep this short. Everything that happened and everyone who stayed after the event was completely insane for a time. I mean actually batshit crazy. Many people moved away after the event, and who could blame them, some people had no choice but to leave, many others had no choice but to stay, myself included. The collective mental illness that set in was swift to begin as we came to terms with our often dire situation, and picked up speed as the full scale of the problem became known. Then the madness started to show up in unexpected ways. Politicians and insurance adjusters came to blows in the media, people came to blows in the streets. Alcohol sales increased 1200% and the homeless population briefly spiked 8000%. But then things just got weird. Someone calling himself 'Flatman' donned a jumpsuit and a cape and started making unexpected visits to struggling people to give them food parcels. Giant piles of rubble in the streets were initially surreal but became commonplace before graffiti artists took those piles of rubble and turned them into vibrant colorful artworks, upping the surrealism factor considerably. Driving around the city became a gauntlet of detours and roadworks as engineers and crews worked day and night to repair broken tarmac. They dug up the road outside my house to replace the water mains, and then had to dig it up again a month later to replace the sewer system. There were searchlights pointed in the sky every night for several years to somehow give people hope... I never fully understood the rational behind that but I guess that people on their last nerve on a dark night may see them and feel something better coming. Every day there was another news story about how screwed we were, followed by a story about a gas company giving a mobile food truck free propane so they could serve lunch to anyone who needed it. Weather forecaster Ken Ring announced that he had a system for predicting earthquakes, and immediately became a target for everyone's scorn. He was public enemy No.1 for 2 weeks. And then the real turning point. The politicians and the insurance people announced that they were going to demolish the cathedral and the shit properly hit the fan. The hysteria was palpable and immediate. We'd lost so much and they were going to take the cathedral away too, it was like a red rag to a city of drunk bulls with literally nothing left to lose. Protests in the media, protests in the streets, politicians getting shouted down at public events, antiprotests from the small contingent that wanted the cathedral to go but they were laughed out of town. We were finally united, 300k insane people with the will to work as one powerhouse of freakish determination. And we won. And we felt good about ourselves for the first time in ages. New housing developments began sprouting up, businesses began reopening, earthworks, roadworks, infrastructure repairs, the government announced a package of incentives for builders and tradespeople to move here to help with the rebuild, many of them have stayed and become part of the place they helped to reshape. Councilors and therapists began to recognize that we had a major mental health crisis and launched public campaigns encouraging people to get help - and they made it easily accessible for people. We got our drinking under control...mostly. Nearly 15 years later and the people of Christchurch have never forgotten the tragedy of those who lost their lives and the sense of loss at their city, but the grieving for that loss has gradually eased to acceptance. The city looks completely different now, it's a nice place but it's not the same and never will be again. We went past the edge of madness and came back changed. The Flatman costume is currently on display in the Christchurch Museum.

[@BlueRusso]

When I visited, downtown had been cleared and reopened and an awful lot of underground infrastructure had been replaced. Lots of strips of new paving leading to buildings. The heritage buildings near the Botanic Garden had been nicely fixed up by stonemasons. There was lots of data from seismic sensors placed after the initial quake. Shaking turned out to be unexpectedly intense. Rather fortunately, major shopping areas away from downtown survived in good shape.

[@kingkea3451]

Wasn't expecting to see my home city on KZbin today. I was a kid when those earthquakes happened. Hell, I was almost directly over the epicentre of the 6.3.