Lest we forget…

It was announced this week that the Christchurch Cathedral, which was badly damaged in the February 22nd earthquake, is to be demolished. My view on the matter is to adopt Joe Bennett’s suggestion which is to leave the cathedral in ruins to commemorate the earthquake itself.

I like this idea for two reasons.

I know that over time, people will forget about the earthquake and I don’t think we ever should. In 1855, a Mag. 8.2 earthquake originating on the Wairarapa fault struck, causing major destruction in Wellington. In the early years after the earthquake, people rebuilt the city using timber to protect it from future destructive earthquakes. 50 years passed and people forgot. Masonry returned. Then in 1942, two more large earthquakes hit the region, measuring 7.0 and 7.2. They occurred within a couple of months of each other and caused widespread damage. Again more than 50 years has passed and we know that in Wellington and most other cities around New Zealand, unreinforced masonry buildings are commonplace. If we leave a constant reminder of the destructive forces earthquakes have on our architecture, then hopefully there is less opportunity for us to forget, because if we forget, we send our descendants on a certain trajectory to disaster.  If we always remember and always adopt appropriate safety measures, then those who died in February’s earthquake did not die in vain.

The other reason is that I think it will be a good tourist attraction. Photos of the ruined Cathedral have made their way around the globe but seeing it for real is a jaw-dropping experience in a way a photo never can be. There are some famous ruins that have become tourist magnets: the Colosseum in Italy, Stonehenge in the UK or the Parthenon in Greece.

Let the Christchurch Cathedral, ruined by an earthquake, stand as it is, forever.