I was standing on a street in Christchurch when the quake struck at 12.51 on the 22 of February 2011. I heard the rumbling sound and saw the street ripple like a wave. I watched the news and all the horror it contained and for weeks and months after mucked in with the rest of the city to clean up mother natures’ tantrums.

Ten years later as the city commemorates the events of that day the scars are still visible on the landscape and in the minds of the people.

As I started to put together the tour itinery, it became clear very early on that this was going to be a tight rope walk between telling the story for visitors to the city and being sympathetic to the people who had lost so much.

“The day the earth shook” tells some of the story of the earthquakes but looks at it from the point of view of food and dining. How the earthquakes affected the restaurants and cafés through out the city and what Cantabrians did to survive and get on with the job of living.

I found so much subject matter to sort through and way too much to integrate into a single tour, one of the places I visited was Quake City. I would recommend to anyone coming to the city to definitely go there, and if you are not moved by the visit you must be made of sterner stuff than me.

What I also found were stories from all walks of life. The following video is about the skate-boarding community and tells the story from a young persons point of view.