WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – Hundreds of people in Christchurch gathered Monday to commemorate the fifth anniversary of an earthquake which killed 185 people.
One message made by speakers at the botanical gardens service was that while New Zealand’s second-largest city has come a long way since the devastating magnitude-6.1 quake, there is still much work to be done.
“There is still some way to go until Christchurch is truly reborn,” said Governor-General Jerry Mateparae.
Speakers also mentioned the disquiet they felt when the region was rattled again last week by an earthquake, one of the strongest since 2011. That quake knocked items from shelves and triggered rock falls but didn’t cause major damage.
Emergency responders and officials representing more than a dozen foreign nations were among those who read out the names of each of the victims who died in the earthquake on Feb. 22, 2011.