Sunset over Canterbury plains

With this week’s anniversary of Christchurch’s devastating earthquakes, the focus of the country will rightly be on the many individual tragedies that make up the story of the city’s terrible year, and the tales of extreme courage that made us all proud.

But the story of this year too is the quiet heroism of a whole community, and the proud Cantabrians who have strived through 10,000 earthquakes to keep a city alive.

Being a frequent visitor to Christchurch, where more than half the local MYOB team is based, has given me some insight into what it has taken to get up each day, get the kids to school, go to work – all the ordinary actions the rest of us take for granted – against the background of a damaged city, with its constant reminders of what has been lost and a continuing undercurrent of what still might come.

But I don’t live there, so I can’t truly know what its been like. All I can do, on behalf of our local team, our Australasian organisation, and our community, is pay tribute to over 400,000 quiet heroes who have demonstrated what’s so good about our country and our culture. And that’s not just being staunch and committed. It’s being caring, considerate and courageous. It’s recognising that community matters, that a city matters, and making sacrifices to ensure what was broken can be mended.

In particular, I’d like to single out the city’s businesses for recognition of what they’ve achieved in the past year. The fact that the commercial sector of a whole city was able to pick itself up, dust itself off, relocate (sometimes many times), and continue to support and protect the livelihoods of their community has been inspiring. Doing so with just a narrow drop in the region’s contribution to GDP is nothing short of remarkable.

As an employer of Canterbury people, I do know the terrible fear faced by every business owner on 22^nd February as the true magnitude of the disaster unfolded, and the dreadful worry as we scrambled to locate every team member, and assess how badly they, their families, friends and neighbourhoods had been affected. And I know that, like all Canterbury employers, I could not be more proud of our team – both in Christchurch and around the country – in the way they responded to the crisis, not just over days, but throughout the harrowing weeks and months that followed.

If anything good can be drawn from the experiences of the last year, it is that the spirit of Christchurch – demonstrated over and over again through quake after quake – remains unbroken. And although it may be some time before Christchurch is whole again, its people, community and businesses have emerged stronger and more determined than ever to build something inspiring on the foundations of their once serene city.

It has been said constantly this year, but there’s no better way to express how we all feel as a nation, a people and a tight-knit community of friends: Kia Kaha Christchurch.

Do you have a story to share about your experience?  How did the earthquake impact your business?  Is there a hard working Christchurch business owner you’d like to give a Love Your Work shout out to?  We’d love to hear your stories and reflections of the event, 12 months on.

 

Julian Smith | General Manager – MYOB