FIVE YEARS OF FRUSTRATION

 
 

A drone flight over Christchurch, courtesy of ABC News (Australia).

"I still live in a city where truths so often don’t make it through the gridlocked gauntlet of publishing. I live in a city where so much of what should be being discussed is not being discussed. I live in a city where the politicians who are supposed to be speaking for the people seem to have lost their voices. I live in a city where many are still suffering while most sit back and watch. I still feel anger, disappointment and frustration that after five years the government is silent, the media is silent, the regulators are silent and in the main so is the affected population.

I watch and wait as ‘Christchurch’ has become the on-going saga about an unprecedented catastrophe, with an affected population largely left to wallow in its own misery. After years of being involved in Christchurch what emerges is a story of a very sorry state of affairs, a story of incompetence, dishonesty, professional vested interests, cynical corporate greed and government complicity and self-service." Sarah Miles, author of The Christchurch Fiasco: The Insurance Aftershock and its Implications for New Zealand and Beyond. Sarah blogs at The Christchurch Fiasco.