Two Japanese families whose daughters died when a six-story office building collapsed in New Zealand's devastating 2011 earthquake prepared Thursday for the upcoming eighth anniversary by visiting key locations around the city of Christchurch.

Twenty-eight Japanese language students were among the 115 people killed when the Canterbury Television Building "pancaked" after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch on Feb. 22, 2011.

Kikuo and Chizuko Suzuki, who lost their then 31-year-old daughter Yoko in the disaster, visited the former CTV building site, which was last year turned into a memorial garden, to lay flowers and pay their respects.

Kikuo, 72, who has come to Christchurch annually from his home in Nagoya in central Japan, had a quiet word to his daughter when he approached the stone monument.

"We've come to visit again this year," he said. "I don't know how long we'll be able to come (to Christchurch)," Kikuo said. "But as long as my strength continues, I want to keep coming."

Chizuko, 71, said she was impressed by how well Christchurch city continues to keep recovering from the earthquake, with more buildings being erected this year.

"There are very few traces of the earthquake left," she said.

(Kikuo (L) and Chizuko Suzuki visit Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial)

Following their visit to the memorial garden, the couple visited the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial, where a commemoration service will be held for the 185 people killed across the city.

The memorial site, which sits alongside the banks of the Avon River, which flows through the heart of Christchurch, includes a memorial wall where the engraved names of all the victims can be seen.

Kikuo said he hopes young people will use the memorial site as a place to remember the devastation of the earthquake.

Also visiting Christchurch are Kazuo and Seiko Horita, from Toyama City, north of Nagoya, whose daughter, Megumi, was just 19 years old when she died in the building collapse.

The couple, also used the opportunity to meet with Megumi's New Zealand host family.

"When I visit this place, all I can think of is how scared my daughter must have been at that time," Kazuo, 64, told Kyodo News.

The Suzuki and Horita families will take part in a memorial service on Friday, organized by Christchurch City Council and New Zealand-based bereaved families.