New Zealand on Tuesday quietly marked the 11th anniversary of an earthquake that hit the South Island city of Christchurch in 2011, killing 185 people and injuring thousands.
Of the victims, 115 people were killed when the six-story Canterbury Television Building collapsed in the magnitude 6.3 temblor. Among them were 28 Japanese and others from Asian countries including China and Thailand who were studying English at a language school on the third floor.
Due to the ongoing outbreak of the Omicron coronavirus variant in New Zealand, no memorial service was held. Instead, Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel on Tuesday morning laid a wreath at the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial on the banks of the Avon River.
The names of the 185 victims of the disaster were read before a minute of silence was observed.
"Today is the 11th anniversary of the 22nd February 2011 earthquake that devastated so many lives and changed our city forever," Dalziel wrote in a post on social media.
"For too many, once the shaking had stopped, it was the day when the world stood still," she wrote. "Our hearts go out to all the bereaved families here and across the world."
Speaking to local broadcaster Television New Zealand, Dalziel recalled her trip to Tokyo and Toyama in 2020 to offer formal apologies to bereaved families. Among the Japanese victims, 12 were students from a school in the central Japan city.
"I had the privilege of going to Japan and repeating the apology that I made here in Christchurch to those families whose loved ones experienced what was an avoidable death," Dalziel said.
Expressing her disappointment that the community could not come together in person due to COVID-19 restrictions, Dalziel encouraged people to find a way to mark the anniversary.
Maan Alkaisi, who lost his wife Maysoon Abbas when the CTV building collapsed, told Kyodo News on Monday he would mark the day in his usual way, visiting his wife's burial place as well as the CTV building site and the earthquake memorial, with his three daughters.
"It was 20 seconds the earthquake lasted, but it changed all my life," Alkaisi said. He expressed his sadness at not being able to meet with the families of other victims to mark the occasion this year.
In Toyama, Japan, a gathering took place at the Toyama College of Foreign Languages to remember the 12 students who died in the collapsed CTV building.
Tetsuya Kirita, principal of the college, said he will not forget the tragedy of the students who studied in New Zealand, with their minds full of hopes and dreams.
