Martine Rolls: Christchurch still strong

It's a big cliche of course, but time really does fly. It's hard to believe that today at 12.51pm it has been a full year since that devastating earthquake hit Christchurch.

I remember well how so many Cantabrians turned to Twitter and Facebook to let the world know that something seriously bad had happened in their beautiful city.

Through Twitter and Facebook we soon learned that people were trapped, many were missing, that people had died and that many more were seriously injured.

People tweeted that the Canterbury Television and the Pyne Gould Corporation buildings had collapsed with many people inside. It soon became clear that the historic cathedral was severely damaged, and that the heavy masonry of Cashel Mall had come down, trapping and crushing people inside.

Social media was used to tell all, it was personal and dramatic and much faster than anything else as it took a little longer for the news footage to appear on TV.

Then came the stories on heroic rescues, how survivors were pulled from underneath the rubble, followed by tales about the people's resilience and about hope.

Millions of dollars were raised through a number of fundraising efforts organised all over New Zealand and beyond.

The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, a registered charity, continues to support Cantabrians and the areas of focus are hardship and relief, education, environment, economic revitalisation, culture and heritage, as well as spiritual needs.

Donations are still needed and the best place to start if you'd like to find out more about it is charities.govt.nz/news/christchurch-quake.

The recommendation is to give to large, well-known charities like the Red Cross but there are plenty of other fundraisers to help Christchurch and its people back on their feet, and you may like to take a look around these to see where and how you would like to show your support.

I quite like a simple but hugely popular initiative that carries the tagline: warming hearts, warming toes, warming Cantabrians. You'll find it on aftersocks.co.nz.

Make sure to also look out for the Sock Monkey when browsing this site. It's too cute to miss.

There are plenty of local groups and organisations that have been very active in their support for the people of Christchurch from the beginning. One of them is Rise Up Tauranga. It's a group of hundreds of individuals here in the Bay that volunteer to help Cantabrians who now live in Tauranga. You can find them on Facebook.

The help and support these people give varies.

Some take people to doctors or offer rides to the airport, others drop off meals, or link people with health and social services.

It is a wonderful, on-going initiative.

The Otumoetai Church of Christ was on board and they actively raised funds to help Rise Up Tauranga support people from Christchurch with relocating costs like letting fees, petrol, shopping vouchers, and school fees.

The Lions also stepped in and set up the Lions Disaster Fund and mobilised over 1200 members to help where required.

Today we remember, but, as we do, Canterbury is focusing on recovery as the quakes have broken all but the spirit of Christchurch people.

Many even say that the disaster has brought the community closer together.

The city is slowly but steadily getting on with the rebuild.

To keep an eye on what is going on in Christchurch at the moment, take a look at rebuildchristchurch.co.nz.

Cantabrians are rebuilding their lives and their city and broken buildings are being demolished to be replaced by stronger new ones.

So this time next year, who knows what Christchurch's city centre will look like? I bet you it will be beautiful.