Parker: City must fight for a future

Bob Parker. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has warned that delays in the earthquake recovery could jeopardise the city's future.

In a speech to open the first Christchurch City Council meeting since the February 22 quake, Mr Parker said some hard decisions lay ahead for the devastated city and "the need for leadership has never been stronger".

"This is an utterly and absolutely unprecedented time in the history of not only this city but the country. Very few cities ... have had to come to terms with the scale of events that are in front of us," Mr Parker said.

"Our city sits in a very finely balanced place at this time. This city will have to fight for its place in the sun again. It is, you could say, a glorious challenge in the most difficult of times."

With tens of thousands of homes needing to be replaced or repaired, and the city centre still largely cordoned off, Mr Parker said he was looking forward to the day when the state of emergency lifted and Christchurch moved into "a state of real recovery".

"But we still don't have clarity on that. It may be two weeks away, three weeks away. It's certainty that I think we as a council and we as a community look forward to getting as soon as possible.

"The need for us as a city to be able to work quickly towards solving the massive issues that are in front of us [is] directly linked to the ability of this city to survive ...

"We need to be swift and sure in the actions we take in the coming months. Unnecessary delay would, in a cumulative way, impact on the ability of the city to get up and running."

Aside from the great work of Civil Defence, emergency services and central Government, Mr Parker said, the real story of what had happened in Christchurch was at the grassroots level.

"[It] is neighbour working with neighbour. It is the people in the west [of Christchurch] driving to the east to help. It is the communities right across this city that have shown a stoicism and courage in the face of the most dreadful situation."

Meanwhile, Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean says authorities must plan for the fact that up to a dozen people lost in the quake will not be formally identified.

Unidentified remains taken from the collapsed Canterbury Television building could be cremated or buried together, similar to what occurred after the 1979 Mt Erebus air crash disaster, when 257 people were killed.

Judge MacLean said meetings with families and consular representatives of those unidentified victims would begin from today to come up with a plan.

An inquest could then be held to declare those people legally dead.