page_title: ChristChurch Cathedral
section_title: Earthquakes
hierarchical_section_title: ChristChurch Cathedral / History / Earthquakes
caption_attribution_description: Christchurch Cathedral, Christchurch.
context_page_description: ChristChurch Cathedral, also called Christ Church Cathedral and Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecrated Anglican cathedral in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 and 1904 in the centre of the city, surrounded by Cathedral Square. It became the cathedral seat of the Bishop of Christchurch, who is in the New Zealand tikanga of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
  Earthquakes have repeatedly damaged the building: in 1881, 1888, 1901, 1922, and 2010. The February 2011 Christchurch earthquake destroyed the spire and the upper portion of the tower, and severely damaged the rest of the building. A lower portion of the tower was demolished immediately following the 2011 earthquake to facilitate search and rescue operations. The remainder of the tower was demolished in March 2012. The badly damaged west wall, which contained the rose window, partially collapsed in the June 2011 and suffered further damage in the December 2011 earthquakes. The Anglican Church decided to demolish the building and replace it with a new structure, but various groups opposed the church's intentions, with actions including taking a case to court.
context_section_description: The Canterbury region has experienced many earthquakes and, like many buildings in Christchurch, the cathedral has suffered earthquake damage.
  1881
  A stone was dislodged from the finial cap of the spire, immediately below the terminal cross, within a month of the cathedral's consecration.
  1888
  Approximately 8 metres of stonework fell from the top of the spire as a result of 1 September 1888 North Canterbury earthquake. The stone spire was replaced.
  1901
  The top of the spire fell again as a result of 16 November 1901 Cheviot earthquake. It was replaced with a more resilient structure of Australian hardwood sheathed with weathered copper sheeting, with an internal mass damper. The repairs were funded by the Rhodes family.
  1922
  One of the stone crosses fell during 25 December 1922 Motunau earthquake.
  2010
  4 September 2010 Canterbury earthquake caused some superficial damage and the cathedral was closed for engineering inspections until 22 September 2010, when it was deemed safe to reopen. Further damage was sustained in the "Boxing Day Aftershock" on 26 December.
  2011 February
  The 6.3-magnitude earthquake on 22 February 2011 left the cathedral damaged and several surrounding buildings in ruins. The spire was completely destroyed, leaving only the lower half of the tower standing. While the walls and roof remained mostly intact, the gable of the west front sustained damage and the roof over the western section of the north aisle, nearest the tower, collapsed from falling tower debris. Further inspections showed that the pillars supporting the building were severely damaged and investigations of damage to the foundations will determine whether the cathedral can be rebuilt on the site.
  Preliminary reports suggested that as many as 20 people had been in the tower at the time of its collapse, but a thorough examination by Urban Search and Rescue teams found no bodies.
  2011 June
  The cathedral suffered further damage on 13 June 2011 from the 6.4-magnitude June 2011 Christchurch earthquake with the rose window in the west wall falling in and raised the question of "... whether the cathedral needed to be deconsecrated and demolished".
  2011 December
  The cathedral suffered further damage from the swarm of earthquakes on 23 December, the largest measuring 6.0 on the Richter magnitude scale, during which what remained of the rose window collapsed.
caption: ChristChurch Cathedral, before the 1901 earthquake damaged its spire
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