Today has been a very sad day as we remembered the 185 who died as a result of the February 22nd earthquake last year. More than 100 of these victims were local Christchurch people. However, many who died were students at the English language school in the CTV building and they came from many countries. There were also tourists and overseas workers who were killed that day.
The victims came from many countries: 28 from Japan, 23 from China, 9 from the Philippines, 6 from Thailand, 3 from Israel, 2 from South Korea and 1 from each of these countries: Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Romania, Serbia, Taiwan, Turkey, the UK and the US. Most of these people were young, in their 20s.
After the memorial service in Hagley Park, there was special Japanese service for the Japanese victims. All around the city, people remembered the victims of the earthquake in many different ways.