It is six months today since the February earthquake which killed 181 people. The city of Christchurch has changed completely in that time. The central city is still closed while buildings are demolished. 370 buildings have been demolished so far. Another 530 badly damaged buildings will be repaired or demolished shortly. Sometimes the insurance company decides it is too expensive to repair a building; instead it is demolished. Most of the big hotels in the city will be demolished. Many churches, shops, restaurants and bars will be demolished.
6040 houses in the residential red zone will be demolished. Many of these houses are beside a river and the land cannot be used for houses. The first 3000 offers from the government to buy their property were posted in the weekend.
20 roads outside the central city are still closed. Some of those roads are on the hills where there is still a worry about falling rocks. It could be another four months before owners of houses on the hills know if their house will be demolished.
After-shocks are continuing. Today there were two moderate after-shocks: 4.2 and 4.3.
To find out more about the damage caused by Christchurch earthquakes, type “earthquake” in the search box.
Vocabulary
Note the noun from “demolish” is “demolition”
Residential – where people live. A house is a residence. Verb: reside in /at
Grammar
Note the structure: too expensive to repair; too does not mean “very” – it is a negative word.
This is a very useful structure: too + adjective + infinitive e.g. too late to phone, too tired to work, too hot to sleep. Think of some examples for yourself.