From the editor- February 22

Incredible isn't it.

The year, as they do, has just flashed by.

I vividly remember being out and heading south along Fitzgerald Ave a year ago - probably 30mins before the quake, heading back to The Star building in Tuam St to make a 12.30pm meeting.

Just going about normal everyday things, like everyone else in the city. Never could we have envisaged the city was sitting on a timebomb, a one in 10,000 year event that we in our lifetimes would cop.

It's been a very tough year dealing with house insurance issues, the aftershocks in the early stages, and the now constant violent shaking of the house everytime a bus or truck goes by. It feels like it might fall at anytime.

But when the frustation levels rise I always spare a thought for the families who lost people in the quake, and those who were badly injured and maimed. Those are the ones who will carry the grief, the scars and disabilities for the rest of their lives. Houses and bumpy roads can be sorted.

And of the aftershocks, they don't bother me anymore. In the nights after the February 22 quake they were horrendous, but as I've said before, we humans are geared to adapt to most situations.

In war, on the football field, in the boxing ring; the shelling and the knocks, become the norm. The same can be said for constant aftershocks. You simply adapt and absorb.

And we're fortunate to be living in a society like New Zealand.

Yes, there's problems with EQC, but where would Christchurch have been without it?

The Red Cross has been superb - dishing out tens upon tens of millions of dollars, a lot of it donated by the public themselves, the Government has done a huge amount, and its offer for red zone properties is fair given the circumstances. The much maligned city council too has done its bit. They got the water and sewerage system up and running in reasonable time, given the scale of the disaster. And I am qualified to say that - I went without water and sewerage in my smashed neighbourhood for weeks. I got by.

And what of the future?

There's a reasonable chance we will get more decent sized quakes; there are after all two large faultlines in Pegasus Bay that haven't gone off. But most of us Cantabrians will deal with those. We are quake hardened now.

The city will develop - north and west and out towards Leeston, and future generations will have new technology that will be able to pinpoint fault line smore accurately and when they are going to snap.

But the key to our immediate fututre is retaining our young people. They will need to be given the opportunities and incentive to stay. That is one of the main challenges facing our city's leaders.