Roger Sutton- February 22 | Canterbury Opinion | Local Voices from Canterbury, New Zealand

Like so many of you, I find it hard to believe an entire year has gone by since that devastating day. I think it will always be one of those "where were you when" moments.

Like thousands of others in the city, and in fact around the region, I will never forget where I was on 22 February, 2011, or those strange, intense, frightening hours after.

I won't forget that longest of nights when the team at Orion worked around the clock to get the power back on as quickly as possible.

I'll never forget turning up on my bike at the PGC site just as the last survivor was pulled from the rubble, some 20 hours after the quake. People who had no connection personally to that survivor wept alongside emergency workers and reporters.

Our memories of that fateful day and the havoc it wreaked on our community with its mud and chaos are still raw even a year on.

Yet here we are, 12 months on, and our city is showing the first signs of rebuild: with 26 significant buildings under construction within the four avenues and 98 per cent of all homes in Christchurch given final zonings so people can make choices about their future.

We need to move forward now with the same strength that got us through the last year. We must continue to help and support each other celebrate our successes, but be there for friends family and colleagues when the going gets tough. To pay the ultimate homage to the ones we have lost we must focus on the future and building a city that inspires people from all over the world.

* Roger Sutton is chief executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.