<P> With an estimated 10,000 houses requiring demolition and over 100,000 damaged, plans were developed for moderate - term temporary housing . Approximately 450 fully serviced mobile homes would be located on sites across the city including Canterbury Agricultural Park and Riccarton Racecourse . The Department of Building and Housing also released a plan for the construction of 500 modular homes . While emergency repairs were performed on damaged houses by Fletcher Construction, rebuilding would be delayed by the need for full land assessments, with the possibility that some of the worst - affected areas in the eastern suburbs might need to be abandoned due to land depression and severe liquefaction, with the residents offered relocation to new subdivisions under their EQC insurance policies . </P> <P> On the day of the earthquake, the main secondary school teachers' union, the Post Primary Teachers Association, had arranged a paid union meeting to be held that afternoon for members in the Christchurch area . This meant most secondary schools in the city had closed early that day and most students had returned home before the earthquake hit, by coincidence limiting potential casualties . </P> <P> Canterbury University partially reopened on 14 March 2011, with many lectures held in tents and marquees while work was carried out on university buildings . All courses expected to resume by 28 March, with plans for the April break to be shortened by two weeks to make up for lost time . </P> <P> The UC CEISMIC Canterbury Earthquakes Digital Archive programme was established in 2011 by University of Canterbury Professor Paul Millar . It is a project of the Digital Humanities department, with the aim of preserving the knowledge, memories and earthquake experiences of people of the Canterbury region . </P>

Destruction on the new zealand city of christchurch