Series of Major Quakes Raised Difficulties of Reconstruction for Christchurch New Zealand

Over 20 quakes struck Christchurch City of New Zealand within just one day in
mid-June, causing injuries, destruction of houses, and failure of power as well as
water systems. Back in late February this year, a strong quake scaled 6.3 shook the
city and took 181 lives; and further back in September of 2010, an unprecedented
quake scaled 7.1 took place in the same region without causing any casualties.
Series of strong quakes have been confirmed to be the result of several new faults
underground near the disaster-affected region; meanwhile, existing faults have also
been activated. Both phenomena have increased the possibility of earthquake
occurrences while decreasing the performance of reconstruction in the city.