Today marks four years since Canterbury was hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake - the start of a quake sequence which devastated the area and changed people's lives.
No one died in the 4 September quake but just over six months later, on 22 February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 quake hit. That one claimed 185 lives and left many with life-long injuries.
READ Louise Sutherland returns to the site of her former home in Brooklands for the first time.
While many people's lives have returned to much as they were before the quakes, some still have a long way to go.
Southshore resident Victoria McKinnon said when the earthquake hit at 4.35am on 4 September, she simply could not believe what was happening.
“I almost got shunted out of bed. We had a flatmate at the time and she came running up the hallway and was getting shunted from side to side and almost didn't make it up the hallway,” McKinnon told Radio New Zealand.
Like almost 10,000 others across Canterbury, McKinnon is still waiting for earthquake repairs to start on her home. She still did not know if the house would be rebuilt or just repaired, despite six or seven assessments, she said.