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Ian Lochhead, INTBAU member and Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, has written the below appeal for help for Christchurch, following the devastating earthquake on 22 February 2011. Also included below is a statement from Hank Dittmar of the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment. 

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As is so often the case in earthquake situations we have now moved from nature's destruction to the destruction that people cause to their already damaged environments.  Largely because around 200 people have been killed there is now an all out attack on heritage buildings with the suggestion from the Minister for Earthquake Recovery that only the two cathedrals, the Provincial Council Buildings and the Arts Centre (former Canterbury University buildings) among damaged buildings can be considered for retention.  The reality of the situation is that at least as many people have died in two buildings from the 1960s and 1980s that have failed completely than from the failure of older buildings.  Buildings are being demolished with scarcely any consideration for their heritage value and it seems likely that 30% of the central city will be demolished including the majority of heritage buildings.  Luckily the Canterbury Museum was earthquake strengthened in the late 1980s and has survived undamaged.

We have been trying to galvanise the international ICOMOS community into calling for careful assessment of heritage buildings and the safeguarding of as much of the city's heritage as possible.  I'm not sure whether this sort of action is something that the Princes' Foundation undertakes but many of us here feel it would be of enormous value if Clarence House issued a statement about the importance of retaining as much of the city's heritage as possible, now that we know that there are no more survivors to be saved from the rubble.  Something has to be done to cause people to stop and think before they reduce the city to the state of Dresden in 1945.

Ian Lochhead

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Chief Executive of The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, Hank Dittmar said:

"The Christchurch earthquake has damaged one of the world's most  characterful and beautiful cities, and The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment sends its condolences to the people of Christchurch.

"In the aftermath of a disaster, there can be a natural tendency to move forward quickly, and a danger that the character of a place can be lost in the ensuing reconstruction. The Prince's Foundation has worked in New Orleans and Haiti to ensure that heritage and character can be maintained even as buildings and public areas are made earthquake safe. If asked to assist, we are certainly willing to help ensure that heritage preservation, earthquake safety and economic recovery go hand in hand in the recovery process in Christchurch."