National Canterbury Earthquake Memorial Service: Speech From Professor Maan Alkaisi
Monday 22 February 2021
10 Years of Injustice
On behalf of the Quake Families Trust I would like to thank you all for being here with us sharing this special occasion with us.
It was 20 seconds, ten years ago that changed the lives of so many people and has also changed our city forever.
We remember our loved ones who we lost, we express our feelings and sorrow on this special Memorial Day at this special Memorial place.
We remember all the wonderful memories, the wonderful times we spend with our loved ones who we miss dearly.
It is hard to realize that our loved ones who we shared the beautiful memories with became the memories.
I realized that a special bond have been established between our family and a special friendship have been formed between the families irrespective of their culture and country of origin, a bond and friendship that our loved ones created and are part of it.
10 years ago, 185 lives lost, thousands injured and traumatized, 95% of them because of building collapse, 95% were avoidable.
Today commemorate ten years of injustice and mistreatment.
Today remind us of our responsibility to make sure we learn from this tragic experience and honor those lovely people we lost by ensuring their dreams are kept alive by ensuring this will not happen again.
Humanities, call upon us in difficult times to be kind, to help each other and to support each other.
Link to view Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial 2021 (1:30:00)