That singular earthquake was brutal, and the quakes themselves went on for months and months and months. So it wasn't even a trauma like many which occurs once and then you can recover from. Imagine being the victim of an armed robbery or something, and then having that robbery take place over and over again to various extents for over a year. And imagine having to just go about your daily business while being armed robberied. Going to work, making dinner, spending time with family, getting gas, etc, doesn't matter, there it is again, something incredibly fucked up that you can't hide from or evade. It's happening to everyone, all the time, and you don't know how big it will be or how bad it will be, you just know it's happening and there's nothing you can do. It was basically like living under siege. Most people just tried to get on with it - and did to an amazing extent, but there's no doubt that most people who were in Christchurch and stayed probably have some form of mental scarring from it.

They call it 'resilience' when you just carry on because you basically have to, but I tend to think most of Christchurch was suffering from learned helplessness, denial and repression. The biggest earthquakes weren't just scary, they were world altering in that you felt the ground move like water beneath you, you saw lawns spout geysers, and buildings crumble. Reality itself was fractured and pretty much everyone saw the face of their own mortality. The effects of that period are going to continue for a long time, especially in those who were at vulnerable ages, etc.