Pupils Staying Strong

Students from Fendalton Open-Air School in Christchurch are the first group members — calling themselves Faultline Fiction — of the Guardian site to vividly recount what happened when earthquakes struck their city, changing their city and lives forever. “When the aftershocks happen at school, we try to guess the magnitude which is fun and helps us stop from thinking if it is going to get any worse,” the pupils write. “Many schools were badly damaged and some schools have to share sites. Students from one school use the school in the morning and then students from another school come and use the site in the afternoon. A phrase which means so much to us all here is ‘Kia kaha’. It is Maori and means ‘stay strong’ and we are and will continue to be strong as we rebuild our lovely new city.”