Despite its peace, Christchurch painfully used to trauma

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Ahmed Tani settled in Christchurch as a refugee in 1999. After his escape from civil war in Somalia, the New Zealand city seemed a place of peace, a haven.

Christchurch was more than just physically distant from the bitter strife he had previously known. With its leafy streets, vibrant gardens and green public parks, the Garden City as it is known was even visually a world away from the desolation of his war-scorched past.

A teacher in Somalia, in Christchurch he first became a taxi driver, a choice made by many refugees whose qualifications are often not accepted in their new homeland. He struggled at first to settle in to a place so different from any he had known. But bit by bit he accepted Christchurch and it accepted him. It became home.

That feeling of peace was shaken for the first time at lunchtime Feb. 22, 2011, when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake caused many of the buildings in Christchurch's city center to come crumbling down. People were trapped under the rubble and rescuers raced to save them in time. In the end, 185 people would die.

For years after the quake, Christchurch was a city without a heart. Many of the buildings that formed its center had been destroyed or had to be demolished, and even its iconic central Anglican cathedral was partly collapsed. Schoolchildren who lived through the quake manifested higher levels of stress and anxiety than peers elsewhere in New Zealand.

Gradually though, Christchurch rebuilt, dragging itself up again both physically and spiritually. New buildings sprang from old and the community formed stronger bonds that allowed a human resurgence, a rebirth.

But the idyll of Christchurch was shattered once again on Friday.

Tani was walking toward the Al Noor mosque for afternoon prayers. He...