Christchurch: New Zealand’s second-largest city, Christchurch, on Saturday marked the 14th anniversary of a deadly earthquake that claimed 185 lives of more than 20 nationalities.

According to Namibia Press Agency, an annual public civic memorial service was held at the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial on the banks of the Avon River in the Christchurch city center. A minute of silence was observed at 12:51 p.m., the exact time when the 6.3-magnitude quake struck the city on February 22, 2011, with a depth of only 4 km.

As part of the remembrance, the names of the 185 earthquake victims were read aloud, accompanied by the tolling of a bell for each name. Among those who lost their lives were 24 Chinese students. The Chinese Consulate General in Christchurch conducted a mourning ceremony, attended by representatives of the local Chinese community, to pay respects to the victims.

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger laid a wreath on behalf of the city at the base of the memorial wall, inviting the wider community to lay floral tributes after the ceremony concluded.

The earthquake and subsequent aftershocks caused significant destruction to Christchurch in 2011. Statistics indicated that more than 1,200 commercial buildings were destroyed, and around 90 percent of residential houses suffered damage to varying degrees. The total cost for the reconstruction work was estimated to exceed 40 billion NZ dollars (22.97 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for approximately 10 percent of New Zealand’s gross domestic product.