In the wake of the earthquake that struck Christchurch last month, GeoEye captured some fresh imagery of the area and has now made it available to everyone.
While the imagery is a bit cloudy, it really gives a sense of the widespread damage in the area. These images were captured two days after the quake, on February 24.

To view the imagery in Google Earth, they’ve made a few files available for you to download:
• Central and Northern Christchurch

• Southern Christchurch

[UPDATE 28-March-2011: The Royal NZ Air Force flew over Christchurch two days after the quake. Very high resolution aerial imagery can be viewed on this Google Map. via GoogleMapsMania
As Frank mentioned on the Tahina Expedition blog a few days ago you’re encouraged to contribute to the families affected by the quake on the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal site.
(Via National Business Review)
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.
There’s much clearer imagery dated the 26th
http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/christchurch_earthquake/earthquake/geoeye/Christchurch_GeoEye-1_2011-02-26/Christchurch_GeoEye-1_2011-02-26.kml
Wow, those pics really capture the devastation of the quake; destroyed buildings, houses, dust everywhere. Viewing it from an “aerial” view from the sky gives a much clearer picture of the damage than from the ground.
I cannot open the pics, what program should I use?