Christchurch Earthquake - wife returns 12 months on.

My wife has returned to NZ for a family 50th, and spent 2 nights in Christchurch City, which is a city we lived in many years ago.

She took a tour around to look over the results of the earthquake 12 months ago. She says the city itself is destroyed. Whole blocks have been levelled and now planted out in wildflowers. Other areas are still no-goes. You can drive past reasonably new appartment blocks (multi story) and see where windows fell out, and ragged curtains blow in the wind. No one is allowed back in for any reason, while they await their turn for demolition.
Her house (well she owned it as a 20yr old) survived but it has patches on the roof (permanent) where obviously the 3 fire places fell into the house.
She is staying with her cousin, and they have a modern (rather nice) home, and they are waiting to see if they are 'red stickered' (out never to return) because of the liquication. They missed it but the house next door was unendated.

The neices home was damaged and interior doors stuck, so they had to remove them permanently. They were kept out of their home until the exterior doors were removed and 'shortened' so they worked (it is illegal to live in a residence without a min of 2 exterior doors working properly. Their foundations 'rolled'. They think they may be 'red stickered' in the future - not sure - but it is home.

Wife said she went thru 3 good shakes last night. The first one she thought someone was lowering-raising a garage door, except it just went on and on. Nobody stopped eating or drinking. They just carried on. They were only around 5. She says they fear the 'big ones'.

Anyway, thought I would mention it.

Cheers
Phillip

Re: Christchurch Earthquake - wife returns 12 months on.

Whole blocks have been levelled and now planted out in wildflowers.



Why is this?

Why not rebuild?

Is the entire area still unstable?

Loosened subsoil?

Re: Christchurch Earthquake - wife returns 12 months on.

Money - loose your business in 2 mins, and your building, and never to be able to return to recover anything.
Insurance - brother lost his building (100miles South) and his shortfall was large.
Compliance and City Codes. They are re-evaluating some of them to prevent same again, and having something better.
Much of the city centre is still as it was at time of quake. There is just too much to get thru.
A highrise 5 star hotel sunk (liquication) in one corner and they are dismantling it before it topples with another quake and takes out a block.
Wild flowers are to cover cleared blocks (just dirt surface) to prevent dust, rain washing soil off (mud) and to look soft and nice.
Liquication is an issue, although little in this area, but if another big quake brings it, then the future is anyones guess.
The costs to date have overpowered the country.

Cheers
Phillip

Re: Christchurch Earthquake - wife returns 12 months on.

I just hope Anita is safe. Sounds scary to me.

Re: Christchurch Earthquake - wife returns 12 months on.

hey kiwi, I didn't realise it was that bad over there still. it was a beautiful city last time I was there. I hope everything works out well for your family and friends mate. best wishes

Re: Christchurch Earthquake - wife returns 12 months on.

A year is not really very long when trying to recover from a disaster of that level. Massive destruction and little money to rebuild. Sounds like there are still ground stability issues there..

Just as an example, in June 2008 Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa experienced flooding that exceeded what was the considered to be the 500-year flood plain. 3 1/2 years later, a majority of the rebuilding (where allowed) is just getting underway, in the planning stages or still looking for funding. It will still be years before the "new normal" is achieved. After the first year, they were just barely beyond the point of scratching their heads, wondering where to start.

Re: Christchurch Earthquake - wife returns 12 months on.

Anitas' back. Didn't mind batching, but boy, sort of missed the company toward the end. Doing 2 jobs was no fun either, raising the point of increasing the staff #'s by 1.

She tells me Christchurch is really bad. Strange things arose that she had to deal with.

But first, not looking for sympathy or anything. I watch a US cooking show presented by a middle age American, real down to earth, rugged and no glamour and B/S - he went around Latin and Sth American experiencing local quisiene. My point is, he went to New Orleans, and drove around the damaged area, and I am sure that is many times worse. It opened my eyes.

Anita visited her friend J, who lives on a busy road. There is a pothole on the road outside and everytime an empty truck hits it J freezes. Anita reckons here nerves aren't too good, and to top it off J is an accountant, and by that I mean a very quiet, sensible, logical thinking type woman, but the quakes have got to her.

Her other friend L was away visiting kids, so flew back for the day. Her brothers have a law firm (was Dads) in a new highrise (20yrs old) in the city centre (surprise surprise - I sold my old 3 story building 25 yrs back for part of the land this high rise covers). They have not been back so can't retrieve anything. They are operating in the suburbs. The highrise will be repaired - stairwells collapsed on each other etc. Anita and L arranged to meet at the Coffee Club, and 2 days before, the Mall was closed for structual reasons. They did go elsewhere, but that's the way people live.

Her close cousin who she was with has a laboratory business and that was damaged. Couldn't get her car out for 7 weeks. Says 'you want to think over how to get home when roads don't work, nor phones etc and you live a long way out'. Walked for over an hour when some kid offered her his bike. She is not 60, but went in and spoke to the parents about how to return the bike, who were able to get her and several others home. She has lost her building but will recover some in insurance, terminated her contracts as she can't get her equipment out - and believe me there is a lot of money involved. Staff are professional and gone over to another service. She is going to throw the towel in and retire to her crafts. (Nat President of one). She is talking of building a Gallery and rooms on another site she owns for all the Guilds and Clubs, to rent work rooms and facilities and run exhibitions from etc. She has another one elsewhere.

Anita says people won't go into 2 story buildings, won't stay in shopping centres for more than min time to get what they want etc. Reckons its the right time to buy up some property there, but if I was 20 yrs younger - I don't know.

Anyway my routine is back in order.

Cheers
Philip

Re: Christchurch Earthquake - wife returns 12 months on.

Phil, do you think that some of the zoning for bigger building has been moved to areas were there is a better base to build on?
Seems that area is much like the area around Vancouver BC all flat land delta, and like Christchurch they are waiting for the big one to hit at any time.

(Every 300 years +- and over due by 50 years +-)