Thursday, September 30, 2010

Sun 05.09.10. Darfield Quake. Day 2. Christchurch Damaged Streets & Buildings

Sun 05.09.10. Day 2 after Darfield Quake, Christchurch State of Emergency: I woke at 4:30 awaiting a quake. Nothing happened, but it would be a dangerous day during the State of Emergency to be snapping, as there were few cordons protecting pedestrians, like fences, shipping containers, orange, plastic, road cones, red or white, plastic bollards, just plastic tape: white, yellow, red tape.

Few bldgs had been inspected safe, or not, no red, yellow, or green inspection stickers were on any bldgs yet. Roads had been graded "clean" of rubble, which was heaped on pavements & roadsides, allowing traffic flow outside the CBD cordon.

Leah stayed at home, uneasy about trekking dangerous quake streets. I wanted to photo-document damage about the Christchurch I'd known for 15 years since our arrival in NZ, before it disappeared.

For safety, we texted each other throughout, when I changed streets & when Leah heard a quake broadcast on radio or TV, like people shouldn't use their cell phones too much, to save cell phone tower power; or the latest aftershock & its magnitude: "Did you feel that quake?" Me: "No?" Funny, while driving or walking I never felt any aftershocks. A surreal day.


05.09.10. Quake damaged garden wall, Rossall St / Glandovey Rd. Wall would be repaired after 4 weeks. Pointless repairing sooner due to aftershocks. The brick wall would be damaged again by the 22.02.11, M6.3 quake & subsequent quakes. The brick wall would be repaired / rebuilt 3 x


05.09.10. Quake damaged garage by fallen chimney, Straven Rd / Heaton St. 5 months post quake, still no repairs due to slow insurance settlement


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Heaton St


05.09.10. Tarp on quake damaged roof, Heaton St.

Heaton St, Severn St: Christchurch had become colourful with plastic tarps placed on damaged roofs & chimneys. Competing with spring flowers, tarps were a variety of colours: blue, black, grey, green, yellow, orange, red, white... Tarps would stay on roofs, chimneys, walls for months until repairs were done. I snapped damaged roofs & chimneys, a novelty for me.

Within a month EQC would receive claims for 17 000 quake damaged chimneys (The Press).


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney & roof, Heaton St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Heaton St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Heaton St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Heaton St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Heaton St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney & roof, Innes Rd / Papanui Rd. The chimney damaged roof was soon patched, but years later the gutter still hung skew. Insurance hassles?


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Severn St


05.09.10. Quake toppled chimney, Severn St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney & roof, Severn St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Severn St


05.09.10. Quake damaged roof, Severn St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney & roof, Severn St


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Severn St


05.09.10. Wood braced, quake damaged chimney (soon demolished) Severn St


05.09.10. Quake damaged roof, Westminster St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed chimney, Westminster St

Westminster St, Madras St: I snapped quake damages: many tarped roofs, broken chimneys, road cracks.

Madras St / Bealey Ave: Three orange, Hi-Vis vested workmen fixed a broken water pipe in a hole.


05.09.10. Quake damaged house, Madras St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed chimney, Madras St


05.09.10. Steel mesh fence cordon, quake damaged pavement, curb, Madras St. Liquefaction grey silt on pavement


05.09.10. Quake cracked pavement, Madras St


05.09.10. Quake crack across Madras St near Bealey Ave & liquefaction shoving of a concrete manhole about 10 cm above the road surface.

Madras St: A series of 6 concrete manholes were shoved above the road, causing drivers to weave around them for a week, before workmen mounded up the manholes with tarseal, then Madras St became a rollercoaster ride. Despite Council swiftly repairing some roads, for weeks we drove carefully over unrepaired potholes & cracks all over Christchurch. Three weeks post Sept 4 Darfield Quake, Luke would break his collarbone skateboarding over an unseen, pavement pothole at night.


05.09.10. Quake damage to curb, drain & road, Madras St / Bealey Ave


05.09.10. Liquefaction damaged Madras St, cracked pavement & crack across road, slumping across road entering Bealey Ave. Repaired within a week. The crossing would again be damaged by the 22.02.11 quake


05.09.10. Orange, Hi-Vis vested workmen repairing quake burst water pipe, Madras St / Bealey Ave. The drain & water pipe would again be damaged by the 22.02.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake toppled garden wall, Bealey Ave


05.09.10. Quake burst water pipe, Packe St / Bealey Ave. Pipe repaired within days, road tarsealed by month end

Bealey Ave, Packe St, Purchas St: I snapped quake damages: broken garden walls, flooding, cracked roads, cracked pavements, concrete curbs pulled from pavements, liquefaction mud in gutters.


05.09.10. Quake damaged Packe St pavement


05.09.10. Quake cracked Packe St


05.09.10. Liquefaction road slumping & road cracks, Packe St / Purchas St crossing


05.09.10. Liquefaction damaged Purchas St


05.09.10. Liquefaction damaged Packe St / Purchas St crossing

Barbadoes St, Lichfield St, Poplar St: I snapped quake damages: fallen roof tiles, brick walls peeled off houses, shop awnings collapsed on pavements, brick crushed cars.


05.09.10. Quake damaged old brick house wall & chimney, Barbadoes St.

Post quake, would old, brick bldgs lose value? Many old, brick structures were quake damaged. Old, unreinforced bricks & mortar were not quake proof.


05.09.10. Quake damaged brick parapet, side wall & chimney, Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake damaged shop & collapsed awning, Barbadoes St / Armagh St. Many old shop awnings collapsed onto pavements in older Christchurch


05.09.10. Quake damaged shop, Barbadoes St / Armagh St. Post quake, the shop was fenced off for weeks.


05.09.10. Quake damaged cars, bricks fallen from John Burns Co roof, Lichfield St. The bldg would be demolished post 22.02.11 quake

Barbadoes St: Southbound, by a quake trashed shop, a pavement ad board:

FISH &
CHIPS
OPEN

Businesses would battle to stay open in the CBD during future quake years. At the early post quake stage, outer police cordons were fluid. I passed DANGER KEEP OUT, white, plastic POLICE tape at Barbadoes St (no cops around) & trekked down Lichfield St, as I wanted to check the rumour Jake had heard, that his old Poplar St flat was destroyed.

Another quake rumour: Last night we'd heard there was a curfew, but driving along Cashmere Rd below Port Hills, long past curfew time, there was no curfew, as too many cars were driving about. We later heard the curfew was only in the CBD.


05.09.10. Quake damaged John Burns Co, Lichfield St. The bldg would be demolished post 22.02.11 quake


05.09.10. In the cop cordon, taped off Ash street & Poplar Mews (yellow door) were undamaged. A nearby Lichfield St cnr multistorey bldg was quake damaged. Poplar St bldgs would be demolished after serial quake damages, 22.02.11, 13.06.11, 23.12.11

Deserted Madras St / Lichfield St crossing: I asked a cop sitting in a Fulton Hogan truck if I could walk down Madras St to snap Poplar St down Ash St. The cop waved me through. It was strange walking down the middle of deserted Madras St, usually 3 lane, northbound traffic. I saw cops at distant crossings, thinly spread. As it was more than 24 hours after the quake emergency, NZDF soldiers were making a late entrance. While cops did guard duties at CBD crossings, criminals had a ball in the suburbs.


05.09.10. S view, quake cordoned Madras St to Sugarloaf, Port Hills. Cops at crossings


05.09.10. N view, quake cordoned Madras St to Latimer Sq


05.09.10. Quake damaged brick bldg (old stables) already cleaned up, Madras St / Bedford Row. Couple of days later I walked past again, bldg was fenced off, aftershock rubble on the road. The old stable would be demolished post 22.02.11 & 13.06.11 quake damages. 2018. Concrete, tilt slab flats would be built on site.


05.09.10. Quake rubberneckers in the outer cop cordon, Lichfield St / Madras St crossing.

A State of Emergency would evolve the next day for a week & beyond for 10 days, to quell rubberneckers & confront citizens, using fire service, Urban Search And Rescue (USAR), volunteer Civil Defence, cops, NZDF soldiers, navy personnel, while bldg inspectors checked bldgs, grading graded them safe or unsafe with green, yellow, red stickers.


05.09.10. Rubberneckers viewing undamaged Inland Revenue building, Cashel St / Madras St at cops' quake cordon


05.09.10. Quake damaged Provincial Hotel, Barbadoes St / Cashel St. Demolished post 22.02.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged gable, Provincial Hotel, Barbadoes St / Cashel St. Demolished post 22.02.11 quake

Barbadoes St / Cashel St: Like Provincial Hotel, many brick or stone gables on old bldgs were snapped off by the quake, leaving rubble on pavements & roads.


05.09.10. Quake damaged Provincial Hotel, Cashel St / Barbadoes St. Demolished post 22.02.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged gable, Provincial Hotel, Cashel St / Barbadoes St. Demolished post 22.02.11 quake

Within a month scaffolding would be erected by Provincial Hotel, a Titan crane would remove gables, placed on the pavement, the roof repaired. Provincial Hotel would be demolished post 22.02.11 Killer Quake.

Barbadoes St / St Asaph St: Old, brick, Community of the Sacred Name Convent was quake damaged: toppled chimneys, roof damage. The Convent would be serial quake damaged, demolished post 13.06.11 Quake.


05.09.10. Quake damaged old, brick Community of the Sacred Name, Anglican Convent, Barbadoes St / St Asaph St. Bldg was more damaged by Boxing day aftershocks. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged old, brick Community of the Sacred Name, Anglican Convent, Barbadoes Street / St Asaph St. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Barbadoes St / St Asaph St. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney & roof, Barbadoes St / St Asaph St. Bldg was more damaged by Boxing Day Quakes. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake

On the diag opp cnr, another bldg was quake damaged with collapsed roof. Demolished within a week, demolition debris laying on site for months. Next door, quake damaged bldg would be demolished post Boxing Day Quake.


05.09.10. Quake destroyed bldg (soon demolished) St Asaph St / Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed bldg (soon demolished) St Asaph St / Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed bldg (soon demolished) St Asaph St / Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed bldg (soon demolished) St Asaph St / Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Back of quake destroyed bldg (soon demolished) St Asaph St / Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Front of quake destroyed bldg (soon demolished) Barbadoes St / St Asaph St


05.09.10. Barbadoes St, N view, quake damaged brick bldgs, St Asaph St crossing. The bldgs would be demolished


12.09.10. Quake destroyed bldg demolished within a week, Barbadoes St / St Asaph St. Demolition debris lay at the cnr for weeks after the quake. Green bldg would be demolished after Boxing Day aftershocks

Barbadoes St: Quake damaged, Music Centre next to the RC Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament: roof damaged, gables toppled, rubbled carpark. 2009. Luke had done his Royal Schools of Music theory exam & Drum Kit exam there. After serial quake damages the Music Centre would be demolished post 13.06.11 Quake.


05.09.10. Quake damaged Music Centre, Barbadoes St, where my son did his Royal Schools of Music theory exam & Trinity College London Drum Kit exam in 2009. Bldg was more damaged by Boxing Day aftershocks & 2011 quakes. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake rubble, Music Centre entrance, Barbadoes St. Bldg was more damaged by Boxing Day aftershocks & 2011 quakes. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged gable, Music Centre, Barbadoes St. More damaged by Boxing Day aftershocks & 2011 quakes. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Another quake damaged gable, Music Centre, Barbadoes St. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged upper roof by weeping elm, Music Centre, Barbadoes St. More damaged by Boxing Day aftershocks & 2011 quakes. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged lower roof by weeping elm, Music Centre, Barbadoes St. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged turret roof by weeping elm, Music Centre, Barbadoes St. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged gable, Music Centre, Barbadoes Street. Demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimneys (soon demolished) Fitzgerald Ave / Bealey Ave

London St: Checked Leah's Jean Seabrook Memorial School (the only school for dyslexics in NZ then) undamaged by the quake, as it was a new, 2 storey school built with quake proof materials. We heard on the news that Christchurch schools would be closed the following week.

Stanmore Rd: Near Leah's school across Richmond Village Green, I watched an Indian man wearing a red turban cajoling customers into his restaurant with free snacks, as next door Sun Ning Chinese Meals bldg was quake damaged, a 2 storey, brick wall threatening to fall onto his Indian Restaurant. No customers.

From school, Friday 29.10.10, Leah would see Sun Ning bldg demolished. Sun Ning would be rebuilt.


05.09.10. Quaked damaged Sun Ning Chinese Meals, Stanmore Rd. Demolished 29.10.10, state of emergency, then rebuilt

Stanmore Rd: Richmond Methodist Church hall was quake damaged: parapet bricks toppled into the garden. Shocking for Leah, as her school used the church hall. After serial quake damages, the church would be demolished post 13.06.11 Quake.


05.09.10. Quake damaged Richmond Methodist Church hall, Stanmore Rd. Shocking as the wife's school used the church hall, which would be demolished post 13.06.11 quake


05.09.10. Close up, quake damaged Richmond Methodist Church hall, Stanmore Rd. The church hall would be demolished post 13.06.11 quake

Top of Stanmore Rd: At a plastic taped cordon, no cops in sight, a Civil Defence volunteer, wearing an orange, Hi-Vis vest, directed traffic into a detour. He tried turning pedestrians away from the cordon. Two girls drove up, remonstrated with him, lifted cordon tapes & drove through. What right did he have to deny traumatised people? Waving my camera, I smiled, walked through.

Beyond cordon tapes more Stanmore Rd bldgs were quake damaged, like Henry Africa's Restaurant: roof damaged, bricks peeled off side walls, debris on pavement. Henry Africa's Restaurant would soon be demolished.


05.09.10. Quake damaged bldgs, Stanmore Rd. Henry Africa's Restaurant right would be demolished


05.09.10. Quake damaged Henry Africa's Restaurant, brick parapet & roof (soon demolished) Stanmore Rd


05.09.10. Quake damaged cnr, Henry Africa's Restaurant (soon demolished) Stanmore Rd


05.09.10. Quake damaged side of Henry Africa's Restaurant (soon demolished) Stanmore Rd


05.09.10. Quake damaged shop & white, plastic cordon tape, DANGER KEEP OUT, Stanmore Rd

Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd: Shops destroyed, brick facade peeled off, heaps of bricks on the pavement. A telecom cubicle was surrounded by fallen bricks & roof debris, but the glass cubicle was unscathed. The bldg would soon be demolished, shops rebuilt.


05.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake damaged wall fell into neighbour's garden, Barbadoes St. Six weeks later the wall was still covered by a blue tarp


05.09.10. Quake damaged brick bldg front, Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake damaged brick bldg side, Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake flung bricks on stream bank, Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed shops (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd


05.09.10. Quake destroyed shops (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd


05.09.10. Quake destroyed shops (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd


05.09.10. Quake destroyed shops (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd


05.09.10. Quake rubble before Barbadoes St shops (soon demolished & rebuilt) by Edgeware Rd crossing


05.09.10. Quake destroyed fish & chips & hamburger shop (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed shops (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed Redken (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed shops (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed shops (soon demolished & rebuilt) Edgeware Rd / Barbadoes St


05.09.10. No wonder telephone lines were jammed after Christchurch quake. Quake damaged shop (soon demolished & rebuilt) Edgeware Rd / Barbadoes St

Several people had tried phoning us, unsuccessfully post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake. We found Facebook best to communicate, especially overseas.


05.09.10. Quake destroyed bldg (soon demolished & rebuilt) Edgeware Rd / Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Bricks from a damaged house quake flung into a neighbour's driveway, Edgeware Rd


05.09.10. Quake destroyed brick chimney, Edgeware Rd


05.09.10. Quake damaged Hairdressing, Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed Restoration (soon demolished & rebuilt) Edgeware Rd / Barbadoes St


05.09.10. Quake destroyed Restoration (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd


05.09.10. Quake destroyed Restoration (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd


05.09.10. Quake destroyed Restoration (soon demolished & rebuilt) Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd

Opp cnr Barbadoes St / Edgeware Rd: Restoration shop, quake trashed, side brick walls peeled off. Cnr bldgs were often quake damaged, already weakened by traffic vibrations for years. Restoration would soon be demolished. Within 6 weeks new foundations would be laid, Restoration rebuilt.


05.09.10. Quake toppled chimney, Innes Rd

Clouds vanished, late afternoon sun shone in blue sky, so I drove home, picked up my family & rubbernecked quake damage along Barbadoes St again. My morning's snapping was uncrowded, but by afternoon word had spread, Barbadoes St teemed with rubberneckers.

Oxford Tce: Where Jake had flatted in an old house, Avon Loop. If he'd stayed there during the quake, he would've been flooded by grey quakemire. Lateral spreading of Avon River bank had caused the road to crack. Road cracks were so big, it was easy to plunge our limbs deep into cracks, fun fooling around in quake cracks. Little did we know their dangers in future quakes.


05.09.10. Checking a quake crack by a fire engine, Oxford Tce


05.09.10. Quake flooding by Avon River, Oxford Tce


05.09.10. Quake cracked Oxford Tce & white, plastic, cordon tape


05.09.10. Arm in a quake crack, Oxford Tce


05.09.10. Leg in a quake crack, Oxford Tce


05.09.10. Foot in a quake crack, Oxford Tce


05.09.10. Rental house in grey liquefaction mud, Oxford Tce. The house would be red zoned & demolished

Soon student gangs would roam Christchurch streets, shovelling grey quakemire into roadside heaps. Thousands of silt heaps on roadsides, all over Christchurch, became a feature of liquefaction damaged zones, like Avonside, Dallington, Bexley, Halswell.


05.09.10. Seated in a quake crack, Oxford Tce


05.09.10. Heaps of shovelled, grey liquefaction silt, Oxford Tce

Over the next 11 days all over Christchurch, I'd see 1 000s of quakemire heaps shovelled from roads, pavements, gardens, houses. Praises to student leader, Sam Johnson who'd Facebook organized gangs of student silt diggers throughout Christchurch. PM Key was so impressed, he said Johnson should enter politics.


05.09.10. Quake crack, Oxford Tce, slumping Avon River bank, due to lateral spreading

Haiti's January 2010 quake, M7.0, 250 000 dead. September 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, M7.1, no dead. Had Darfield Quake struck at 16.35, instead of 4.35, I'd've been looking for bodies instead of snapping.


05.09.10. Quake crack across Oxford Tce by Avon River

Given Christchurch's widespread quake destruction, I would snap quake images for days. My Nikon Coolpix camera wasn't fancy with huge lens. I had to approach close & dirty, dangerously close.

What about brick dust & asbestos dust hazards from destroyed chimneys? I thought if an aftershock caught me & things started falling, I'd go for the nearest doorway & cover my head. The middle of a street was unsafe, as bricks & stones flew from breaking bldgs. Never mind brick facades collapsing, like in Barbadoes St.

*Trekked Heaton St, Severn St, Westminster St, Madras St, Bealey Ave, Packe St, Purchas St, Barbadoes St, Lichfield St, Cashel St, Stanmore Rd, Edgeware Rd, Innes Rd, Oxford Tce. 117 snaps.

Facebook:

@Tracey. Hectic last few hours. 5 September 4.33am.

@Tracey. Not much sleep. Lots of damage in random areas, thousands of houses look OK. Many garden fences broken, chimneys cracked, toppled. Some roofs damaged. Older brick bldgs near rivers were damaged, roads cracked, slumped, flood damage near rivers too. End of the day, some traffic lights were still not working, power & water, mostly reconnected. Fire engines, cops, power linesmen roaming. Council roadblocks in dodgy areas too, like Bromley sewage works near Avon / Heathcote Estuary. Civil Defence refuges operating. 5 September 5.14am.

Night after the quake. Adrenalin still going. Leah & Luke, sleeping OK. Destruction images in my mind kept me awake. Christchurch authorities condemn crappy, old brick bldgs for demolition, will rebuild safer bldgs.

Damage seen yesterday: mainly old, brick bldgs, huge cracks, glass broken, roofs fallen, bricks popped off (often outer brick walls, metal ties useless). Mounds of rubble scattered all over Chch after clean up of properties, pavements, roads.

Heathcote River, Avon River: turbid, full. Silt & flood damages on river roads, some distance from rivers. Pressures of river water & earthquake forced water into jelly-like swamp soil, squeezing water & silt up in odd places like low lying roads & gardens. Saw road drains sucking tons of water near rivers during the late afternoon. 5 September 6.27am.

@Sun. Trust you & family survived the quake OK. Our lives are defined: before & after the quake, we were there. 7 September 10.57am.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.