16.11.10 Pines Beach, Kairaki Beach signs near Waimakariri River Mouth
16.11.10. Pines Beach focus. Two months post 4 September 2010 quake, M7.1, I drove north of Christchurch to Kairaki Beach & Pines Beach to snap liquefactioned houses on beach-sand.
16.11.10. Waimakariri River / Brooklands Lagoon confluence, Kairaki Beach. End of Brooklands Spit left, Brooklands right, Port Hills behind
16.11.10. Post quake, Kairaki Beach signs
Featherstone Ave, Kairaki Beach: Bumpy road, repairs done. New tarseal formed road-stripes in the road-dip to the camp-site. Whitebaiters tended their nets at Waimakariri River mouth, despite health hazard WARNING signs about sewage-pollution. Roadside, concrete-drain &concrete-manhole raised above road-surface. Orange-plastic-road-cone warnings. Grey-liquefaction dusty.
16.11.10. Liquefaction damaged, concrete & iron drains, Featherstone Ave, Kairaki Beach. Quake raised, concrete & iron manholes, common damage in Canterbury
16.11.10. Liquefaction tilted, concrete & iron drain near Waimakariri River Yacht Club, Featherston Ave, Kairaki Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction tilted, concrete & iron drain, Featherstone Ave, Kairaki Beach
16.11.10. Quake snapped, concrete garage floor, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete path, quake tilted, garden gate, shoved up by quake shifted house, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. House junk by quake tilted, power pole, Dunns Ave / Reid Memorial Ave, Pines Beach
A Pines Beach resident we'd met at Kaiapoi told us that 70 houses out of a total of 300 Pines Beach houses were badly damaged by the quake, especially houses on the flats. Her hilltop house was undamaged.
I drove rutted Reid Memorial Ave to the beach. I found the concrete-building on a dune undamaged. It had good foundations. On my bumpy way back to Pines Beach village I saw fence-signs stating Pegasus Bay Walkway was closed.
16.11.10. Post quake, Pegasus Bay Walkway CLOSED sign, Reid Memorial Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Blue portaloo, Pines Hall, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Yellow stickered, quake tilted house, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Yellow stickered, quake tilted house, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
Pines Beach: Blue portaloos on roadsides. Liquefaction-sand everywhere. Tilted power-poles, supported by concrete-blocks. Houses on dunes looked OK, but ghost-houses on sandy flats were trashed, deserted; white-plastic-tape-cordoned DANGER KEEP OUT. Ghost-houses were shifted forwards, backwards, sideways; sunk into liquefaction-sand; cracked concrete-paths, driveways, walls; tilted, twisted-houses; toppled-chimneys caused roof-holes & wall-holes; broken-garages, broken-sheds, broken-awnings, broken-trellises; wood-deckings awry; curtains closed;locked-doors, closed-windows, some warped open; gates awry; broken, leaning fences; weeds, long grass overgrowing devastation; rubbish & junk in gardens: old shoes, clothes, plates, garden furniture...
Hood Ave, Pines Beach: Ghost-houses red-stickered, sunshine-faded red-stickers pink.
After glaring at me from his Chichester St house, a grizzled drunk staggered over, while I snapped Batten Grove ghost-houses. He slopped a half-empty glass of red-wine, reeking sweat, booze. Red-faced, eyes staring, he growled, "WHY are you photographing?"
I explained photo-blogging. It took a while to sink in. He growled there'd already been burglaries in empty-houses, but he was last there, in his red-stickered, twisted, tilted house, shifted 20 centimetres sideways in the quake. He yelped that an aftershock had shifted nearby land about 30 centimetres, another aftershock had shifted it back again.
He barked that a builder had laid a concrete-foundation at his neighbour's Chichester St house, days before the quake. He'd lost $10,000, as the quake had cracked the foundation at every corner. Insurance didn't cover damages during building!
16.11.10. Liquefaction tilted, cracked house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Shoe. Quake damaged, house foundation, grey liquefaction silt, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Grass. Quake damaged foundation, grey liquefaction silt, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted house, damaged foundation, tilted power pole, Chichester St, Pines Beach
He showed me his friendly mastiff, putting its front paws on the low garden-wall, letting me pat its huge head. The drunk whined, "The wise man built his house upon the rock..." He waved at his undulating, wooden-decking, shaky, wooden-trellises, growling that I must look at his shifted hell-house. I did, up the gravel driveway to the back of his tilted house. When I asked if I could snap, he shook his head, stumbled through his front door, barking, "I'm sick of tourists & aftershocks!"
16.11.10. NO ENTRY quake damaged house, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction damaged house, decking & garden, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction silt ooze, quake damaged house & decking, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon, quake tilted, power pole supported by concrete block, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged house, overgrown garden, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. House damaged by toppled chimney, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, wall hole & roof due to toppled chimney, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, overgrown backyard, Chichester St / Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, house front, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. EQC inspection mark on letterbox, quake damaged house, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete house path, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, house wall, separated from concrete path, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, white / blue house, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, house front, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, house, liquefaction silt, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, garage, liquefaction damaged driveway & fence, white, plastic, tape codoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted garage & fence, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Two quake tilted houses, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Two quake tilted houses below grassy dune, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Two quake tilted houses, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, brown / green house, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Red stickered, house door, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Faded red sticker, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, tilted, twisted brown house, separated from concrete path, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, tilted garage, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, tilted garage, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway & wall, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, tilted fence, quake shifted house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave / Reid Memorial Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction silt, quake damaged house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Reid Memorial Ave / Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake split, house wall, Reid Memorial Ave / Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged house, Reid Memorial Ave / Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake split, fence pole & fence moved more than a foot by quake, Reid Memorial Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Reid Memorial Ave view, quake damaged house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Pines Beach. See split wall & toppled chimney
16.11.10. Backyard view, quake damaged house, Reid Memorial Ave / Hood Ave, Pines Beach. See toppled chimney
Reid Memorial Ave: Ghost-house, split, abandoned. In the backyard, on the dune, two devil-dogs stared at me through kennel-fences: an Alsation rised up, a sheepdog lay, waiting.
16.11.10. Liquefaction damaged house, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Loose wiring, quake loosened window frame, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Sow thistle. Quake stickers on window, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted house, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, house wall, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Teddy bear. Quake damaged, house window, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, house door, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, house wall & door, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction silt, overgrown grass, quake sunk house, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10, Liquefaction silt, overgrown grass, quake sunk house cnr, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Faded red sticker, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction damaged, house fence, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway & house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, concrete, house wall, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged driveway & house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Rubbish, quake damaged fence, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Overgrown garden, quake damaged house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction silt, overgrown driveway, white, plastic, tape cordon, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
*Trekked Featherstone Ave, Dunns Ave, Reid Memorial Ave, Chichester St, Hood Ave, Batten Grove. 78 snaps.
09.12.10. The Press reported that Pines Beach dairy-owner, Dunns Ave, would be closing down business. The owner said that out of 307 Pines Beach houses about 90 houses would need to be rebuilt.
Facebook:
@Maggie. Bet there're many planners, councillors, surveyors, engineers, architects, builders, estate-agents... ducking for cover, since their sins sank into sand.
There are Council blue-white, threat-signs before damaged areas like Avonside & Spencerville / Brooklands: "Non residents are asked not to enter this area. Traffic may cause further damage to roads and properties. Please respect the needs of local residents." 18 November 10.05am.
04.09.10 Some Canterbury quake-towns. 79 new snaps. 18 November 11.02am.
@Andrew. Pines Beach, I saw several twisted, tilted ghost-houses, moved about 20cm from cracked-concrete around them at Hood Ave & Battern Grove, all built on sand. 20 November 3.27pm.
Our landlord checked our Heath St rental today. Found cracked-wood under the roof & a cracked-roof-truss, aftershocks-damage. Claims must be submitted to EQC by the end of the month, 3 months post-quake. 20 November 3.53pm.
Three more aftershocks last night: 11.55pm-2.10am (Mon-Tues) M3.6, M3.0, M2.8, 10 km-20km W of Christchurch (GeoNet). Disturbed my sleep, acid reflux. 30 November 9.20am.
@Averil. Tremors throughout NZ, mostly unfelt, depending on depth of quake & distance from the epicentre, as NZ is on the Pacific / Australian tectonic-plates. There are only extinct volcanoes near Christchurch. Nearby Port Hills & Banks Peninsula were formed by volcanoes.
Auckland is built on 49 hopefully extinct volcanoes. Other volcanoes on the North Island: Mt Taranaki / Egmont (eroding quickly), Mt Tongariro, Mt Ngauruhoe, Mt Ruapehu which is active: erupted, 2007 & 1996, spewing ash. It's about 800km north of us.
As Rotorua is north of Mt Ruapehu it has hot-springs, boiling mud-pools, electricity produced from steam, etc, built on the edge of a caldera. After arriving in NZ, we visited Rotorua. Sons remember hydrogen-sulphide, rotten-eggs smell. Fumeroles: gusts of hot, roaring-gases from holes in the ground by boiling mud-pools. Hot-water-pools, geysers around town, usually safety-fenced. Tourists love Rotorua: sense of danger, spas.
Hanmer Springs, about 100km north of Christchurch, has a hot-water-spa, we go there for a dip.
Big aftershocks now, after BIG 4 September 2010 quake, hopefully they'll subside. We ride them, like wobbling on a canoe. 2 December 1.48pm.
Coda:
19 August 2011. The Press reported that on 18 August 2011 NZ National govt / CERA announced: "940 orange zone houses in the district including 840 in Kaiapoi and 80 in Pines Beach are placed in the red zone..." Pines Beach dune-top housing wasn't red-zoned. Kairaki Beach was also red-zoned.
Sunday 14 December 2016. Valentines Day, M5.7 quake. Liquefactioned Featherstone Ave, Kairaki Beach again.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
