I drove beside Styx River to Spencerville, en-route to Brooklands, built on a floodplain between Styx River weswards, Brooklands Lagoon eastwards & Waimakariri River nortwards. Given the water volume around sandy, flat Brooklands, including Pacific Ocean further east by Brooklands Spit, Brooklands was doomed: damage to roads & underground-pipes that would keep road-workers & plumbers busy for months. Orange & yellow, roadside-pumps & colourful portaloos showed that Brooklands (like Bexley) was in deep shit. Brooklands was the second suburb where I saw portaloos on footpaths & in gardens. Portaloos would be common in later quakes.
I'd already seen many WARNING CONTAMINATED WATER threat-signs along Avon River banks, Heathcote River banks, beside Avon-Heathcote Estuary. Several WARNING threat-signs were attached to power-poles beside Styx River. Pre-quakes, Council intermittently pumped sewage-overflows into Christchurch rivers for years. Post-quakes, Christchurch rivers became open-sewers.
A South African family we knew at Brooklands shared portaloos with neighbours for two months post-quake, after which they had a dodgy sewage-reconnection to their home.
12.11.10. WARNING CONTAMINATED WATER, post-quake signs were erected by Christchurch rivers & Styx River, Lower Styx Rd, Spencerville.
The SA family's Brooklands home was so badly tilted by the quake that marbles placed on floors rolled on their own. When doors were opened they continued opening on their own. Yet more than two months post-quake, they still waited to hear from EQC whether they could rebuild their Brooklands home or not.
EQC's media language & graphics were excuses for delays. Example:
"We now have over 138 000 claims in our system which has exceeded our expectations and there are obviously more to come... The quantity of claims and the flow of new claims will make it more difficult to meet our targets of settling claims under $10 000 by Christmas and to inspect all claims by March. While that remains our intent we will review the situation after the December 4 deadline for claims when we will know the final numbers." (The Star 01.12.10).
For weeks EQC full page adverts in newspapers gave increasing claims-totals, bar-graphs of claims-progress & South Island maps of claims-inspected. EQC didn't cope well with the volume of claims, employing more staff, growing quickly, but not quickly doing what it was supposed to do: quickly settling claims, repairs, rebuilds.
EQC on trashed sewer-pipes: "There has been some publicity about the need for and benefits of having sewer pipes between a house and the road checked out even when there is no obvious sign of damage. This is up to the property owner. The usual method is by video survey. You can get your sewer pipes checked out at your own cost. If earthquake damage is confirmed, then EQC will repay the cost of the video survey and meet the cost of repairs according to our policies" (The Star 01.12.10.)
It was hard to know what damage was underground, as broken, weakened pipes & roots growing into pipe-cracks would be a problem long after the EQC claims deadline, 4 December, three months post-quake.
Given hidden damages, EQC's three month deadline was absurd. EQC admitted in newspaper adverts that EQC would take months longer to process claims, complete repair-work for claims & reinstate damaged-land.
Another aftershock while typing, shook, creaked our house: 11.44pm; M3.4; depth 7km; 10km W of Christchurch (GeoNet 27 November 2010).
12.11.10. Christchurch City Council post quake sign, Lower Styx Rd, Spencerville, trying to stop public going to Brooklands
Christchurch City Council, blue / white signs were erected in liquefactioned-suburbs post 4 September 2010 quake. The signs were expedient, as they omitted to name councillors, planners, surveyors, architects, engineers, builders, tradesmen, developers, estate agents who'd consented & built the waterside, liquefaction-prone suburbs.
Blue / white signs:
Stronger Christchurch
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.
Christchurch
City Council
Besides banning curious citizens, Council-signs showed ghost-suburbs, bad for businesses in ghost-suburbs like Brooklands. In reality the blue / white signs meant the suburb was doomed to extinction. I'd already seen those blue / white signs at Avonside. (Post 22 February 2011 quake, I would see more of those Council-signs in ghost-suburbs, like Horseshoe Lake).
12.11.10. EQC vehicles, Lower Styx Rd, Spencerville
EQC claims totals had increased for weeks & by 1 December 2010 their media totals were: 15 372 fieldwork complete; 20 278 fieldwork in progress; 88 656 fieldwork not started; 13 501 claims complete. Given that EQC boasted, "1 100 staff working full-time on the Canterbury earthquake. There are almost 600 staff in Christchurch at any one time..." (The Star 01.12.10).
Complaining about slow EQC & insurers, reliant on EQC for info, a doctor awaiting settlement for his damaged, Avonside home said, "We are just stuck between inertia & dithering." (The Press).
12.11.10. Christchurch Mobile Libraries Service notice, Lower Styx Rd, Spencerville. Brooklands mobile library service stopped due to damaged roads
Lower Styx Rd: Power pole, Christchurch City Libraries sign:
Christchurch City Libraries
Mobile Library Service
Because of the recent earthquake at the present time we are unable to service the Brooklands stop.
However, we have resumed the service for Spencerville and Kainga and have extended the time to accommodate for Brooklands customers.
Therefore until further notice the dates and times are as follows...
Christchurch
City Council
Hayders Rd: Trashed concrete, garden-wall, rubble on footpath, buckled brick-driveway. Buckled-road, orange-plastic-road -cone warnings. Dried liquefaction-silt roadside. Orange roadside-pump & yellow-digger repairing road-pipes.
12.11.10. Quake fallen, concrete garden wall, patio, Heyders Rd / Lower Styx Rd, Spencerville
12.11.10. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon, Liquefaction damaged road, drain, Heyders Rd, Spencerville
12.11.10. Liquefaction damaged road, raised manhole, Heyders Rd, Spencerville
12.11.10. Orange pump, yellow digger, post quake repairs, orange, plastic, road cone cordon, Heyders Rd, Spencerville
Lower Styx Rd: Lumpy, bumpy. Grey, liquefaction-grit everywhere. WELCOME TO BROOKLANDS road sign. 30 km/h speed-limit sign. Speed-limit was reduced to stop more road-damage & underground pipes-damage. Green, grey portaloos roadside. Portaloos in gardens. Orange-plastic-road-cones. Yellow-pump, pumping sludge from raised-manhole, middle of road, into a roadside-tank, cordoned by red-plastic-mesh.
12.11.10. Post quake 30 km/h speed limit, quake damaged Christchurch roads, Lower Styx Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Grey portaloo, quake damaged Lower Styx Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Blue portaloos, Lower Styx Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Yellow pump, liquefaction raised drain, orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon within orange, plastic, mesh fence cordon, Lower Styx Rd, Brooklands.
On Brooklands' bumpy roads, after counting 30 liquefaction-raised, concrete-casings & iron-lidded manholes, I stopped counting. There was huge destruction of underground water-pipes & sewage-pipes. Brooklands was in deep shit: broken sewage-pipes, sewage-polluted Styx River.
Brooklands would be trashed by the 22 February 2011 quake.
12.11.10. WARNING CONTAMINATED WATER sign, other signs, Styx River, Lower Styx Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Blue portaloo, Styx River, Lower Styx Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Quake tilted house, yellow portaloo, Lower Styx Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Seafield Lagoon sign, Brooklands. Roads were quake damaged at this housing development
Seafield Lagoon Development off Lower Styx Rd: A year before, a South African family asked me about Seafield Lagoon, as a Kiwi in SA was trying to sell them Lagoon property. I advised there were many developments in Christchurch. They could try Port Hills after their arrival, rather than buying unseen swamp property.
12.11.10. WARNING CONTAMINATED WATER, Seafield Lagoon, Brooklands
Harbour Rd, Nirvana St: Snapped concrete-curbs & buckled road-cracks Grey, liquefaction-grit everywhere. Green-portaloos roadside. Tilted power-poles, some secured at base by a big concrete-block.
12.11.10. Liquefaction silt, rubbish bin, blue portaloo, Harbour Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Blue portaloos, liquefaction silt, tilted power poles, Harbour Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Concrete block supporting quake tilted power pole, Harbour Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Blue portaloos, liquefaction silt, Nirvana St, Brooklands
12.11.10. Quake cracked road start to Seafield Park, Brooklands Lagoon walk, Harbour Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Orange, plastic, tape cordon. Quake snapped curb, carpark, Harbour Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Quake cracked carpark, Harbour Rd, Brooklands
12.11.10. Quake buckled road bricks, Blue Lagoon Dr, Brooklands
Brooklands Lagoon: Crack in shingle by concrete boat-ramp. Lateral-spreading of mud on lagoon shore. Grey quakemire grit by stopbank & public-toilet.
12.11.10. Shingle quake crack, concrete boat ramp, Styx River mouth, Brooklands
12.11.10. Quake crack caused by lateral spreading, Styx River mouth, Brooklands Lagoon
12.11.10. Public toilet view, liquefaction grit, Styx River stopbank, Brooklands
12.11.10. Grey liquefaction grit, Styx River stopbank, Brooklands
12.11.10. Styx River stopbank view, grey liquefaction silt, Brooklands
12.11.10. Undamaged stopbank view, Styx River mouth entering Brooklands Lagoon, Brooklands Spit behind
12.11.10. POLLUTED WATER sign, concrete block & cable cordon, top of Styx River mouth stopbank, Brooklands
12.11.10. Concrete block & cable cordon, stopping vehicles entering liquefaction silt below Styx River stopbank, Blue Lagoon Dr, Brooklands
Days later I drove to Kairaki Beach & Pines Beach, north of Waimakariri River mouth, with a watery view of the end of Brooklands Spit, Brooklands Lagoon & Brooklands, with Port Hills beyond. Brooklands houses were specks amongst vegetation in a vast expanse of water.
Future liquefaction would destroy Brooklands.
16.11.10. Kairaki Beach view, Waimakariri River, Brooklands Lagoon confluence. Brooklands Spit left, Brooklands right. The water doomed Brooklands to liquefaction hell.
*Trekked Lower Styx Rd, Hayders Rd, Seafield Lagoon, Harbour Rd, Nirvana St, Blue Lagoon Dr, Styx River Mouth. 35 snaps.
The Star 08.12.10. EQC: "The deadline for claims for damage to residential properties for the 4 September earthquake has been and gone. We now have 160 000 in the system. This breaks down to part-claims for buildings, content and land of over 195 000...
Some damage from the 4 September earthquake may not become apparent until after the deadline (now passed) for claims. This is most likely to happen when an assessment is done of your property. This damage will be added to your existing claim as long as we are notified within a reasonable period of time." [Reasonable?]
"If you have not made a claim for the 4 September event and damage from it now becomes apparent, then we are not able to accept a new claim. If an earthquake after 4 September causes damage then we will accept new claims for this..."
EQC claims: "17 510 fieldwork complete; 20 680 fieldwork in progress; 105 180 fieldwork not started; 17 288 claims complete."
More than 3 months post-quake, 105 180 claimants awaiting EQC settlements: Why did EQC have a three months deadline for claimants then an EQC go-slow on claims settlements?
EQC didn't define differences amongst earthquakes, aftershocks, tremors, all of which caused damages. EQC deadlined damage-claims for 3 months, yet EQC would take more than 3 months to process claims!
Experts varied as to the length of time aftershocks happened: first it was aftershocks for 3 months, then 6 months, with aftershocks lessening in magnitude & frequency for 200 days post 4 September 2010 quake, 3 months beyond the EQC claims deadline. (The Press). In reality aftershocks would continue for more than three years post 4 September 2010 quake.
NZTV news 9 December 2010: When grilled by parliamentarian questioners, EQC representatives said EQC had received 190 000 claims. EQC did the same delay-deny-defend insurers' trick, deferring settlements, fiddling settlement amounts.
Coda:
17.11.11. Gerry Brownlee, minister of Earthquake Recovery would announce that Brooklands was red-zoned: Brooklands would be abandoned, too damaged, too expensive to fix. All that water around low-lying Brooklands ~ Styx River, Waimakariri River, Brooklands Lagoon, Pacific ~ no hope after four major quakes, 1 000s of aftershocks, during 2010-2011. Brownlee's announcement would be a month before the 23 December 2011 Xmas Quake Swarm in Pegasus Bay. It would take months after 2011 quakes for dithering CERA to make red-zone decisions.
September 2019. A day at Spencerville & Brooklands: Spencerville & Spencer Park survived the quakes almost intact. About a dozen houses survived the quakes at Brooklands, off Harbour Rd & Beacon St, some inhabited some boarded closed. The rest of CERA's ex residential red-zoned Brooklands was deserted, house demolition-sites converted to grassy parkland, trees, shrubs left as is. On fences around red-zoned land, LINZ signs:
NO UNAUTHORISED
ACCESS
NO DUMPING
Some green-painted, wooden bus-stop shelters remained beside dilapidated, dusty, bumpy, tarsealed roads. The boat-ramp & public-toilet survived the quakes. Styx River mouth, boat-ramp was still used by fishermen.
Facebook:
Saw a sinkhole in Elmwood Rd, Merivale yesterday. Two months post-quake, besides potholes, sinkholes are appearing on roads, due to recent rains & loosened ground. Christchurch Mail reported an "ever deepening sinkhole" in Orrick Cres.
A & P Show Day today: Leah & I went rubbernecking. Luke is with mates, Okains Bay. 12 November 11.16am.
@Maggie. We're OK in Burnside, but some peoples' lives are devastated. Two months post Darfield Quake, Brooklands, with nearby Brooklands Lagoon, Styx River & Waimakariri River mouth, is a ghost-town, portaloos on every street & in many gardens. Road-cracks, some like wrinkled paper, potholes, grey liquefaction-sand everywhere. Sewage-reconnections dubious.
Saw 2 EQC evaluators in yellow, Hi-Vis vests, with a 4x4 & quad-bike towed on a trailer, sniffing around Brooklands yesterday, first time I've seen EQC since the quake.
Kaiapoi riverside town north of Christchurch, badly damaged, many portaloos. Livelier than Brooklands, repaired roads like Charles St & Courtenay Dr. Concrete-curbs snapped like twigs, concrete-driveway-slabs, cracked, moved several inches. Raven Quay also getting a facelift, wrecked footpaths regraded, cracks filled, ready for new tarseal. The riverside road below Raven Quay was cracked, slumped for several hundred metres.
A woman who lives at Pines Beach, N of Waimakariri River mouth, told us yesterday that 70 houses out of 300 houses in the seaside town were devastated by the quake. Her hillside house was unaffected, only plains houses were damaged, all built on beach sand. 13 November 10.08am.
@Maggie. Same lady told us all Pines Beach sewage-pipes & water-pipes must be reconstructed. 13 November 11.12am.
Coda:
Jan 2024. Intermittently, The Press Stuff Co would change its website, so some of its links I'd quoted were unavailable. That made it hard for readers to fact-check sources. Please refer to The Press Stuff Co for sources.
Contents & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Hello from England! I stumbled upon your post while searching for portable toilets for my company. I stayed to read and found it incredibly interesting. I found it especially ironic that the polluted river was called Styx; wasn’t that the one in Greek mythology that went from this world to hell?
ReplyDeleteHi toilet guy. Ironic indeed & myth true: Charon was the boatmen who rowed the dead across the River Styx. There's even a Charon St in Brooklands, well named with all that polluted water around.
ReplyDelete