Monday, November 8, 2010

Facebook: Oct - Nov Quake Days after M7.1 Darfield Quake. Castle Rock



14.11.10. Castle Rock after the quake landslide, Port Hills Rd, Christchurch


14.11.10. Castle Rock after the quake landslide, Port Hills Rd, Christchurch


14.11.10. Castle Rock after the quake landslide, Bridle Path Rd, Christchurch



14.11.10. Castle Rock after the quake landslide, Bridle Path Rd, Christchurch

Facebook:

M5 aftershock last night, conversation stopper at my postponed birthday meal: house jolted, shook, creaked. 5 October 10.07am.

@Sheila. Latest count reported by The Press, since 4 September, M7.1 Darfield Quake, we've endured "1439 seismic shocks as of 9pm Tuesday October 5," yet scientists haven't figured out whether there's a fault under Christchurch or not. Shocks so far all epicentre out of Chch. Leah enjoying holidays, is back to work next week. Luke is doing tech theory, but no prac due to collarbone mending. Jake is relaxing. 6 October 9.42pm.

[After the Boxing Day quake, which would cause more damage to Christchurch, especially Cashel Mall, scientists found a west-east, Christchurch Fault under Christchurch CBD.]


14.11.10. Castle Rock after the quake landslide, Bridle Path, Port Hills

M5.0 aftershock yesterday afternoon, 5+ weeks post M7.1 quake. Parker was elected Chch mayor again.

Leah's back at work. Luke's back at tech with a smaller collarbone sling. Jake's looking for new restaurant work: interviews. 14 October 10.45pm.

@Sheila. Several big aftershocks recently: Mon M4.1, Tues M4 & M5, the latter a whopper as it was shallow, close to Halswell & Taitapu near Christchurch. Bounced my car for about half a minute. 14 October 11pm.

@Werner. NZ is on the Pacific & Australian tectonic plates, so there's lots of seismic activity in NZ, mostly unnoticed or ignored by locals.

See GeoNet for an idea of the number of daily quakes / aftershocks in NZ.

Chch aftershocks spectacular now, as the M7.1, Sept 4 Darfield Quake was close to Chch. Seismologists hadn't a clue it was coming, blamed a 16 000 year old hidden side fault off the Alpine Fault in the Southern Alps.

A NZ map will show you the big Alpine Fault, 10km-20km below, running in a south to north direction (similar to the Californian San Andreas Fault) going up the South Island to the Pacific, where the two plates meet, hence the quakes.

Aftershocks pressure & release causes more pressure & release elsewhere, hence more aftershocks along a fault line.

Seismiologists can't predict quakes & aftershocks yet.

Christchurch is built on swampland & alluvial plains, so quakes cause silt liquefaction where tons of underground silt oozes up in mounds, volcanoes or boils, together with underground water causing damage in riverside areas or old swampland, especially after soil saturating rains. As Chch had heavy rains before the Sept 4 quake, there was lots of liquefaction damage. And riverside or swamp suburbs already have underground water. 21 October 4.15pm.


14.11.10. Bridle Path view, Castle Rock after the quake landslide, Port Hills

M4.1 & Tues M4.0; M5.0 aftershocks. My car bounced like in a porn movie. 21 October 5.59pm.


14.11.10. Castle Rock after the quake landslide, Bridle Path, Port Hills

Christchurch is recovering in patches, some rebuilds, repairs are quick, some stalled. 31 October 5.53pm.

@Pam. There'll be enough bldgs left for you to see. People are still assessing whether to demolish or not, like Elmo Court (on TVNZ two nights ago): varsity tested the strength of concrete in the bldg, as it costs as much to rebuild as to repair in Elmo Court's case.

I look more at older bldgs now, marvel at how some survived, others not. Random luck. Saw several older bldgs patched, repaired. When you visit soon, you'll see which bldgs were repaired, which weren't damaged. 31 October 9.24pm.


14.11.10. Bridle Path view, Castle Rock quake landslide, Port Hills

Labour weekend, I drove along reopened Summit Rd, Port Hills, wanting to see Castle Rock fall: Block about the size of a 3 storey bldg ended its gouge near Bridle Path. 3 November 4.15am.

@Janet. Saw the fall on a Google Map satellite pic in The Press recently. Hard to see the fall from Chch side, as it's on a hidden slope, off Heathcote Valley, but easily seen from Summit Rd. Will go up the Bridle Path next week before the rockfall grasses over again. Massive brown gouge down Port Hills, clean rocks shattered off the E side of Castle Rock. Rock climbers will want to find new climbs after the dust settles. 3 November 5.10pm.

[Castle Rock rockfall, a harbinger of worse to come in Port Hills suburbs in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake].


14.11.10. Bridle Path view, Castle Rock quake landslide, Port hills

Two months sharing portaloos with neighbours: Two months post quake a SA family living near Brooklands Lagoon left portaloos for dodgy sewage reconnection. They wait for the Earthquake Commission to settle whether their liquefaction damaged home will be rebuilt or not. 9 November 1.17am.

@Jason. Some riverside & swamp suburbs were badly damaged by liquefaction, silt mounds everywhere. Other "dry" suburbs like ours were relatively unscathed. Monday's The Press said undamaged suburbs now have slightly improved house prices, the market responds. I doubt people want to buy houses in suburbs affected by liquefaction mud. 10 November 9.01am.


14.11.10. Two big rocks at the bottom of Castle Rock quake landslide, Bridle Path, Port Hills. See 2 people sitting by a rock

The Star ad, Nov 5, 2010: Message from Simpson, EQC boss:

"It is worth noting that while we report that we have received 110 263 claims these actually break down in many cases into separate claims for buildings only, contents only and land only. The total of these is currently 139 301.

The Insurance Council is calling Canterbury earthquake the single largest insurance event in New Zealand's history and of course we agree. The private insurers collectively and EQC on its own have each received over 100 000 claims. We believe that it means that the EQC is handling the largest number of claims by any single insurance company ever in the southern hemisphere...

Our project manager Fletcher Construction has been establishing our first site office for repairs in the $10 000 to $100 000 range this week and we now expect to see the work to start in earnest...

[EQC had dithered for 2 months post quake, waiting for a geotech report, before repairs were actioned. Thus people with damaged properties were angry with EQC].

Claims Settlement Status

The overall process for 4 291 claims is complete, the inspection & assessment process for 13 061 is complete but the final paperwork for them is not, the inspection & assessment process for another 13 831 is underway, and work on the remaining 78 934 claims has yet to start..."

The EQC $100 000 cap for a quake damaged house would be a stumbling block for claimants, EQC & insurers, causing years of delayed settlements for some claimants...


14.11.10. Sheep & big rocks at the bottom of Castle Rock quake landslide, Bridle Path, Port Hills


14.11.10. Walkers & a big rock at the bottom of Castle Rock quake landslide, Bridle Path, Port Hills

*Trekked Bridle Path Rd, Bridle Path. 12 snaps.

Coda:

2023. From Summit Rd, Jake & a mate would climb the new Castle Rock. They took a 360 degree, drone video of themselves sitting on top, viewing new Christchurch after its slow rebuild.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

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