National State of Emergency, Thurs 31.03.11. Five weeks post 6.3 magnitude, 22.02.11 Christchurch quake, I dropped Luke off at Sullivan Ave tech, then stopped on quake unevened Ferry Rd to coolpix a quake toppled parapet on an old, brick bldg.
Image, quake damaged Ferry Rd:
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake toppled, brick parapet & fence cordon, Ferry Rd, national state of emergency. Bldg was demolished
Hopefully the new govt department, CERA would demolish all the death trap, brick & stone bldgs in Christchurch & make Christchurch a safer place. I wouldn't want my grand children living in fear of falling bldgs & dangerous, old, heritage bldgs collapsing in quakes.
I turned right into quake unevened Aldwins Rd & drove past pavement portaloos to Buckleys Rd / Linwood Ave crossing, where I stopped by Eastgate mall. Last week I'd coolpixed Feb 22 quake damaged bldgs on Linwood Ave / Aldwins Rd corner.
A week later, all that was left was an empty demolition site. So far so good. I wondered if CERA would deliver its promised safe bldgs during the next 5 years of its tenure.
Images, quake damaged Linwood Ave & Buckleys Rd:
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake, demolition of old, brick shops, cnr Linwood Ave / Aldwins Rd, national state of emergency
Notes I made along Buckleys Rd, continuing as Pages Rd to Aranui, Bexley & New Brighton:
Buckleys Rd: Eastgate mall was scaffolded. Two workmen on an expander ladder fixed quake cracks on countdown wall, by epoxy glueing the cracks then painting over. There was a quake broken, brick, garden wall by a bus stop opposite Eastgate mall. Liquefacton silt dust lay all along Buckleys Rd.
Over the next couple of years I'd see many quake cracked, concrete walls, epoxy glued. Just patch jobs.
31.03.11. Buckleys Rd, Eastgate mall, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake cracks being repaired, countdown, Buckleys Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake collapsed, brick, garden wall & bus stop, Pages Rd, national state of emergency
There were 5 quake toppled, concrete brick, garden walls near Rhona St & Wyon St.
31.03.11. Quake toppled, garden wall, Buckleys Rd, national state of emergency
There were 2 quake toppled, concrete brick, garden walls near Dacre St.
31.03.11. Quake toppled garden wall, Buckleys Rd, national state of emergency
Waipuna Youth & Community Centre, corner Pages Rd / Woodham Rd: There was a Feb 22 quake collapsed, concrete brick, garden wall on the corner, opposite Waipuna Centre. Two portaloos stood outside the Early Childhood Centre.
Silt piles & sodden carpets lay on Pages Rd pavement. A green, plastic, sewage tank stood on the pavement, a sign read:
HUMAN WASTE
ONLY
WASH HANDS AFTER DISPOSAL!!
BEWARE OF SPLASHBACK!!
Images, quake damaged Pages Rd:
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake collapsed wall opp Waipuna Youth and Community Centre, cnr Woodham Rd / Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Portaloos, Waipuna Youth and Community Centre, cnr Woodham Rd / Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake, plastic sewage tank, cnr Woodham Rd / Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 liquefaction silt & trashed carpet, Pages Rd, Waipuna Youth and Community Centre, national state of emergency
Post quake Avon River was an open sewer & 1 000s of portaloos & green, plastic, sewage tanks polluted Christchurch. They stood on pavements wherever there was quake trashed housing & quake trashed sewage pipes.
Pages Rd: The road surface was uneven between Waipuna Centre & Supershed Reuse Warehouse. I stopped to see Pages Road Market, Open Thursdays. A Cronos water tank & 2 shipping containers stood by the market.
Cars & 3 white campervans were parked in the silted car park by the marae: Te Runanga o Nga Maata Waka, Urban Maori Authority. I coolpixed Maori carvings at the marae gate.
31.03.11. Pages Rd, Thursday Market, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Pages Rd, Marae gate, national state of emergency
Corner Pages Rd / Breezes Rd: Mobil garage was closed & fence cordoned. (It stayed closed for months). Opposite corner, the Fish 'n Chip & Burgers shop wall had collapsed, squashing small cabbage trees. Plastic tape was an ineffective cordon. Rotten food stench wafted from the collapsed shop. I'd got used to that stench when wandering past collapsed or abandoned shops. It reminded me of apartheid SA townships, where sewage oozed in muddy streets & garbage rotted on street sides. The Fish 'n Chip shop was demolished.
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake closed & fence cordoned Mobil garage, cnr Breezes Rd / Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake trashed Fish n Chips & Burgers shop, cnr Pages Rd / Breezes Rd, national state of emergency. The shop was demolished
31.03.11. Road pipe excavation & repairs, after Feb 22 quake liquefaction, Marlow Rd, national state of emergency
Marlow Rd off Pages Rd: Water pipe excavation & repairs. A yellow Waste Away tanker drove along Pages Rd. There were many euphemisms for sewage tankers seen post Feb 22 quake.
Portaloos & green, plastic sewage tanks stood along Pages Rd, dusty with liquefaction silt.
31.02.11. Feb 22 liquefaction damage by drain pump station, cnr Pages Rd / Porchester St, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake tilted house by drain pump station & portaloo, cnr Pages Rd / Porchester St, national state of emergency
By Porchester St / Pages Rd junction, Pages Rd descended into Bexley Swamp. Why houses were built there only greedy developers & Council consenters knew?
Corner Pages Rd / Porchester St opposite Bexley Reserve: A yellow portaloo stood on liquefaction mud. A green house was quake tilted towards a drain pump station, also quake tilted towards the green house. An above ground pipe pumped sewage from another house behind. There were cracked concrete curbs, broken drains, raised iron grilles, damaged roads & pavements.
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake tilted house & drain pump station, cnr Porchester St / Pages Rd, national state of emergency
Pages Rd: From Porchester St to New Brighton Rd & Owles Tce roundabout - Road repairs in progress.
31.03.11. Man digging Feb 22 liquefaction silt from verge opposite Bexley Reserve, Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake damaged houses opp Bexley Reserve, Pages Rd, national state of emergency
Bexley Reserve entrance, Pages Rd: Lots of liquefaction road damage & repairs. A digger & sewage tanker were parked roadside; a green, plastic, sewage tank & portaloo stood on a pavement; a house was wood braced; a man dug silt by a garden wall; silt damaged carpets lay by a warped garden fence.
31.03.11. Plastic sewage tank, Bexley Reserve entrance, Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Sewage tanker by Bexley Reserve entrance, Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Digger by Bexley Reserve entrance, Pages Rd, national state of emergency
Farnborough St off Pages Rd: I drove along no exit Farnborough St to see quake damage - sodden liquefaction carpet piles & rubbish on pavements; broken garden walls; cracked driveways; liquefaction silt piles; broken drains; green, plastic, sewage tank on pavement, one in a park at road's end; shingle repairs to road, tar seal pending.
Images, quake damaged Farnborough St:
31.03.11. Portaloo & quake damaged Farnborough St off Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 liquefactioned carpets, Farnborough St, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake rubbish, Farnborough St, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, garden wall, Farnborough St, national state of emergency
Most post quake, repaired roads I saw in Aranui & Bexley were in a patched, shingled, unsealed condition.
Pages Rd to Anzac Dr: Congested traffic. Patchy road works at shingle stage, lots of earthmoving machines - digger, trucks, road roller...
I crossed open sewer, Avon River on Pages Rd Bridge & circled the roundabout by New Brighton Rd & Owles Tce back onto Pages Rd. I turned left into Wairoa St, Bexley, along Avon River.
Bexley roads I drove had portaloos & most were being repaired, like Wairoa St, full of workmen & road repair vehicles. e.g. A high pressure water blasting truck on Wairoa St blasted silt from underground sewage pipes.
Repair were futile, as CERA would red zone many of the roads I wandered that day.
Corner Wairoa St / Morganwood St: Portaloo; plastic water tank; green, plastic sewage tank; 8 portaloo showers in a big, navy blue, shipping container at Bexley Wetland entrance near Avon Estuary. The riverbank was slumped due to lateral spreading.
Images, quake damaged Wairoa St:
31.03.11. Water tank, cnr Wairoa St / Morganwood St, Bexley, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Sewage tank, cnr Wairoa St / Morganwood St, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Eight showers in a portaloo shipping container, cnr Wairoa St / Morganwood St, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Wairoa St view of Feb 22 quake crackled footpath & slumped, Avon Estuary bank, national state of emergency. Slumping was due to lateral spreading
Seabreeze Close was trapped by rumbling Bexley Rd traffic westwards & Avon Estuary in Bexley Wetland eastwards. There were lovely wetland views, but it was a bad place to build, as post quake Bexley had sunk into Avon River swamp mud, never mind quake liquefaction mud, or rising sea levels due to green house, climate changes.
Seabreeze Cl post Feb 22 quake was worse than what I saw post Sept 4 quake: Deserted; grey liquefaction silt lay everywhere; pools of water lay on the cracked road; there were crumpled driveways & trashed, abandoned houses. Four EQC inspectors roamed. My coolpix made up for those I'd missed 6 months ago.
Images, stop bank repair, quake damaged Bexley Wetland:
31.03.11. New stop bank / cycle track, between Bexley Wetland & Bexley Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. New stop bank between Bexley housing & Bexley Wetland, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Liquefaction boils in Bexley Wetland by new stop bank / cycle track, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Liquefaction boil in walkway between new Bexley Wetland stop bank & Bexley housing, Seabreeze Cl, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake tilted house, Bexley Wetland, national state of emergency
31.03.11. New stop bank / cycle track, between Bexley Wetland & Bexley housing, national state of emergency
I parked on Seabreeze Cl & did a circular walk by Bexley Wetland & Avon Estuary, along various roads & Morganwood St back to Seabreeze Cl: A new stop bank / cycle track snaked between Bexley Wetland & houses. It looked useless as protection against tsunamis or Avon Estuary flooding & risible against future quake liquefaction, as Bexley Wetland was full of Feb 22 liquefaction silt & Bexley roads I'd seen were all liquefactioned away from Avon River & Avon Estuary.
Post Sept 4 quake, I'd seen the gravel footpath below the new stop bank liquefactioned & cracked, so future quakes would liquefaction the stop bank / cycle crack again. Engineers just dumped new shingle on top of a liquefactioned footpath. If that was the new standard of quake protection post Feb 22 quake, God help Christchurch!
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake damaged house with huge quake crack in yard, Bexley Wetland, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake, 6 foot wide crack in house yard, Bexley Wetland, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Digger between old & new stop banks, Bexley Wetland, national state of emergency
Adding insult to injury the stop bank enabled walkers & cyclists to look directly into houses lining Bexley Wetland, so privacy for those who stayed after quake destruction was nil.
Most houses were abandoned: No children's laughter, no adults chatting, no traffic noise. Desolation.
I had that creepy feeling again, while walking quake ruins post Sept 4 quake: A strange silence, an emptiness, an ache in the air. And fear of course, that a quake would return & catch me by a bldg. I became super aware of my closeness to unstable walls while walking. Ready to sprint.
Some houses I passed were quake tilted & abandoned. One back yard had a 6 foot wide quake crack right across. Closer to Avon Estuary I came upon an older, smaller stop bank I'd walked a year ago.
Amazing how quickly engineers constructed things after a disaster. The new stop bank reminded me of the Berlin Wall or Israel Wall - aggressive busy work, but useless.
I wandered Seabreeze Cl devastation, lovely new houses, but silt swamped by quakes: Sept 4 quake, Feb 22 quake & later June 13 quake. The giveaway was the silt level on house walls / fences after silt excavations. Student gangs had dug away silt, together with mechanical diggers. The silt was quickly dumped, authorities hiding their sins.
Houses were quake swamped - once, twice, thrice. No wonder Seabreeze Cl was abandoned.
Images, quake damaged Seabreeze Cl:
31.03.11. Water tank & digger, Seabreeze Cl, Bexley, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Seabreeze Cl & portaloo, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 liquefaction destroyed carpets & portaloo, Seabreeze Cl, Bexley, national state of emergency
31.03.11. EQC inspectors, off Seabreeze Cl, Bexley, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Sept 4 & Feb 22 quake trashed houses, Seabreeze Cl, Bexley, national state of emergency. See silt level on walls / fences after silt excavation
It was a harsh, sunny afternoon when I wandered alone in Seabreeze Cl. I was spooked by the dead, empty houses, closed & abandoned, surrounded by grey liquefaction silt, mostly cleared. Silt stains on fences & walls were about 1 foot high: 3-4 brick courses high.
31.03.11. Serial quake trashed housing, Seabreeze Cl, national state of emergency. See silt level on walls / fences after silt excavation
On Feb 22 quake afternoon, for 2 hours at London St, I'd experienced aftershocks & silt oozing from liquefaction boils & volcanoes, while I waited with Leah & school staff for parents to pick up kids. At Seabreeze Cl, I imagined silt oozing into houses & tilting houses into grey muck during Feb 22 aftershocks.
31.03.11. Serial quake trashed housing, Seabreeze Cl, national state of emergency. See silt level on walls / fences after silt excavation
Six months post Sept 4 quake & 6 weeks post Feb 22 quake, I still got angry when thinking about Council consenters who'd allowed bldg development at Seabreeze Cl & nearby roads, so close to Bexley Wetland, Avon Estuary.
All those councillors, planners, surveyors, architects, designers, drawing office bods, engineers, developers, builders & real estate agents had much to answer for, ripping off home buyers.
31.03.11. Serial quake trashed housing, Seabreeze Cl, national state of emergency. See silt level on fences / walls after silt excavation
Corner Velsheda St / Wetlands Grove: Road workers did road repairs - tractor, tankers, diggers, shingle truck, Interflow truck - "Leaders in Pipeline Renewal."
Images, quake damaged Velsheda St:
31.03.11. Tanker water blasting liquefaction silt out of road pipes, cnr Velsheda St / Wetlands Gr, Bexley, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Post Feb 22 quake road contractors repairing Velsheda St, Bexley, national state of emergency
Morganwood St by Harold Henry Park. A portable power generator stood on the pavement. Like other Bexley streets, Morganwood St had quake damaged curbs, driveways & pavements. Portaloos & green, plastic, sewage tanks stood on pavements.
Images, quake damaged Morganwood St:
31.03.11. Generator on pavement, Morganwood St, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake damaged curb & drain, Morganwood St, Bexley, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Portaloo, Morganwood St, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake damaged pavement & driveway, Morganwood St, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Liquefaction silt & sewage tank, cnr Morganwood St / Wetlands Gr, Bexley, national state of emergency
Back on Pages Rd, I walked from Pages Rd Bridge over open sewer, Avon River to Anzac Dr, to see Feb 22 quake damage.
Images, quake damaged Pages Rd:
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake damaged roads, cnr Pages Rd / Wairoa St, & abutment join to Pages Rd Bridge, national state of emergency
Pages Rd Bridge: The road was cracked at abutment joins both sides of the bridge.
Pages Rd: A portaloo & green, plastic, sewage tank stood on the pavement opposite Domino's Pizza.
31.03.11. Portaloo, Pages Rd by Domino's Pizza, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake liquefactioned business nr Domino's Pizza, Pages Rd, national state of emergency. The business was demolished
Onepu St: Road repairs were progressing.
31.03.11. Water tanker spraying to lay liquefaction dust, cnr Waitaki St / Pages Rd, national state of emergency
Waitaki St: Road repairs were progressing. Post Sept 4 quake the road was flooded. I'd return another day for a closer look at Pages Rd, Waitaki St & Bexley Rd quake damages.
31.03.11. Portaloo, cnr Kia Ora St / Pages Rd, national state of emergency
Kia Ora St: Road repairs were progressing. Pages Rd houses between Kia Ora St & Bexley Rd were heavily liquefactioned. Silt lay everywhere. Two men dug silt from a garden & dumped barrow loads onto the pavement.
The snag with all the road works & silt digging was that CERA, after many delays, would red zone Bexley by Avon River, making all those house repairs & silt diggings a waste of effort, time & money. At that stage of my Bexley walk, there was no such thing as CERA red or green residential zoning, so homeowners were in limbo.
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefaction damaged houses, pavement & Pages Rd, Bexley, national state of emergency
Pages Rd / Bexley Rd corner: Orion power substation had an excavation trench with underground line repairs.
31.03.11. Post Feb 22 quake, Orion utility repairs, cnr Pages Rd / Bexley Rd, national state of emergency
Corner Pages Rd / Anzac Dr: Dept of Corrections bldg was liquefactioned & abandoned. Like the Probation Service bldg I'd seen at Winston Ave, Dept of Corrections bldg, Pages Rd was closed.
A blue sign read:
OFFICE CLOSED
Please report to
Nga Hau E Wha Marae
250 Pages Road
Freephone...
A wall sign on Dept of Corrections bldg read:
DANGER
KEEP OUT
The bldg was demolished.
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefactioned bldg, Corrections Dept closed, Pages Rd, national state of emergency. Corrections Dept was demolished
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake cracked Corrections Dept bldg, Pages Rd, national state of emergency. Corrections Dept was demolished
31.03.11. Feb 22 liquefaction silt & concrete block supporting quake tilted, power pole, cnr Pages Rd / Anzac Dr, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Portaloo & Feb 22 liquefaction silt, cnr Pages Rd / Anzac Dr, national state of emergency
I drove down Pages Rd back to Porchester St & did a short, circular drive through Bexley.
Porchester St: Road repairs were progressing. There were 2 quake damaged houses by Corhampton St junction.
31.03.11. Quake damaged houses, Porchester St / Corhampton St junction, national state of emergency
Carisbrook St: Road repairs were progressing.
Warblington St: Road repairs were progressing.
31.03.11. Portaloo opp Seventh Day Adventist Church, Pages Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Post Feb 22 quake kiosk, Seventh Day Adventist Church, cnr Rowan Ave / Pages Rd, national state of emergency
Corner Pages Rd & Rowan Ave: Seventh Day Adventist Church was cracked & tape cordoned. Op shop alongside was open. In the church yard, the tented Recovery Information Kiosk was open, but no one was attending. A plastic, water tank stood by the gate. Cardboard boxes lay on pallets, with one plastic, water bladder left. A pavement portaloo was across Pages Rd.
A water tank sign read:
PLEASE TAKE A
MAXIMUM
OF 2 BLADDERS
THERE IS NO NEED TO STOCKPILE WATER
AS WE'LL BE HERE FOR A WHILE YET AND
WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE WATER FOR YOU
Bexley was in the shit with broken sewage pipes & broken water pipes.
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake, plastic water tank, Rowan Ave, national state of emergency
I drove back to Burnside via Woodham Rd. I stopped at Linwood North School to coolpix a dark green, plastic, water tank with spray painted words: WATER BOIL B4 USE. Those words summed up that we'd all experienced - liquefaction boils & having to boil water post quakes, to stop disease.
Images, quake damaged Woodham Rd:
31.03.11. Post Feb 22 quake water tank, Linwood North School, Woodham Rd, national state of emergency
Corner Woodham Rd / Gloucester St: I filled up with petrol at the BP garage & coolpixed corner shops, damaged in the Sept 4 quake, trashed in the Feb 22 quake. The shops were demolished.
31.03.11. Sept 4 quake damaged, Feb 22 quake trashed old, brick bldgs, cnr Gloucester St / Woodham Rd, national state of emergency. The bldgs were demolished
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake damaged house, Woodham Rd, national state of emergency
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake, brick rubble & broken toilet, Woodham Rd, national state of emergency
Woodham Rd: I coolpixed quake damaged houses; a rubble heap with a broken toilet bowl on top; a demolition site & wood braced, concrete, garden wall, where a spray-painted sign read:
KEEP CLEAR!!
DANGER KEEP OUT
31.03.11. Feb 22 quake demolition site, Woodham Rd, national state of emergency
Woodham Rd / Linwood Ave / Avonside Dr crossing: The crossing was much improved since a few days ago - the sewage pipe hole was filled in & the crossing was at shingle repair stage.
That would be the pattern of road repairs for years post quakes: patch jobs, interspersed with dangerous buckling, cracks, pot holes, slumping, bumps, raised manholes, excavations, cone cordons & detours. A daily obstacle course for drivers.
Mon 30.01.12. CERA demolitions began on red zone houses at Seabreeze Cl & nearby streets, the first CERA house demolitions. Thereafter CERA would take its time demolishing red zone houses, as the deadline for people forced to leave their red zone houses was April 2013.
All those empty red zone houses would tempt taggers, vagrants, hooligans, arsonists & thieves. CERA didn't help matters with its Landcheck website, an open invitation for thieves to pick & help themselves in 1 000s of abandoned houses.
Later on CERA would allow demolition salvaging of sorts & allow cops & soldiers to play war games in abandoned red zone houses. Most of the red zone, demolished housing would end up in Burwood Dump, a giant, polluted dump near the Pacific Ocean, hidden by Bottle Lake Forest pines, keeping up the false image of Clean Green NZ.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
So sad. Thanks for the drive around pix.. Or walk ones.
ReplyDeleteWe went to a party at Seabreeze area twoyears ago. lovely house and nice area, but I did feel I could never buy on ex wetlands. Just felt wrong, before even thought of earthquakes. Mind you, I live on a river in Burwood/ Shirley, and in hindsight that could be risky too. We are lucky our high sandhill ridge has not liquefied.
Just struggling to comprehend the scale of the damage.
Mind boggling Fi. The more water the more quake damage it seems. Couple of months back I spoke to a woman who lives on a sandhill at Pines Beach. Her house was undamaged by the Sept quake, but flats houses below her house were badly liquefactioned at Pines Beach.
ReplyDelete