Killer Quake. CTV, Cashel St / Madras St Crossing

CTV focus. 22.04.11. National State of Emergency, Christchurch. Cashel St / Madras St crossing saw the death of 115 people during the Feb 22, M6.3 Killer Quake. I'd walked & driven the crossing many times. All that survived the Feb 22 Killer Quake were 7 storey IRD on one cnr & Holden Blackwells on the diag opp cnr. The latter would be demolished.


22.04.11. Grey & blue portaloos opp IR bldg, Cashel St / Madras St crossing, red zone, national state of emergency.

Cashel St / Madras St crossing: SE cnr, St Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church, was damaged in the Sept 4 Darfield Quake, scaffolded before the Feb 22 Killer Quake & demolished post Feb 22 Killer Quake, leaving a foundation hole, foundation stones around the nave & apse, a pile of tangled scaffolding, stacked creamy drums from Oamaru whitestone columns & roof beams for recycling.

On the diag opp NW cnr, the 7 storey CTV collapsed during the Feb 22 Killer Quake, the lift shaft stood burning while people were trapped in fallen rubble.


22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake destroyed CTV bldg, Cashel St / Madras St crossing, red zone, national state of emergency

Good Friday, 22.04.11, I visited CTV for the first time post Feb 22 Killer Quake & was there at the exact time CTV had collapsed 2 months before. CTV was still behind the red zone, steel mesh fence cordon which stopped people approaching the demolition site. NZDF cordon soldiers & cops were elsewhere during the National State of Emergency. Several people were there: families, cyclists, walkers, photographers.

Demolishers had left the scorched CTV lift shaft, concrete rubble on a concrete slab, a heap of flowers & 2 bear toys, Cashel St / Madras St & graffiti, including USAR / TF graffiti, on brick walls near the lift shaft.

CTV would soon be completely demolished, leaving many unanswered questions why CTV collapsed? Later the Royal Commission of Inquiry would try to answer those questions.


22.04.11. Holden Blackwells carpark view, IR bldg left, Feb 22 quake damaged Hotel Grand Chancellor centre, ruined CTV bldg right, Cashel St / Madras St crossing, red zone, national state of emergency. CTV ruin, Hotel Grand Chancellor & Holden Blackwells would be demolished





























26.04.11. M4.1 aftershock, 10.07pm, depth 8km, within 5km of Lyttelton (GeoNet). It trembled pot plant, fern leaves in our lounge, a sign the quake was M4 or more.

*Trekked Cashel St / Madras St crossing. 29 snaps.

Coda:

Fri 10.02.12. The Press would report the long awaited Dept of Building & Housing report on why CTV collapsed:

The report stated CTV collapsed due to horizontal shaking, CTV not being up to building code / standard when built in 1986, that weak, brittle, non ductile, concrete columns collapsed, worsened by asymmetrical shear walls causing the bldg to twist while collapsing.

Thus CTV was badly built, weak, with columns like raw spaghetti, which collapsed in the M6.3 Killer Quake. Shame on the architects, designers, Council consenters, engineers, builders. Excuses about massive vertical accelerations in the quake were expedient.

The challenge for Council & engineers in Christchurch & elsewhere in NZ, was to find similar Earthquake Prone Buildings pronto & make them safe, or demolish.

Fob-off for families of the dead: Later in 2012, the Royal Commission of Inquiry would ascertain in great detail why CTV collapsed. Denialist engineers & crooked construction manager were remiss.

After the 2016 cop "Investigation" into CTV collapse, cops would say there wasn't enough evidence to charge engineers. So much for justice! Did cops ever investigate CTV rubble stored at Bottle Lake Excusion Zone?

2024. Thirteen years post 22 Feb Killer Quake, neither the CTV bldg owner, engineers, nor construction manager had been held accountable for the CTV collapse.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.