Use The Door Next Time God! Christchurch Quake

National State of Emergency, Wed, 06.04.11. Six weeks post 6.3 magnitude, 22.02.11 Christchurch quake, after dropping Luke off at Sullivan Ave tech, I parked at nearby Aynsley Tce, as I wanted to see what the Feb 22 quake had done to the area.

Images, quake damaged Aynsley Tce:


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake, Warning Contaminated Water sign, Heathcote River, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency. Opawa Rd bridge backdrop

Like many Christchurch bridges which survived the quake, Opawa Road Bridge over Heathcote River was damaged at span & abutment joins, which knocked in quakes.


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Opawa Community Church Hall, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency. The Hall was demolished





12.11.11. Quake survivor, Opawa Community Church & church hall demolition site, seen from Heathcote River footbridge, Aynsley Tce

Opawa Community Church, Aynsley Tce, like so many Christchurch brick churches was damaged by the Feb 22 quake. The brick hall looked like an Exocet missile had gone clean through, leaving gaping brick walls both sides, the roof intact, held up by wooden beams, brickwork kaput. The hall was demolished, the church survived.

A church board read:

"God is closer than you think

'in God we live, move, & have our being.' Epimenides 600BC"

Graffiti above the sign read: USE THE DOOR NEXT TIME GOD!


06.04.11. Notice Board, Opawa Community Church, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Opawa Community Church, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake, sewage contaminated Heathcote River, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


I wandered down Aynsley Tce beside sewage polluted Heathcote River with WARNING CONTAMINATED WATER and POLLUTED WATER PLEASE AVOID CONTACT signs on the bank. Aynsley Tce & side roads had portaloos on pavements & the remains of liquefaction silt on pavements & curbs.

I passed a yellow, sewage tanker blasting water down a sewage pipe on Aynsley Tce, hoping to clear silt & muck, but obstructing traffic weaving round the tanker. I'd seen scores of sewage tankers sucking & water blasting muck over the last few weeks, all over Christchurch.


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake, portaloo & sewage water blast truck, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefaction silt & portaloo, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefaction silt & plastic sewage tank, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency

A chill, autumn wind blew off Heathcote River while I pondered engineers' recent warnings that Christchurch sewage system was in a bad way post quakes, with liquefaction silt in sewage pipes & many broken pipes.

After rains, storm water leaked into sewage pipes, as well as household effluent, overloading quake stressed Bromley ponds where Christchurch sewage was treated & clogging up Bromley works with liquefaction silt. (One News 06.04.11).

I wondered what happened to the vaunted, new sewage outlet pipe into the Pacific? Luke had spent a day on the beach a couple of weekends ago & returned home with a guts ache. I'd forgotten to warn him about post quake, sewage toxic beaches.


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake, cracked driveway, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged house, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Post Feb 22 quake, portaloo & plastic sewage tank, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Post Feb 22 quake, Polluted Water sign & footbridge over sewage polluted Heathcote River, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Post Feb 22 quake, Aynsley stone gate post, Aynsley Tce, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Aynsley Tce & retaining wall, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Sept 4 quake damaged, Feb 22 quake trashed brick house, red stickered, cnr Aynsley Tce / Centaurus Rd, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Sept 4 quake damaged, Feb 22 quake trashed brick house, red stickered, cnr Aynsley Tce / Centaurus Rd, national state of emergency

Most Aynsley Tce houses survived the quakes well, with small damage & driveway cracks, but the old, double storey brick house, corner Aynsley Tce / Centaurus Rd, was damaged by the Sept 4 quake & trashed by the Feb 22 quake, roof partially collapsed, again, many wall cracks, house empty, red stickered, rubble on the garden slope.

Signs on 2 gates read:

               DANGER
        CONSTRUCTION
                   SITE
UNAUTHORISED PERSONS
              KEEP OUT

Images, quake damaged Centaurus Rd:


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake trashed, stone gate post, Centaurus Rd, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Post Feb 22 quake, useless house For Sale sign, Centaurus Rd, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake demolished house, Centaurus Rd, national state of emergency


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake trashed house, red stickered, Centaurus Rd, national state of emergency


I wandered up Glenelg Spur, Centaurus Rd, saw one demolished house & several badly damaged houses on the spur crest, walls & roofs damaged, mostly old brick houses, one after another. A digger was parked on top of house rubble. A nearby sign read:

DANGER
   KEEP
 CLEAR

Posh houses' Port Hills views over Christchurch meant nothing post Feb 22 quake.


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged house, Centaurus Rd, national state of emergency. The house was demolished


06.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged roof, Centaurus Rd, national state of emergency



Images, quake damaged Port Hills Rd, Opawa Rd & Grange St:

06.04.11. Quake damaged, boarded & wood braced house, Port Hills Rd, national state of emergency

I wandered down Glenelg Spur along Port Hills Rd & saw smaller Hillsborough houses damaged, some with wood boarding & wood bracing. I saw liquefaction silt on pavements & curbs & turning into busy Opawa Rd, I saw a big, concrete drain behind Port Hills Rd houses. Hillsborough Park was undamaged, but some older wooden houses along Opawa Rd had roof damage.


06.04.11. Open drain running behind Port Hills Rd houses, Opawa Rd, national state of emergency

I circled back to Aynsley Tce via Grange St & saw quake damaged pavements, driveways & housing. I'd never buy a house in upmarket Aynsley Tce nor Hillsborough after seeing what quakes did.


06.04.11. Post quake, wood braced house, Grange St, national state of emergency

07.04.11. Thurs, 3.57 am, magnitude 4.0 quake, 11 km deep, 10 km east of Christchurch. (Geonet). I was improving at guesstimating quake magnitudes: 4.0 & upwards shook my computer monitor, unnerving & a warning to get up & go. Anything less was safely ignored.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.