16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, New Brighton Cenotaph, quake tilted power pole & "Cantabrians will prevail" sign on pub wall, Marine Pde / Beresford St
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Sports & Tackle shop, Beresford St, New Brighton
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, New Brighton Mall view, demolition site of old, brick theatre / second hand shop, Beresford St
Union St: Snapped damaged New Brighton Union Church, Methodist / Presbyterian. Like so many old, brick, ghost churches in Christchurch, with no quake reinforcement, bricks had fallen off gables, huge holes gapped & trashed Union Church. Orange tarp partly covered the broken church tower. Steel mesh fence cordoned church would be demolished.
Steel mesh fence cordon, threat sign:
DANGER
KEEP OUT
16.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Orange tarp on Feb 22 quake trashed New Brighton Union Church, Methodist / Presbyterian, Union St. The church would be demolished
Over the last weekend, 10 000 people had attended a Council Expo asking for ideas for Christchurch post quake rebuild, so that Council could collate ideas & send a CBD rebuild plan to CERA. I liked ideas of a low build CBD, few high rises, lots of walking spaces & greenery.
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, yellow portaloo, Seaview St, New Brighton Mall
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, wooden bldg, New Brighton Mall
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged doors, New Brighton Mall
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, wood braced shop, New Brighton Mall
A Danish architect, pitching for Christchurch rebuild work, opined we all had to walk somewhere in the CBD, so recommended the CBD be walker / biker friendly. Danish expertise was a waste of money. What on earth did the Dane know about Christchurch rebuild on quaked land?
Thirteen months later the Dane would no longer be favoured, Council & CERA expecting plenty from CCDU producing a CERA Blueprint for Christchurch CBD. June 2012, CCDU's website:
"Our approach is based on international examples of successful redevelopment and rejuvenation, including:
*Solidere: Beirut Central District.
*London Docklands Development Corporation.
*Lower Manhattan Development Corporation."
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, USAR / TF graffiti on shop window, New Brighton Mall. CLEAR meant no bodies
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, red stickered shop window, New Brighton Mall
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, fence cordoned shops, New Brighton Mall
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, shop window notices, New Brighton Mall
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, steel mesh fence cordoned, red stickered shop, New Brighton Mall
Too many post quake vampires: I disliked Yank debris contractors setting up office in Christchurch, while Jake had lost his hospitality job, twice, since the Feb 22 Killer Quake.
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Pier Side Cafe, New Brighton Mall, Marine Pde
Seaview Rd: Trekked New Brighton Mall. Although some shops were closed, steel mesh fence cordoned, some damaged, some semi-repaired, the mall was livelier than Peterborough St I'd seen a week before, by the CBD red zone.
New Brighton Mall, glass door, hand-written sign:
HI ALL,
WE'RE OUT OF ACTION
HERE FOR THE NEXT
FEW MONTHS DUE
TO STRUCTURAL DAMAGE.
ANY QUESTIONS CALL...
LOVE,
MARK, JULES &
THE TEAM
Sunnny autumn morn: Seaside restaurant, tempted a late breakfast, but snapped the pier instead.
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, New Brighton Pier
New Brighton Beach, still forbidden due to sewage polluted Avon-Heathcote Estuary. CONTAMINATED WATER threat signs & roadside portaloos had polluted dune beach access for months. E coli counts, still high in rivers, we were all in shit.
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, CONTAMINATED WATER threat sign, Marine Pde dune, New Brighton Beach
The Press 17.05.11 reported, "In March about 34 000 cubic metres of wastewater flowed daily into the Avon River from 15 sites, while 12 400 cubic metres a day flowed into the Heathcote from 3 sites, Christchurch City Council figures show. The average E coli levels in March were... 111 times the national trigger levels for public health. The Avon River averaged... more than 70 times the guidelines."
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, wood braced house, Marine Pde, New Brighton
Portaloos, chemical toilets still in Christchurch & neighbouring towns, 1000s of sewage connections kaput: Three months post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, Leah & school students still used portaloos at their private London St school. Jake "flatted" in a garage with a chemical toilet. Our Burnside, sewage connection OK.
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged house, Marine Pde, New Brighton
Although many other Christchurch schools had had road repairs done, London St where Leah worked had no post quake road repairs yet, although London St had been a main thoroughfare, gridlocked for weeks, due to Fitzgerald Ave & Avonside Dr, NO GO, red zone closures.
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake collapsed house, Marine Pde, New Brighton. The house would be demolished
Near the school, Feb 22 quakemire & parapet bricks fallen off Richmond Working Mens Club, still polluted London St pavements. Green, plastic, sewage tank still stood outside the school. Plastic, water tank & 6 taps in the park long gone.
Tues 17.05.11. A day later, Council started patch repairing London St. I drove that way daily, after dropping Luke off at Sullivan Ave tech, tired of all the potholes, lumps, bumps. How long would my shocks last? Despite patch repairs, narrow London St would be parlous for years.
Sixteen months post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, London St would still be lumpy, bumpy outside Leah's school. So much for SCIRT's rebuild of horizontal infrastructure.
Dec 2015. Bealey Ave going to London St would still be lumpy, bumpy, disrepaired. Third World.
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, double storey house, Marine Pde, New Brighton
16.05.11. A Southshore friend said three months post Feb 22 Killer Quake, she still boiled drinking water, still used a portaloo, her house still shook whenever winds blew. Her family had deserted her, she lived alone, so Leah regularly visited for a chat. Never mind aftershocks & Christchurch E suburbs needing 1 800km of sewer renewal post quake. Nearby, a $600 000 house still settled into quakemire near Avon-Heathcote Estuary.
Months later, CERA would red zone Southshore land on Avon-Heathcote Estuary side, as quakes had caused too much lateral spreading, making the land too expensive to fix.
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, red stickered, wood braced house, Marine Pde, New Brighton
Marine Pde: Snapped ghost houses behind dunes, one house collapsed, fallen gable exposing roof space, front wall peeled off, front room dropped about 2m, collapsed garage roof on ground. Besides the Council red sticker on a window, the collapsed house had several signs.
Window, spray-painted sign:
ROOF TILES
$3 ea
Board, spray-painted sign:
CENTUR
ION
TILES
$3 ea
Window, EQC sign:
PUBLIC NOTICE
EQC and other parties have
declared this property stable
and of no threat to the safety
of any other parties.
Dated 15/03/11
PLEASE KEEP OUT
The EQC sign repeated what Council red stickers did. Duplication of inspections by govt dept EQC & Council caused confusion, a waste of money. Collapsed house was stable & no threat to anyone's safety, EQC was nuts!
16.05.11. Feb 22 quake, abandoned garage sale, Marine Pde, New Brighton
16.05.11. Another quake while I typed, shook my computer monitor, creaked our house: 12:41pm, M4.4, depth 7km, 10km SW of Christchurch (GeoNet).
*Trekked Beresford St, Union St, Seaview Rd, Marine Pde. 48 snaps.
Coda:
Pre quakes & post quakes we'd often driven to New Brighton, Luke's girlfriend lived there, her parents were kind to us. They provided Luke with picture framing & salvage jobs, pre & post quakes. So we knew New Brighton quite well. We exchanged books at the pier library. At the best of times, New Brighton Mall was seedy. Post quakes, a mess.
New Brighton development talk, but little action about rebuilds. Examples: A new indoor pool was mooted near the library & nearby roads revamped. 13.02.15. The Press would report a Council master plan to revamp the mall area & a developer rebuilding the post quake, empty demolition site, Marine Pde / Beresford St. Before the cnr bldg was quake demolished, I'd parked there & watched boozers in the pub garden boozing in the sunshine.
30.05.20. Marine Pde: New Brighton Hot Pools By The Sea, He Puna Tai would open, New Brighton foreshore, near New Brighton pier. Saltwater pools, an onlooking cafe.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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