Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Quaked QE11 Park & Parklands

Queen Elizabeth 11 Park, Parklands focus. I often drove past QE11 Park en route to New Brighton. Since the 4 September Quake, Travis Rd going past Queen Elizabeth 11 Park was bad: lumpy & bumpy. QE11 Park & sports-amenities were built for the 1974 Commonwealth Games. Before the 4 September 2010 Quake, Leah bussed her school kids to QE11 pool for swimming lessons, which stopped post-quake.

QE11 Park was also damaged by the 22 February 2011 Quake, M6.3, & liquefactioned by the 13 June 2011 Quake, M6.3, as the park was between Travis Wetland westwards, North New Brighton & Pacific eastwards.

Where there was water there was liquefaction-damage, like Avon River water, nearby Travis Wetland water, waterway-water & underground-water between, causing muddy mayhem. Quakes were reverting huge urban-areas to swamps.

28.06.11. June 13 quake, Bower Ave quake damaged bldg, opp QE11 Park


Northwards in Parklands, Leah's relatives lived near Queenspark Dr. We have fond memories of Parklands, as the family was kind to us after our arrival in Christchurch 16 years before. Post-quakes, 2020... Jake would flat at Parklands, Cottonwood St.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned gate, EQC temp offices, Bower Ave


28.06.11. June 13 quake, Dick Tayler Dr view, EQC cars parked on Bower Ave

Tues 28.06.11. From liquefactioned New Brighton Rd by Avon River, I drove up Bower Ave , which was largely cleared of 13 June liquefaction-mud, Avon River side. Post-quake road-works were done on Bower Ave, shingle-patches all along. Further up Bower Ave near QE11Park, it was muddier.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, QE11 Park road signs, Dick Tayler Dr, QE11 Park


28.06.11. June 13 quake sinkholes, Mark Treffers Dr, QE11 Park


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Mark Treffers Dr, QE11 Park


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction sinkholes, Mark Treffers Dr, QE11 Park


I parked at Bower Ave / Dick Tayler Dr entrance to QE11 Park, by EQC's white porta-cabin offices. Four EQC Toyota cars were parked on Bower Ave, opposite a ruin, brick-gables fallen. I saw clear through the roof. EQC minions looked comfortable in their temporary offices, flash-cars parked nearby. Passing citizens who'd endured quakes since 4 September 2010 Quake didn't look comfortable.

Off Colombo St, Beckenham, I'd seen EQC porta-cabins by South Library too.

QE11 Park: EQC fence sign:

EQC
HELPING THE RECOVERY IN
CANTERBURY

EQC Toyotas also sported those signs on car-doors. But EQC's HELPING was slow!


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned sports field, Mark Treffers Dr, QE11 Park




EQC government employees, who assessed & paid quake-claims, were well paid by taxpayers, but were slow with payouts post 4 September 2010 Quake. They whined they would take years to settle over 370 000 claims from quakes, 4 September 2020 Quake to 13 June 2011 Quake. Yet EQC expected owners of damaged-properties to submit claims within a three months deadline after each quake!


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction volcanoes & sinkholes, QE11 Park sports field, Ascot Ave





I trekked QE11 Park & its liquefactioned-roads, huge sinkholes in places & 13 June 2011 Quake's liquefaction-volcanoes & sinkholes on Mark Treffers Dr & on sports-grounds. Some quakemire was shovelled into heaps on roadside-grass. Joggers used the 2.1km Fitness & Walking Track & did exercises around QE11 Park.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Fitness & Walking Track, QE11 Park, Ascot Ave,






Ascot Ave: I snapped liquefaction-volcanoes on sports-fields, then looked at liquefactioned-houses. By Ascot Community Centre, petanque players played on liquefactioned-ground, a liquefaction-volcano in the carpark.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Ascot Ave by QE11 Park



28.06.11. June 13 quake damaged houses, Ascot Ave by QE11 Park






28.06.11. June 13 quake, Ascot Community Centre, liquefactioned carpark, Ascot Ave



28.06.11. June 13 quake, petanque players by liquefaction volcano, Ascot Ave

28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Beach Rd / Ascot Ave


28.06.11. 30  km/h speed limit sign. June 13 quake, road works on liquefactioned Beach Rd nr QE11 Park


Beach Rd: I trekked past Ascot Golf Course, post-quake road works progressed along the soggy-road.

Frosts Rd: Pukekos pecked grass near a Travis Wetland sign. Beyond, wetland willows stood bare in wintry gloom.

28.06.11. June 13 quake, Travis Wetland opp Ascot Golf Course, Frosts Rd


Frosts Rd crossed swampland, Travis Wetland one side, Ascot Golf Course the other. Beside Ascot Golf Course stream, Frosts Rd tarseal-footpath was buckled, cracked by quakes. By Robin Tait Dr entrance to QE11 Park, about 400m of stream / roadside footpath was quake-sunk below Frosts Rd level, flooded with red Azolla fern & green Lemna duckweed. From Frosts Rd it was impossible to enter QE11 Park, as Robin Tait Dr entrance was flooded, huge cracks went along the road to the Athletics Stadium ruin & Gymnastics Stadium.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned footpath, Frosts Rd


28.06.11. June 13 quake, Azolla fern filled stream, Frosts Rd


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned roadside, Frosts Rd


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction flooded footpath, Frosts Rd


28.06.11. June 13 quake, Azolla fern filled stream & liquefactioned footpath, Frosts Rd


28.06.11. June 13 quake flooded footpath, Frosts Rd





28.06.11. June 13 quake flooded, Frosts Rd entrance along Robin Tait Dr to QE11 Park,






28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned roadside, Frosts Rd





28.06.11. June 13 quake, Travis Wetland pukekos, Frosts Rd / Travis Rd


I sludged past the flooded-footpath & snapped the WW1 poppy-memorial across the traffic-circle by Anzac Dr.

Travis Rd: By QE11 Park again, I snapped quakemire. A front-end-loader shovelled shingle onto roadside-heaps.


28.06.11. June 13 quake damaged footpath, Frosts Rd / Travis Rd. WW1 poppy memorial, Anzac Dr beyond



28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Travis Rd by QE11 Park


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned lawn, steel mesh fence cordoned bldg, QE11 Park, Travis Rd



28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Travis Rd by QE11 Park



28.06.11. June 13 quake, front end loader by liquefactioned QE11 Park, Travis Rd


28.06.11. June 13 quake, QE11 Park entrance sign, Travis Rd



28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction mud, Gymnastics Stadium, QE11 Park


28.06.11. June 13 quake, yellow & blue portaloos, Gymnastics Stadium entrance, QE11 Park

I trekked to the liquefactioned Gymnastics Stadium where Luke did gym during Burnside High School days. The Gym was open, the carpark was liquefactioned, masses of grey volcanic-mud. Huge cracks went along Robin Tait Dr to Frosts Rd.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction volcano, Gymnastics Stadium carpark, QE11 Park




28.06.11. June 13 quake cracked carpark by Gymnastics Stadium & Athletics Stadium, QE11 Park


28.06.11 June 13 quake, liquefactioned & quake cracked Robin Tait Dr, QE11 Park



The Athletics Stadium ruin was steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Beyond a locked gate, the track was buckled & cracked. Quakemire-volcanoes polluted grass on the track-oval. A sorry-sight in a famous stadium. The Athletics Stadium would be demolished, end of 2012.


28.06.11. Feb 22 quake & June 13 quake liquefactioned QE11 Park Athletics Stadium. The stadium would be demolished, 2012


28.06.11. Feb 22 quake & June 13 quake liquefactioned & buckled athletics track, QE11 Park Athletics Stadium. The stadium would be demolished, 2012


28.06.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake & June 13 quake, QE11 Park Athletics stadium. The stadium would be demolished, 2012

By QE11 Preschool a sign directed people along a new shingle-path to the Gymnastics Stadium. The Pools & Fitness Centre ruin by Athletics Stadium ruin was steel-mesh-fence & orange-plastic-barrier-tape-cordoned. I trekked past the cracked-pond, looking at excavators & power-cable trucks in the carpark. During 1980s, working for De Beers personnel, Kleinzee & Koffiefontein diamond mines, I'd written many job- descriptions for earthmoving machine-operators, so I liked seeing excavators & massive machinery roaming Christchurch during quake-years.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, preschool signs, QE11 Park



28.06.11. June 13 quake, orange, plastic tape, steel mesh fence cordoned, Athletics Stadium & Pools & Fitness Centre, QE11 Park



28.06.11. June 13 quake, digger buckets, contractor vehicles, QE11 Park carpark





QE11 Park: I trekked across the cricket-oval, snapping sinkholes & liquefaction-volcanoes polluting the cricket-pitch & cricket-field. Some sinkholes were more then 2m diameter, more than 1m deep. Every square millimetre of grass I walked was grey-quakemired. Green grass hid the extent of liquefaction-damages.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction sinkholes, cricket oval, QE11 Park















28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction sinkholes, Dick Tayler Dr, QE11 Park. EQC temp offices beyond



28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction sinkholes, Dick Tayler Dr, QE11 Park



I drove up Bower Ave a bit to see Parklands & parked near Beach Rd crossing. Bower Ave thereafter was deeply liquefactioned. A sucker-truck on Beach Rd corner sucked quakemire from sewage-pipes. Parklands quakemire was sandier, like wet beach sand, less grey than other Christchurch quakemire.


28.06.11. ROAD CLOSED. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. June 13 quake, blue, sewage sucker truck, Bower Ave / Beach Rd traffic circle


28.06.11. ROAD CLOSED. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. June 13 quake, Beach Rd closed, Bower Ave traffic circle


28.06.11. June 13 quake damaged Beach Rd island, Bower Ave / Beach Rd traffic circle

Bower Ave: A tilted power-pole's printed-sign:

PLEASE CONSIDER US
AND

SLOW
DOWN

FROM THE RESIDENTS


28.06.11. SLOW DOWN sign on quake tilted power pole. June 13 quake damaged housing, Bower Ave, nr Beach Rd crossing


Bower Ave beyond Queenspark Dr junction: Closed to traffic, road works continuing. Two weeks post 13 June 2011 Quake, quakemire was mostly removed. I saw new houses in Forest Park en route to Bottle Lake Forest Park. I wouldn't buy there, too much liquefaction.

Parklands East would soon be deeply liquefactioned again by the Xmas Quake Swarm, 2011.


28.06.11. NO ENTRY. Orange, plastic bollard, orange, plastic, road cone cordon. June 13 quake damaged, liquefactioned roads & housing, Bower Ave, between Beach Rd & Queenspark Dr intersections


A driveway hand-written sign:

SLIPPERY

DRIVE UP


Bottle Lake Forest: The suggestion that pines be chopped down enabling post- quake housing-development was mad. Bottle Lake Forest Park was on sand dunes between northern liquefactioned Spencer Park; southern liquefactioned Parklands; western Styx River & Travis Wetland; eastern Pacific. Why develop post-quake housing on liquefactioned land? Look what happened to liquefactioned Seebreeze Cl, Bexley!

For months post-quakes, Council used Bottle Lake Forest Park as a raw sewage-dump, after sucker-trucks cleared ruined infrastructure. From the dump-pond, there was danger of sewage leaking into the Pacific. Locals endured truck-traffic shaking their fragile homes. Sewage-stink & bacteria infested dust irked too.


28.06.11. June 13 quake damaged, liquefactioned road & housing, Bower Ave, between Queenspark Dr & Broadhaven Ave junctions



28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Rue De La Mare / Bower Ave


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Rue De La Mare, Parklands


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Bower Ave housing, Forest Park


I didn't take many Parklands snaps, as my camera memory-card was expiring. But all Parklands roads I trekked & side-roads I saw were liquefactioned, mud was mostly cleared: Bower Ave, Broadhaven Ave, Bottle Lake Dr, Inwoods Rd, Queenspark Dr. Little did I know, the area would be liquefactioned again during the Xmas Quake Swarm when I would return for more liquefaction-snaps.


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Bower Ave / Broadhaven Ave


28.06.11. June 13 quake, white, plastic, water tank, liquefactioned Bottle Lake Forest Park, Broadhaven Ave


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned roads & housing, Broadhaven Ave




Several road-works vehicles & road-gangs cleared silt & fixed roads. Sucker-trucks roamed, including a CCTV van for checking silt obstructions in drains & sewage pipes. Queenspark Dr shopping centre buzzed due to overflow trade from red-zoned cordoned-CBD.


28.06.11. Blue digger. June 13 quake damaged, liquefactioned, Bottle Lake Dr




28.06.11. June 13 quake, white, sewage, sucker truck & CCTV van, Bottle Lake Dr



28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction & road works seen from Bottle Lake Dr


28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefaction & road works, Inwoods Rd



On a tree, a hand-written, red, speed-limit sign:

30k

28.06.11. June 13 quake, liquefactioned pavement by Subway, Queenspark Dr


28.06.11. Plastic tape, orange, plastic, road cone cordon around a sinkhole. June 13 quake, liquefactioned Hurst Pl, off Queenspark Dr

*Trekked Bower Ave, Dick Tayler Dr, Mark Treffers Dr, Ascot Ave, Beach Rd, Frosts Rd, Travis Rd, QE11 Park, Broadhaven Ave, Bottle Lake Dr, Inwoods Rd, Queenspark Dr. 165 snaps.

Coda:

01.11.11. As QE11 Park was so liquefactioned, the Department of Building & Housing exploded bits of QE11 Park grounds, simulating quakes, to write geotech report recommendations for quake-proof house-foundations. (Geotech would do similar underground-explosions at QE11 Park in October 2013, authorised by CERA-minister Brownlee, again simulating quakes to see how ground reacted, to construct stronger house-foundations. OneNews). But foundation techniques were already tried & tested elsewhere: pounding soil; thicker concrete-slabs; deeper-piles; underground-dams with wooden-piles or concrete-piles... Shocked people in nearby houses like Ascot Ave  endured explosion-tremors, after enduring four major quakes & 1 000s of aftershocks so far! 

September 2012. Travis Rd: When I drove past QE11 Park, I would see two big cranes above QE11 Park Athletics Stadium, a demolition in progress.

March 2013. Slow EQC would whine that EQC staff were bullied by irate citizens. Thus EQC increased security-guards at EQC offices, like Bower Ave depot, installing razor-wire above fencing. But EQC messed citizens around for years post 4 September 2010 Quake!

Pre-quakes EQC was a small government department. Post-quakes, it rapidly expanded to process 1 000s of claims. EQC had to assess claims that were undercap $100 000 dollars & pass on overcap claims to insurers. Therein lay EQC troubles for claimants, as EQC delayed inspections, or lost reports & was responsible for monopoly Fletcher Construction doing undercap repairs. It would be years before many claimants were assessed overcap by slow EQC. Claimants then had to claim from insurers.

It would've been better if EQC did not control undercap repairs. Insurers should've first sorted out claims & repairs, then insurers should've invoiced specific undercap $100 000 claims from EQC, a bank for undercap claims, after insurers had processed claimants repairs. But NZ National government insisted EQC controlled all assessments & undercap repairs, before passing overcap claims to insurers, thus forming a monstrous jam & troubles for claimants. Never mind botched-repairs by Fletcher. CERA-minister Brownlee would persist in supporting slow EQC for years.

12.02.15. The Press would report that Avonside Girls High & Shirley Boys High would be rebuilt at QE11 Park. Both schools were ruined by the 22 February 2011 Quake. Why did Education Minister, Hekia Parata want to rebuild two high schools on liquefactioned land, so damaged that QE11 Stadium & sports / recreation buildings were demolished post-quakes?

2022. At rebuilt QE11 Park, I trekked past rebuilt Avonside Girls High next to rebuilt Shirley Boys High. Next-door to the rebuilt schools were rebuilt public-pools & a giant waterpark-slide. Behind were sports-fields & rebuilt Christchurch School of Gymnastics.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

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