Post 4 Sept, M7.1 Darfield Quake, I'd trekked the State of Emergency, steel mesh fence cordon down Colombo St & snapped old, brick ghosts. The steel mesh fence cordon then was check-pointed at Elgin St & Carlyle St crossings by cops & NZDF soldiers. Some trashed bldgs were demolished quickly. Some stood empty death-traps for months, rubble blocking pavements, steel mesh fence cordons blocking traffic.
Post 22 Feb, M6.3 Killer Quake, I'd trekked parallel Buchan St & Durham St Sth to see National State of Emergency, steel mesh fence cordons strangling Colombo St, Sydenham. The steel mesh fence cordon was check-pointed at crossings by few cops & more NZDF soldiers, all the way from Brougham St to Carlyle St crossings.
At that late Feb time, many Colombo St bldgs needed to be demolished still. Pity they weren't demolished post Sept 4 Darfield Quake, as someone was killed at Tasty Tucker Bakery, Colombo St, by the Feb 22 Killer Quake. Post Feb 22 Killer Quake, which killed 185 people, Colombo St, Sydenham demolitions speeded up.
Brougham St / Colombo St: 2 storey ghost: Old, brick, Blue Jean Cuisine Restaurant & Bar, wood & metal braced, fence cordoned. The back was quake trashed, brick rubble lay behind a steel mesh fence cordon, back wall yellow & red plastic tarped. The bldg would be demolished.
21.07.11. Red / yellow tarp. Steel mesh fence cordon. Quake damaged Blue Jean Cuisine, Colombo St / Brougham St, Sydenham. The bldg would be demolished
Opp cnr, Sydenham Heritage Church ghost: Stone rubble heap, steel mesh fence cordoned, business signs on the fence. The old, stone church was damaged by the Sept 4 Darfield Quake. Owners of the Heritage site accused Council of giving Civil Defence permission to demolish post Feb 22 Killer Quake, during the National State of Emergency. The derelict bldg was empty for years, death-trap eyesore on busy Brougham St.
Rubble heap sign:
Property of
Sydenham
Heritage
Trust
2016. Weedy rubble heap would be removed.
2021. Heritage Trust would ask for donations to build a new Sydenham Community Centre on the demolition site.
21.07.11. Quake damaged & demolished Sydenham Heritage Church, Brougham St / Colombo St, Sydenham
Colombo St / Elgin St: WINZ 5 storey ghost: crumbled concrete pillar bases, Colombo St main entrance. Cracked cnrs, upper concrete floors. Ugly, concrete, glass bldg, dirty plates pile, Stalinist architecture. WINZ would be demolished.
21.07.11. Quake damaged WINZ bldg, Elgin St / Colombo St, Sydenham
WINZ office door sign:
Work and Income
...
A service of the Ministry of Social Development
Following the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake
this office is now closed until further notice
If you require help from Work and Income phone...
You can also get assistance at the following Service Centres open during normal office hours:
*Hornby Service Centre...
*Rangiora Service Centre...
*Riccarton Service Centre...
*Kaiapoi Community Link...
*Shirley Service Centre...
*Linwood Community Link...
*New Brighton Service Centre...
*Ashburton Community Link...
We had bad, pre quakes memories of Sydenham WINZ: our letters ignored, useless case managers, slow service, standover tactics by a manager... Christchurch citizens were finding other govt depts, EQC & CERA worse. Their ineptitude made WINZ look saintly during quake times.
Colombo St: Opp WINZ offices: big, empty, steel mesh fence cordoned, demolition sites, a white shipping container on the middle by Colombo St pavement. An Indian dairy shopkeeper traded from the shipping container.
21.07.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Colombo St, Sydenham demolition site & dairy in a shipping container
Post quakes, shanty shops like that were all over Christchurch on demolition sites. Others I'd seen: Bealey Ave / Papanui Rd, on old Carlton Hotel demolition site, a mobile pub on a trailer; Rossall St / Holmwood Rd, a porta-cabin cafe on a demolition site...
Colombo St / Wordsworth St: Empty, steel mesh fence cordoned, demolition site, where heritage brick, Ascot TV was trashed by the Sept 4 Darfield Quake.
Wordsworth St: Old, brick Crown Masonic Centre ghost, trashed by the Feb 22 Killer Quake, brick wall peeled off, halls & roof spaces exposed. Delayed demolition, the June 13 Quake collapsed the roof more. Five Hi-Vis vested workmen shirked on the pavement, while Crown Masonic Centre was demolished. Post quakes, I saw many Hi-Vis vested workmen shirking at road repairs, demolitions, bldg repairs, rebuilds.
21.07.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Post quakes demolition site, Colombo St / Wordsworth St, Sydenham
21.07.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Post quakes Ascot TV demolition site, Wordsworh St / Colombo St, Sydenham. WINZ bldg behind right
21.07.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Four, orange, Hi-Vis vested workmen "supervising" post quake demolition in progress, Crown Masonic Centre, Wordsworth St, Sydenham
21.07.11. Playground view, quakes collapsed Crown Masonic Centre, Buchan St / Wordsworth St, Sydenham. Crown Masonic Centre would be demolished
Colombo St: Demolition in progress, a white digger worked on top of a pile of steel mesh fence cordoned rubble, while 2 orange, Hi-Vis vested workmen fiddled with a red pipe sticking out of rubble, spouting water.
21.07.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Colombo St, Sydenham view, post quakes demolition site. Buchan St carpark beyond
21.07.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Colombo St, Sydenham post quakes demolition in progress
21.07.11. Quake damaged, boarded, steel mesh fence cordoned shops, Colombo St, Sydenham
Colombo St / Battersea St: Empty, steel mesh fence cordoned, demolition site, where Sept 4 Darfield Quake trashed, old, brick Churchills Tavern once stood. Nearby, Bali Hai Imports Ltd & further down Colombo St, Penny Lane business, were once in old, brick, Sept 4 Darfield Quake trashed bldgs: gone, demolished.
21.07.11. Churchills Tavern, post Feb 22 quake demolition site, Colombo St / Battersea St, Sydenham. Churchills Tavern was 04.09.10 quake trashed
Colombo St / Sandyford St: Empty, steel mesh fence cordoned, demolition site, moss growing on quakemire volcanoes, where Sept 4 Darfield Quake trashed, old, brick Angus Donaldson ghost once stood.
21.07.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Angus Donaldson, post Feb 22 quake demolition site, Colombo St / Sandyford St, Sydenham. Angus Donaldson was 04.09.10 quake trashed
Colombo St / Byron St: Big, empty, demolition site where Sept 4 Darfield Quake trashed, old, brick Rob Roys ghost once stood. Neighbouring Kaleidoscopes & Monumental Masons, old brick, Sept 4 quake trashed ghosts were demolished, other businesses gone too.
21.07.11. Post quakes demolition site, Colombo St / Byron St, Sydenham
21.07.11. Rob Roys, post Feb 22 quake demolition site, Colombo St / Byron St. Rob Roys, Kaleidoscopes, Monumental Masons, other Colombo St businesses were 04.09.10 quake trashed
Colombo St: Demolitions let light into darkness, where once old, brick bldgs stood. After 10 months of quakes it was the busiest I'd seen Colombo St, Sydenham: traffic flowed, some shops open, despite demolitions.
Demolitions also exposed fresh walls for taggers, especially tilt slab, concrete walls, already tagged on Colombo St demolition sites. Authorities would try & quell taggers by allowing "art" on bare concrete, tilt slab walls. Over the next few years tagging would compete with "art" on newly exposed walls all over Christchurch.
Fri 22.07.11. Woken by a rumbling M5.1 quake, 40km west of Christchurch, 12km depth, 5.39am (GeoNet).
There was anti-Semitic reporting by media, slagging off 3 Israelis who'd died in the Feb 22 Killer Quake: TV & The Weekend Press, July 23-24, 2011 reported that one of the Israelis had more than one passport (so what?) & that the surviving 3 Israelis had quickly left NZ after the Feb 22 quake & that Security Intelligence Service, SIS was investigating those Israelis as spies.
That was like erroneous reporting for several days post Feb 22 Killer Quake, of 20 people dying in Christ Church Cathedral during the quake. It reminded me of North Island Maori camping in the bush years back, accused of being terrorists by bumbling cops.
On the afternoon of the Feb 22 Killer Quake, I'd snapped foreign backpackers, like Israelis, & more upmarket tourists with suitcases skedaddling Bealey Ave / Madras St crossing, out of the quaked CBD, fleeing Christchurch post quake. They all fled on foot, for vampires arriving to suck up quake limited accommodation in Christchurch, like Aussie cops, foreign military, foreign USAR / TF teams, contractors from all over NZ.
That deadly, chaotic afternoon, I watched groups of Kiwi workers flee the CBD, on foot too, while quakemire oozed on pavements & roadsides & by bldgs. Their cars were trapped in the CBD. I watched them walk out of the CBD on Bealey Ave & Fitzgerald Ave. Traffic was gridlocked on Bealey Ave, while aftershocks jolted all afternoon, traffic lights not working, Civil Defence & cops directing traffic. The grey air stank from burning CTV multi-storey.
For days afterwards near Christchurch airport, I experienced Greers Rd gridlock by Burnside HS near our home, due to foreigners fleeing Christchurch. During the post quake, National State of Emergency, Civil Defence designated Burnside HS an Evacuation Centre for tourists leaving Christchurch, so there was nothing unusual about 3 Israeli backpackers leaving. In their dreadful position I would've fled too.
*Trekked Colombo St. 36 snaps.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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