Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Year 2 CERA. Orange Zone, Oxford Terrace. 4 Red Zone, CBD Bridges.

Orange zone, 4 CBD bridges, red zone focus. Wed 08.02.12. Pre 2010-2011 quakes, Jake had rented a house on Oxford Tce beside Avon River, in the Avon Loop. Since the quakes began, 04.09.10, Darfield Quake, Oxford Tce between Barbadoes St & Fitzgerald Ave was quake damaged, by 10 000 quakes, big & small, with houses shaken to bits or tilted in liquefaction mud. Avon River bank slumped with deep cracks riverside, caused by lateral spreading.

Like other CERA designated orange zones, that section of Oxford Tce was limbo-land: "Further assessment required," while CERA slowly got Tonkin & Taylor geotech reports, which placed inhabitants & property owners under huge stress, as they couldn't get on with their lives, while officials dithered about quake trashed land.

Land zoning done by CERA had anomalies, so citizens asked for reviews of their land zoning from green zone to red zone, or vice versa. Others wanted CERA to stop dithering & make quicker land decisions about orange & white zones.

I wanted to see 4 CBD bridges, former red zone, starting at Manchester St Bridge & trekking downriver to the end of Oxford Tce by Fitzgerald Ave Bridge.

Over 17 quake months, so far, Christchurch roads had degenerated, some patch repairs done by Council. Most bridges had survived the quakes, with traffic flowing, but concrete bridge abutments at either end of bridges were battered, cracked, spalled & part separated from bridge spans, due to quake shaking & riverbank slumping. Some metal handrails for pedestrians on bridge sides were broken or skewed. Never mind riverbank slumping below bridge abutments & riverbed slumping below concrete piers. Would rebars in bridge concrete stretch like elastic, snap, or bend?

I parked near the Council Central Library, Peterborough St. Post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, Gloucester St Central Library was abandoned in the red zone CBD. Whenever I drove Peterborough St towards Avon River it looked more derelict: ghosts, overgrown gardens, demolition sites. Some businesses struggled on, some houses inhabited.

Peterborough St: Some properties where I'd snapped months before were empty. Besides weedy sites, someone had sprinkled flower seeds to brighten up demolition sites: poppies & daisies...


08.02.12. Quake trashed house, Peterborough St, post 23.12.11 quake swarm


Manchester St Bridge: Near PGC demolition site, where 18 people died when the bldg collapsed in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake. Manchester St Bridge, 1 span, between Cambridge Tce & Oxford Tce looked OK. Pavement buckling between abutment & span, Cambridge Tce side.

EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. The bridge was still a NZDF checkpoint into the CBD red zone, soldiers checking vehicle entry by a steel mesh fence cordon. Citizens were still banned from the CBD a year post Feb 22 Killer Quake, demolitions ongoing, but no rebuild, yet.

17 months post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake & 1 year post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, "rebuild" was a joke, as insurance payouts were delayed & insurers upped premiums, complaining about "risk." Canterbury citizens were experiencing Disaster Capitalism by insurers, CERA, EQC, Fletcher, landlords & contractors.

Wikipedia referred to Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, in which Klein espoused Disaster Capitalism, whereby some developed countries' politicians "exploited crises to push through controversial exploitative policies while citizens are too emotionally & physically distracted by disasters to mount effective resistance." NZ National govt's / CERA's red zoning of quake trashed areas was Disaster Capitalism: citizens losing their land rights, with cheapskate offers from insurers & the Crown, NZ National govt land-grabbing the lot.

NZ National govt did not protect residential red zoners from slow insurers. Residential red zoning by NZ National govt benefitted insurers, not insured, red zone home owners. Red zoning enabled insurers to pay less than what they owed to red zone home owners, for a like-for-like rebuild of their quake damaged homes. Never mind 2007 RV. According to protest leader Rev Coleman, red zoners would have to go to the High Court to get fair payout from insurers. But citizens were pushing back by means of public protests in parks & streets. I would attend many public protests in 2012.


08.02.12. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Checkpoint hut. NZDF checkpoint into CBD red zone, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake, Manchester St / Cambridge Tce. BNZ right would be demolished, 2013


08.02.12. EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Manchester St, NZDF checkpoint view, PGC bldg demolition site, Cambridge Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. 18 people died when PGC bldg collapsed. Both bldgs in the pic would be demolished, incl Ernst & Young beyond


08.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Manchester St, NZDF checkpoint hut view, CBD red zone, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Both bldgs in the pic would be demolished incl Ernst & Young behind



18.02.12. Green portaloo, steel mesh fence cordon, checkpoint hut. NZDF checkpoint, Manchester St Bridge view, BNZ left & PWC right awaiting demolition, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. More than a decade post quakes, a new RC Cathedral precinct would be built on the PWC demo site opp Town Hall, beside Avon River

08.02.12. Manchester St Bridge over Avon River into CBD red zone, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake

Madras St Bridge: Angled bridge on a river bend, 1 span each angle arm, by Oxford Tce Baptist Church & The Poplars apartments demolition sites. The N-S bridge span was horizontally rotated clockwise with concrete corners sticking out, or crunched into abutments. I saw that horizontal rotation of concrete spans on several bridges. There was spalling at concrete bridge abutments, concrete footpaths & steps by the 9/11 Firefighters Reserve.

Near Madras St Bridge, Edmonds Clock Tower: Clock still stopped at 12.51pm, when the 22.02.11 Killer Quake struck.


08.02.12. Novo bldg, demolition site, by Shipley bldg, Madras St / Peterborough St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Concrete spalling between abutment & span, Madras St Bridge, Kilmore St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Madras St Bridge view, The Poplars demolition site, CBD red zone, 1 year post 22.02.11. quake. Edmonds Clock Tower right, clock still stopped at 12.51 pm, when the 22.02.11 quake struck


08.02.12. 9/11 Firefighters Reserve sign, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Quake damaged pavement & curb, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake



08.02.12. Spalled concrete steps, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Concrete spalling between abutment & span, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Quake gap in paving, 9/11 Firefighters Reserve, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Oxford Tce view, Madras St Bridge abutment, sinking into Avon River mud, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. See spalling & hand rail levels behind 9/11 Firefighters Memorial


08.02.12. Oxford Tce view, 9/11 Firefighters Reserve, Madras St Bridge over Avon River, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


Two Madras St Bridge, concrete abutments had moved / sunk about a foot on Avon River bank, Kilmore St side. I used my size 6 jandal (11 inches / 27cm long) often to measure depth / width of quake cracks.


08.02.12. Quake split hand rail on Madras St Bridge abutment, Kilmore St side, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake



08.02.12. Concrete spalling & movement / sinking of Madras St Bridge abutments, by 9/11 Firefighters Reserve, Kilmore St side, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


Barbadoes St Bridge, by The Bricks: 1 span. Concrete spalling at bridge abutments. The span had horizontally rotated anti-clockwise, the opp way to Madras St Bridge. Some Christchurch footbridges would be demolished, like Medway St Footbridge (stored at Ferrymead) & it would be years before road bridges were fixed properly by SCIRT.

Barbadoes St Cemetery stone wall, which collapsed on Cambridge Tce in the Feb 22 Killer Quake, was unfixed, just a mud bank. Months before, post Feb 22 Killer Quake, when I'd trekked past during wet weather, noxious fluids had oozed from the cemetery with liquefaction mud, across the quake sunk road into Avon River.


08.02.12. FOOTPATH CLOSED. White digger. Post quake road works, Cambridge Tce / Barbadoes St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Quake damaged, concrete spalling & sinking between abutment & span, Barbadoes St Bridge, Cambridge Tce / Barbadoes St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


Barbadoes St Bridge: One concrete abutment was cracked & leaned about 4 inches away from the bridge span. On the other side of the bridge on Avon River bank, a concrete drain, manhole slumped towards Avon River.


08.02.12. Anti-clockwise span rotation from abutment, Barbadoes St Bridge, Oxford Tce side, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Tarseal patch repair. Quake movement & cracking of concrete abutment away from span, Barbadoes St Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Anti-clockwise rotation of span clearly seen


08.02.12. Concrete manhole, quake slumped on Avon River bank, Barbadoes St Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. House demolition site, nr Barbadoes St Bridge, Barbadoes St / Cambridge Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake

Oxford Tce: Steel mesh fence cordoned, Holiday Inn ghost a mess, worse than what I'd seen post Feb 22 Killer Quake, when workmen did patch repairs to the road. Some Oxford Tce houses were still inhabited in the orange zone, but most were red stickered or abandoned, between house or flat demolition sites. Ghost houses. Off Oxford Tce, Bangor St pump house, an old brick bldg, leaned towards Avon River. In Avon Loop, Bangor St pump house would be the only bldg to survive the quakes & CERA's residential red zoning.

Holiday Inn would be demolished, July 2015.


08.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Quake damaged, abandoned, Holiday Inn, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Holiday Inn would be demolished, July 2015



08.02.12. Quake damaged, boarded house, orange zone, Oxford Tce / Willow St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Quake damaged, liquefactioned house, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


Why CERA took so long to decide on orange zoned, Oxford Tce land, only CERA could explain. Any passerby could see that Oxford Tce was finished & only idiots would want to redevelop quake-trashed, riverside land again. Unproved "land remediation" was engineer-speak for funding for decades to come. Why rebuild on swampland?

Engineers would use taxpayers' money to make underground explosions & check soil results. Their reasons being they were checking "liquefaction" effects, so they could improve concrete foundations in post quake bldgs. Risible that CERA minister Brownlee & State Housing minister Smith extolled such nonsense! All they had to do was walk any Christchurch river bank to see liquefaction trashing of concrete foundations, concrete curbs, concrete drains...

In 1987-88 when I'd worked for DeBeers Koffiefontein mine in SA, I experienced earthquakes caused by underground mine explosions & the effects were different from Christchurch quakes. The underground explosion waves were higher frequency than quake waves. During one mine quake, I was standing near our garden lemon tree & the mature tree shivered for about a minute with leaves rustling due to the high frequency waves. I'd never seen a tree quiver like that in a Christchurch quake. Seismic waves in Christchurch caused trees to move up & down while a wave passed. I experienced that once while holding onto our nectarine tree when a quake wave passed.

So the 1m thick concrete slabs which engineers evolved for liquefaction prone land, post quakes, wouldn't stop a house on its thick slab floating up & down in a big quake. The thickened concrete slab would hopefully just stop liquefaction mud penetrating the house floor. I doubted the thickened, concrete slab foundation would stop liquefaction flooding, as garden soil level would be level with the foundation slab top & ground settlement would cause flooding during liquefaction. The only real test for a house on a thicker, concrete slab foundation would be another big quake, not underground explosions.


08.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Quake tilted, Bangor St pump house, orange zone, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Bangor St pump house would survive the quakes


08.02.12. Quake tilted power pole. Liquefaction mud pile, orange zone, Oxford Tce / Bangor St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. SLOW  PLEASE. Postal delivery, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Quake cracked, slumped, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Slumping due to lateral spreading


08.02.12. Quake damaged, boarded, slumlord rental house, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake



Oxford Tce: Meanwhile, some ghost houses were red stickered, uninhabitable by Council, others were green stickered, inhabitable. Anyone living in Third World, Oxford Tce, imbibing silt dust & hearing the Fitzgerald Ave pile driver & road rebuild clamour for months, must've gone bonkers, with frustration & anger at Council's & CERA's bureaucratic inertia.

By Jake's old rental, power pole, hand-written sign:

      S
      L
      O
     W
PLEASE

The hand made, speed limit sign cajoled passing cars, not CERA's inertia.


08.02.12. Quake damaged housing, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake










08.02.12. Apartments demolition site, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake



Deep & wide slumping cracks, I'd seen months before, were still beside the road on Avon River bank. Little had been done by Council road workers to infill. The house which Jake had rented pre quakes was quake cracked & boarded. Liquefaction silt mounds I'd seen on pavements months before were still there. Oxford Tce was dusty & bumpy with gravel repairs. So much for Council's City Care.


08.02.12. Quake cracked, slumped, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Slumping due to lateral spreading






08.02.12. Orange zone, Oxford Tce view, Avon River & Fitzgerald Ave road works, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


Across Avon River, Fitzgerald Ave N bound lane, which had collapsed riverside in the Feb 22 Killer Quake was being rebuilt, months of construction work: large, concrete retaining wall riverside, traffic congestion on the other side of the road. I drove that congested road daily, taking Luke to Sullivan Ave tech lectures.


08.02.12. House demolition site & quake damaged house, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake







2011: When I'd driven Luke to tech in the mornings, we'd watched Fitzgerald Ave rebuild progress, as a pile driver drove concrete columns deep into river mud. Fitzgerald Ave N bound rebuild neared completion after a year of traffic congestion. The other side of the road would then need rebuilding. Pity the stalwarts existing nearby.

The rebuilt N bound lane was poor engineering, as quakes had risen Avon River bed & the new N bound lane was built too low by that Avon River bend, so in future whenever Avon River flooded the rebuilt N bound lane would flood too!

Oxford Tce within Avon Loop would eventually be red zoned by CERA. All the red zone houses would be demolished by CERA, incl Jake's old rental.


08.02.12. Quake damaged, orange zone, Oxford Tce, nr Kilmore St crossing, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake




Fitzgerald Ave / Avonside Dr / Kilmore St intersection: Congested traffic, channeled by orange / white, plastic bollards, from Bealey Ave to one side of Fitzgerald Ave, due to rebuild of collapsed N bound Fitzgerald Ave & Fitzgerald Ave Bridge repair. Traffic congestion went on for a year post 22.02.11 Killer Quake.

Fitzgerald Ave Bridge: 2 spans, anti-clockwise rotated. Only half used & traffic congested, due to nearby road rebuild. Construction crew & equipment occupied the other half of the bridge. Bridge abutments were spalled in places, with patched, quake cracks across the road before the bridge. Kilmore St side the concrete abutment was cracked & tagged. Post quake tagging became a big problem in Christchurch. All those newly bared walls to spray-paint.


08.02.12. Orange zone, Oxford Tce downriver view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge over Avon River, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake



08.02.12. Quake cracked, concrete abutment & tagging, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge / Kilmore St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake



08.02.12. FOOTPATH CLOSED. N view, Fitzgerald Ave road works, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. White / orange, plastic bollards, steel mesh fence cordon. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge S view, quake demolition site, Kilmore St / Fitzgerald Ave, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. White / orange, plastic bollard cordon. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge view, post quake, traffic channelling, Fitzgerald Ave / Kilmore St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake



08.02.12. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge view, post quake, traffic channelling by white / orange, plastic bollards, Avonside Dr / Fitzgerald Ave, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. White, plastic bollard cordon. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge view, serial quake trashed house, Fitzgerald Ave, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Quake gaps between concrete abutment & span, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22 02.11 quake


River Rd side, a concrete abutment leaned at an odd angle, metal handrails split by the Feb 22 Killer Quake. Bridge concrete paving was spalled too, pipes seen below concrete.


08.02.12. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. N view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Fitzgerald Ave, N bound, road works left


08.02.12. Concrete spalling by span & abutment, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge / Avonside Dr, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Shipping container offices. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Avonside Dr, N view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 22.02.11 quake tilted, concrete abutment, River Rd side, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. N view, quake cracked, concrete paving, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02.12. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge view, serial quake trashed, brick house, Fitzgerald Ave / River Rd, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. The house would be demolished


08.02.12. Avon River bank, span anti-clockwise rotation, slumping & tilting of concrete abutment / handrail, away from span, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge / River Rd, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake




08.02.12. S view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge to Pickwicks demolition site, Fitzgerald Ave / Kilmore St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake


08.02 12. N view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, to Fitzgerald Ave, N bound, road works, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake

Council still had a big job to repair those 4 Avon River bridges. And there were many more quake-broken, Avon River bridges. Council roads & bridge repairs would be incorporated into SCIRT, which would take years to repair Christchurch roads & bridges properly.


08.02.12. Orange zone, Oxford Tce, NW, upriver view, Avon River bend, nr Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake

08.02.11. The Press quoted Property Council's, Connal Townshend, complaining about the Council's rebuild plan:

"There's no incentive for bringing buildings up to earthquake standards & that affects all our cities not just Christchurch."

Tell that to the families of the 185 quake dead Townshend! If the Property Council disliked citizens' & Council's Green City ideas, then they could take their money elsewhere.

*Trekked Peterborough St, Manchester St, Madras St, Barbadoes St, Oxford Tce, Fitzgerald Ave. 133 snaps.

Wed 08.02.12: 9.08pm, M4.2 quake, 9km depth, 10km SE of Lyttelton.
11.06pm, M4.3 quake, 9km depth, 10km E of Lyttelton.

Thurs 09.02.12. 0.51am, M4.2 quake, 9km depth, 10km E of Lyttelton. (GeoNet)

Felt them all.

As so many old & new bldgs failed in Christchurch during the 22.02.11 Killer Quake, designers, architects, engineers & builders had nothing to be proud of. Canterbury was a known liquefaction region, long before the 2010-2011 quakes. Little good could be said about engineer checks on bldgs before & after quakes.

Due to being suckled on Accident Compensation Corporation payouts, Kiwis had a "no blame, no lawsuit" mentality, when blame & revenge was needed. "Mother Nature's to blame," cried deluded people. Result: Quake victims who'd lost loved ones & suffered injuries by fallen bldgs, were expected to be "resilient," saintly, forgiving.

I was sceptical of the official "checking" line regarding red, green, yellow stickering of bldgs, straight after the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake. 17 months down the line, my scepticism was repeatedly confirmed by disparate checking & repeated evidence of shoddy, bldg inspections & bldg owners' tardiness regarding inspections, revealed at the Royal Commission of Inquiry. Engineers just stuck to the latest revised bldg code, concocted blindly, whenever they felt like it. Even if a bldg was built to code, there was no guarantee the building would not collapse in a quake!

Like so many things post quakes, even the death toll was recently revised from 182 to 185. Three more people had died from long term quake injuries.

A year post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, orange zoners & white zoners still waited for geotech engineers, Tonkin & Taylor to check their land properly. To the delight of Disaster Capitalism insurers, who delayed payments, awaiting Tonkin & Taylor's land zoning.

Anyone driving around Christchurch could see ghosts awaiting slow zoning: ruined bldgs, masonry lying where it fell, tarps blown off, weedy lots, grey liquefaction mud still on properties. A disgusting mess, all held up by CERA & Tonkin & Taylor geotech engineers.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

See Rebuild at risk in new city plan (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Limbo land shrinks as properties red-zoned (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Shock and relief at red zonings (The Press / Stuff Co).


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