Christ Church Cathedral: Ex politician & wannabe Christchurch mayor Anderton had commissioned structural engineers Stefano Pampanin, Robert Davey & Adam Thornton to produce a Save the Cathedral scheme, recommending mine prop methods to prop up Christchurch Cathedral while it was restored. Anderton & his Heritage hailers said nothing about who would pay for their grand restoration.
Anderton & his Heritage hailers ignored the fact that many dangerous Christchurch churches were already demolished post quakes: Sydenham Heritage Church, Brougham St (in Anderton's electorate); St Johns Anglican (Cardboard Cathedral rebuild) Latimer Sq; Durham St Methodist (3 quake deaths, modern rebuild); St Lukes Anglican, Manchester St; Cambridge Tce Baptist (modern rebuild); RC Cathedral, Barbadoes St (partial deconstruction, then demo, then new RC Cathedral precinct on PWC demo site opp Victoria Sq); St Pauls Trinity Pacific Presbyterian, Madras St; St Marys Anglican, Church Ln (modern rebuild); Avonside Trinity Anglican, Lychgate Cl (modern rebuild); St Athanasios Coptic, Edgeware Rd...
Where were Anderton & his Heritage hailers when those churches were demolished? Anderton & his engineers couldn't see that if all those churches, mostly built on Avon River swampland, were quake destroyed, how did they think ruined Christ Church Cathedral, built on Avon River swampland, could survive restoration / rebuild and future earthquakes? And what astronomical costs? Never mind post quake eyesores, steel mesh fence cordoned, boarded, weedy ruins, reminders of quakes: Knox Presbyterian (restored) Bealey Ave; Chinese Methodist, Papanui Rd (demolished / modern rebuild)...
Not a peep from Anderton & his Heritage hailers about many Cantabrians forced to live in post quake squalor, due to slow EQC, insurers & CERA, some forced to beg from Salvation Army & other charities.
Royal Commission of Inquiry: CTV bldg collapse: Structural engineers Clark Hyland & Ashley Smith blamed design faults for CTV collapse. They passed-the-buck, like in other Commission of Inquiry hearings. They opined that demolishers trashing next door Les Mills gym with a non consented wrecker ball did not affect CTV, despite complaints by CTV workers that CTV shook due to wrecker ball thumpings. Never mind that since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake demolisher machines had been thumping & shaking bldgs & roads all over Christchurch & nearby towns.
2023: Still no one had been held accountable for the CTV collapse. Imagine lying injured, in pitch dark, trapped by CTV rubble, your cell phone expired, hearing rescue workers dithering while CTV smoke & fire approached your crushed body...
Tue 10.07.12, 11.32pm, M4.5 quake, 11km depth, 10km SW of Christchurch (GeoNet). Rattled our windows & shook our house as it rumbled by.
Wed 11.07.12. Post Xmas Quake Swarm 2011, I'd trekked some New Brighton roads, so I returned for a red zone circuit trek along Waygreen Ave, Atlantis St, Wattle Dr, New Brighton Rd, sunk by quakes, to see ghost houses & swamp plant succession near Avon River, raised by quakes. I would again wade through sewage flooded, liquefaction mud. I would test my new Samsung, digital camera, 10x zoom, as weeks before my other Samsung digital camera had died in New Brighton by Avon River. So far since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, during my quake treks, I'd worn out 3 digital cameras & 3 pairs of jandals.
Leah's school had suffered 2 liquefactions & diggings out of liquefaction mud during 22.02.11 & 13.06.11 quakes & wore out 3 teachers over that time. Leah had already on-the-job trained 2 Pom replacement teachers. Never mind daily teaching stresses & dealing with frightened kids during aftershocks & heavy traffic shaking her London St school. After leeching Leah's expertise, the Pom teachers had left, better pay elsewhere. Added to continuous quake stressors, breadwinner Leah was overworked (long hours) & underpaid. Burnout imminent!
New Brighton Rd: Council had widened Avon River stopbank to surround power poles, opp Waygreen Ave & beyond to upstream Anzac Bridge. I stood on the stopbank, seeing distant Port Hills, & the tide rising on Avon River. New Brighton Rd was below high tide level, flooding stopped by the stopbank. I snapped views of Anzac Bridge & downstream views of Wainoni Rd Bridge.
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, Waygreen Ave
Squalid roads I trekked were in as bad states of repairs as I'd seen months before: potholed, rutted, muddy, scummy gutters & sewage-muddy pavements, swamp reeds growing in overgrown, muddy gardens.
Waygreen Ave: There was only one green portaloo, showing most red zoners had left.
11.07.12. Red stickered, liquefactioned, abandoned house. Swamp reeds growing in muddy garden, Waygreen Ave
Blue, plastic, water pipes & green, plastic, sewage tanks remained on liquefactioned pavements. Ghost houses. Several muddy, CERA demolition sites.
Waygreen Ave & Atlantis St: Deserted, muddy, flooded wasteland, reverting to Avon River swampland. Those destroyed streets showed the stupidity of building houses & roads on quake prone swampland.
11.07.12. Liquefactioned house, CERA demolition site, Waygreen Ave
11.07.12. Plastic rubbish bin, quake junk. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, sewage-muddy puddle, Waygreen Ave
11.07.12. Flooding. Green portaloo, liquefaction cleared, Waygreen Ave. Port Hills backdrop
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, Waygreen Ave
11.07.12. Quake junk, Waygreen Ave
11.07.12. Liquefactioned houses, CERA demolition site, Waygreen Ave
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, Waygreen Ave
Atlantis St cnr: Kate Sheppard Retirement Village, back gate locked, a green skip behind the gate. Ghost houses, one steel mesh fence cordoned.
11.07.12. Swamp reeds on liquefactioned pavement, Waygreen Ave / Atlantis St
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, swamp reeds growing in garden, Atlantis St
11.07.12. Post quakes, green, plastic, sewage tank, Atlantis St
11.07.12. Locked back gate, green skip, liquefactioned, abandoned, Kate Sheppard Retirement Village, Atlantis St
11.07.12. Steel mesh fence cordoned, liquefactioned, abandoned house, Atlantis St
11.07.12. Quake cracked, concrete, garden wall, Atlantis St
11.07.12. Plastic rubbish bins. Quake tilted power poles. Liquefaction cleared Atlantis St / Wattle Dr
Atlantis St / Wattle Dr : CERA, 3 house demolition sites. Towards Avon River, Wattle Dr was still badly liquefactioned with many sunk, tilted, ghost houses. A young man stood by his gate glaring at me. "Swamp reeds are taking over here," I said. "The road's reverting to swampland." He continued glaring as I passed. I pitied him, slumming in sewage-muddy, liquefaction hell.
11.07.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe on pavement. Liquefactioned, CERA house demolition site, Atlantis St / Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Quake junk, liquefactioned, CERA house demolition site, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned garage, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Boarded, wood braced wall, liquefactioned, abandoned house, Wattle Dr. Swamp reeds growing in garden
11.07.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe buried in liquefaction mud, abandoned house, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Letter box, concrete wall buried in liquefaction mud, by blue, plastic, water pipe, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe before quake abandoned house, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe. Quake tilted power pole. Swamp reeds in garden, liquefactioned, abandoned house, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned garage, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe, plastic rubbish bins, liquefaction cleared Wattle Dr. Port Hills backdrop
11.07.12. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Quake trashed, iron gate, void under liquefactioned, concrete driveway. Abandoned house, Wattle Dr
11.07.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe. Liquefactioned, abandoned house, Wattle Dr
Wattle Dr, red zoner's, sewage-muddy graffiti on garage door:
FUCK
OFF
SHIT OWN
THIS
Swamp reeds grew in unkempt gardens of all 3 roads I trekked. Reeds! Why were houses built on Avon River swampland in the first place?
11.07.12. Swamp reeds in garden, liquefactioned, abandoned house, Wattle Dr
*Trekked Waygreen Ave, Atlantis St, Wattle Dr. 71 images.
Coda:
By Jan 2014, many of the red zone, ghost houses along Waygreen Ave, Atlantis St & Wattle Dr would be demolished by CERA. All that was left: some ghost houses, weedy demolition sites, more swamp reeds. There was no talk by CERA of rehousing its residential red zone swamplands. Yet CERA, after mega CBD demolitions, would wet-dream, Blueprint precincts on CBD red zoned swampland, costing millions of dollars.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See CTV: Current quake standard may be short - engineer (The Press / Stuff Co).
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