185 people had died in the Feb 22 Killer Quake & 4 bodies were never recovered from the CTV bldg, which collapsed & burned for hours after the quake. Management bungling by cops, fire service & USAR / TF rescuers caused 8 survivors of the CTV collapse to die in the burning rubble. Bungling by services, paid to protect & rescue disaster victims & put out fires, can be sourced in media records & the Coroner's Inquest report. Never mind sloppy design, bldg construction & inspections by engineers, sourced in the Royal Commission of Inquiry report.
En route to Avonhead Park Cemetery Memorial Garden, Hawthornden Rd was a mix of suburban houses & horse paddocks, with semi-rural views to Russley Rd of more tree lined paddocks. During quakes, cemeteries were considered dangerous. Cemetery, Council threat sign:
HAZARD
Many of the headstones and
memorials in this cemetery
are unstable due to the recent
earthquakes
Please proceed with caution
when entering the cemetery
I'd seen that threat sign in other Christchurch cemeteries too.
13.03.13. Avonhead Park Cemetery, unfound victims memorial garden, 22.02.11 quake, Hawthornden Rd. Industrial zoned paddocks beyond
The Memorial Garden was circular, about 50m diameter. Concentric circles of vegetation & memorial structures started with white carpet roses forming the outer circle with a Timaru bluestone plinth & rectangular column at the centre. On top of of the 3 plinth steps the rectangular column was about 1.5m high. Each side of the column, a grey stone plaque inscribed in different languages of the deceased:
ETCHED IN OUR CITY'S
MEMORY
NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN
THE CITY OF CHRISTCHURCH
From a circular road, the circles were broken by a cross of grey stone paths forming a quadrant within the garden. Thus 4 entrances from the circular road each began with 2 Timaru bluestone, rectangular columns either side of the path, the 4 stone paths going to the central plinth. Each column was about 1.5m high.
Memorial Garden's concentric circles from the outside - in, as follows:
1. White carpet roses.
2. Gravestones set in concrete
3. Wide grass path.
4. White carpet roses below cherry blossom trees.
5. Road.
6. Trees on grass path.
7. Shrubs forming a hedge topped by red standard roses.
8. Wide grass path, a bench on each quadrant section.
9. Low Timaru bluestone blocks for memorial plaques. One plaque:
INTERRED HERE ARE
UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS
RECOVERED FOLLOWING THE
22 FEBRUARY 2011
CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE
10. Red carpet roses.
11. Greystone path with a stainless steel band stating:
THE PEOPLE OF CHRISTCHURCH WILL FOREVER REMEMBER THE UNFOUND VICTIMS OF THE 22 FEBRUARY EARTHQUAKE
12. White carpet roses & red standard roses.
13. Central Timaru bluestone plinth & column.
As it was 3 weeks post second anniversary of the Feb 22 Killer Quake, dead flowers lay on the plinth steps. Two City Care women wearing orange, Hi-Vis vests cared for the Memorial Garden.
As Council planned to zone 35ha of paddocks between the quake Memorial Garden & Russley Rd as an industrial zone, the Memorial Garden was just Council PR. Given the plethora of new, ugly, industrial, tilt slab bldgs in Christchurch (e.g. Treffers Rd & Wigram Rd) future visitors to the quake Memorial Garden would see ugly, industrial, tilt slab bldgs.
*Trekked Avonhead Park Cemetery, Hawthornden Rd. 15 images.
HEALTH HAZARD
Wed 20.03.13. The Press reported old news, "Health time bomb lurks under city homes," regarding the health hazard of liquefaction mud & sewage under housing: all the bugs from excreta poured out of burst sewage pipes during quakes, bacteria, fungi, etc.
I'd waded through liquid shit many time post quakes: Madras St, London St, Stanmore Rd, Avonside Dr, Robson Ave, New Brighton Rd, Locksley Ave, Kingsford St, Bower Ave, Waygreen Ave, Atlantis St, Baker St, Pratt St, Waitaki St, Bexley Rd, many more liquefaction / sewage flooded streets. I arrived home, my jandals & feet stinking of dried, crusted shit.
Never mind Avon River flooded with sewage for months post quakes. An open sewer.
Soon post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, when liquefaction dust flew on nor'wester days, a doctor expediently assured the public that liquefaction dust wasn't a health hazard. Ha! Two years later it expediently became a health hazard, with floorboards rotting & fungus growing on walls above liquefaction flooded foundations.
I'd seen algae & mushrooms growing on floors of liquefactioned ghosts in Peterborough St & Fitzgerald Ave. Some of those ghosts were demolished, some not, so far. They weren't the only streets where I saw flora growing in liquefactioned ghosts.
London St: As Leah's school was liquefactioned in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake & 13.06.11 Quake, I guess Leah's work headaches last week were not only from noisy sewer renewal excavations near the school, but also from liquefaction bugs multiplying in the school's foundations. As a biologist, I imagined billions of bacterial & fungal spores blowing around.
During those quakes, I saw liquefaction mud oozing up through concrete near the main front door, in the playground, carpark & on London St & Pavitt St. Leah's ground floor classroom had liquefaction mud, varying in depth from 1-15cm, along 3 outside walls & by the front door nearest to London St. On the afternoon of the 22.02.11 Killer Quake, I waded through knee high, brown, liquid shit by the school front gate to reach Leah by the quaking school bldg.
EQC Reckoning: Monday 25 March, TV One News, then Tuesday 26 March The Press reported the EQC email fiasco: A minion emailed contractor (ex EQC) Bryan Staples an attachment with all the $100 000 under cap, repair details of all 83 000+ claimants. The iniquity was that claimants hadn't even received those details from EQC, despite many asking. Staples said before deleting the email, he looked up one of his clients for whom he did $55 000 work. Then the crunch reporting:
EQC EMAIL FIASCO
"The EQC had said $55 000 was too much and had cash settled for $30 000 with the homeowner, but the spreadsheet showed EQC had allocated $59 000."
Thus EQC was taking money from the client rather than paying what the client was deserved. The client was ripped off $29 000 by EQC! Multiply $29 000 by 83 000 claimants for a reckoning how much Cantabrians were ripped off by EQC & NZ National govt. Roughly $2.4 billion. So much for PM Key's promise post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, that no one would be worse off post quakes.
Those 83 000+ homeowners & many more homeowners over the $100 000 cap had paid their EQC premiums for years.
PM Key's minimising response to the email fiasco was that everyone in the internet age sends emails & texts in error. Never mind database protection needed in more govt depts, like ACC, WINZ & Health where citizens' private information was recently compromised by shonky computer controls. Key's NZ National govt was sloppy with citizens' private information.
Labour MP Dalziel said CERA minister Brownlee should resign. Brownlee wanted to know from EQC why the email / attachment leak happened.
EQC boss Simpson went on TV & apologised to the public, then offered his resignation to Brownlee, but Brownlee rejected Simpson's resignation & offered his support instead.
Pity Brownlee & Simpson hadn't heeded protesters led by Rev Coleman, Dalziel & ex mayor Moore at EQC's Princess St office last year, Wed 08.08.12. Some protest signs:
EQC
2 YEARS AND STILL
NO RESULT!
YEAH GERRY EQC ARE DOING NOTHING REALLY WELL!!!
OF COURSE
IT HURTS
WE ARE BEING
SCREWED
BY EQC
EARTHQUAKES
BROKE MY HOME
BUT EQC BROKE
MY HEART!!
Democracy Protest 01.12.12, Latimer Sq, CBD & Cranmer Sq:
THANK YOU NZ GOVT
AND SPECIAL THANKS TO
EQC FOR STUFFING
UP OUR LIVES
EQC spin weeks before: EQC had said that staff were abused by irate clients, hence the increase in security staff, higher reception desks & razor wire on EQC fences at depots like Bower Ave depot. Customer services boss Emson said EQC was following up cases where claimants were defrauding EQC with false claims. Yet EQC was short-changing claimants, shown in the email fiasco.
Since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, EQC had a history of delaying property inspections, payments & repairs, using tactics like Christchurch clients having to call Wellington or Brisbane; assessment delays; too many inspections; lost files; repair deadlines years hence; apportionment after various quakes & drilling of 10 000 TC3 properties to check land status, which caused insurers to delay payments too, as insurers relied on EQC information.
Never mind Fletcher EQR having an EQC monopoly on house repairs, causing irate home owners to opt out of EQC / Fletcher repairs to get their broken homes sorted. More delays.
Wednesday 27 March, The Press headline: "EQC goes to police over leak." Bullying by EQC to frighten & silence people.
Thursday 28 March TV One News: Another leak from EQC, Dalziel tackled Brownlee in parliament regarding a claimant being emailed stopped cheque information for 2 000+ claimants about a month before. Brownlee shut down EQC's emails system, a cover up, so that EQC could resurrect their systems during Easter weekend. Censorship. Pity Brownlee didn't get EQC to release requested information to claimants months before.
Mainland Press 28.03.13, EQC boss Simpson's "open letter to EQC customers:
On behalf of EQC I want to sincerely apologise for the privacy breach that occurred on Friday 22nd March.
The breach was caused when an EQC spreadsheet was sent to the wrong person in error. Embedded in the spreadsheet was information about the 83 000 properties in EQC's Canterbury Home Repairs Programme (CHRP)
There were no names, but the information included claim numbers, street addresses and information about damages and repairs. The information in question related to homes with the damage between $15 000 and $100 000 that will be in the Canterbury Home Repairs Programme. [Undercap repairs].
So far, EQC has dealt with about 450 000 claims from the Canterbury earthquakes. This breach does not affect EQC customers who have or will be cash settled.
Unfortunately, the breach was caused by human error, and EQC is taking a range of measures to increase the security of customer information.
Again, we apologise for any distress this has caused any of our customers."
Simpson apologised expediently as EQC slackness was revealed. Pity Simpson didn't apologise for distress caused by over 2 years of payout & repair delays. Some homeowners' repair deadlines would be 2015. They would have to wait 5 years for EQC / Fletcher repairs! If Simpson left Wellington & visited Christchurch, especially E suburbs, he'd see the results of EQC's slack decisions: ruins, broken houses, slum living conditions, Third World streets.
The Press Wed 03.04.13, EQC Boss Simpson's half page ad:
"Here's what we're doing to keep our customers' information secure.
You may already know that last Thursday EQC shut all IT systems down temporarily to ensure our customers' information is protected.
This is one of several steps I'm taking to ensure that we resolve this issue as promptly and thoroughly as possible.
Our first priority was to restore our Claims Management System and ensure we can continue to pay contractors working in the Canterbury Home Repair Programme.
[Wrong priority. Those who suffered land & bldg damage should be first priority, not contractors!]
We have undertaken a comprehensive review of our handling of customer information. Following that review, we'll be making changes over the coming days and weeks.
In addition we've established a [snitching] confidential hot line to report any potential disclosures. If you have received any information from EQC that you believe you shouldn't have, please call...
We appreciate your patience and support while we resolve this issue..." Ass covering.
The Press cartoonist Evans drew a fuming Brownlee clutching paste pot & dripping brush, after pasting a red sticker on EQC's porticoed office door.
EQC's email fiasco showed that claimants were not getting the money they deserved. Brownlee's EQC bosses Simpson & Emson delayed payment of EQC funds, while protecting ineptocrats, like managerial emailers & assessors, squabbling with middle men like Staples & claimants, resulting in EQC paying claimants as little as possible.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Minister backs chief after email blunder (The Press / Stuff Co).
See EQC goes to police over leak (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Please explain couple tell EQC (The Press / Stuff Co).
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