Post Valentines Day Quake, CBD focus. Deja vu: Sun 14.02.16, Christchurch. M5.7 quake, depth 15km, 15km E of Christchurch, 1.13pm (GeoNet). Pegasus Bay Fault had been quiet since the 23.12.11 Xmas Quake Swarm, active again. Leah & I were in Timaru at the time, 162km S of Christchurch, having lunch at Sticky Cafe, Pak 'n Save. Leah felt the quake. I didn't. On our drive back to Fairlie Leah checked out GeoNet & texted our sons who text replied:
Luke, Berwick St rental: "Big! Biggest one I've felt in a long time. Very jolty, rolled on for quite a while. Lots of aftershocks since." Luke had done quake salvage work the last couple of years, dangerous work in an active quake zone.
Jake, Cassels Brewery, Garlands Rd: "I'm totally fine. House etc & friends all good. No worries :) When the quake hit it just so happened that all of us 6 chefs were congregated all in the same area of the kitchen when stuff got a bit wobbly. I instinctively took my earth surfing stance & had my 23cm knife pointing outwards from me, gripped in my right hand :) Luckily no one else was standing too close to me. Ha Ha."
Jake's "earth surfing" was apt, if one wasn't diving for cover, or rushing for a door frame, for protection. As seismic waves rolled underfoot, with bent knees & arms akimbo, it was an earth-wave battering. I'd once described to an Oamaru friend that surviving a big quake was like being bashed at the bottom of rugby scrum, or being dumped by a huge wave. No control.
I updated my Facebook status letting family & friends know we were OK. Several "likes" & compassionate responses. No troll comments.
Over the next few days, TV1 & The Press reported there were no fatalities, but there were rock falls at Godley Head, Whitewash Head, Sumner's Richmond Hill & Peacocks Gallop. There were reports of liquefaction at Kairaki Beach & Parklands roads were liquefactioned again, with sinkholes & sewage leaks: Bower Ave, Broadhaven Ave, Courtfield Cl, Hurst Pl, Linkwater Way. Deja vu: Post 23.12.11 Xmas Quake Swarm, I'd snapped those badly liquefactioned, Parklands roads.
Christ Church Cathedral's west facade crumbled more, despite the so-called, steel, "Battering Ram" buttressing the facade.
EQC was accepting claims for the Valentines Day Quake. Given EQC's ineptitude over the last 5 years with shoddy repairs, 1 000s of repairs & claims still unresolved & insurers still waiting for EQC to decide on overcap $100 000 properties for previous quakes, some Valentines Day quake claimants would wait more years for their claims to be resolved by EQC & insurers.
Sun 21.02.16. Deja vu Cathedral Sq: A protest about EQC & insurer delays in resolving claims. Deja vu: 08.08.12 Protest I'd attended at Clarence St & Princess St, protesting EQC & insurer delays. The revolting thing about the latest protest was that 5 years post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, 4 500 repair / rebuild claims were still unresolved & 5 500 repairs on EQC / Fletcher shoddy repairs claims were unresolved. What were PM Key, CERA minister Brownlee, CERA minions, Human Rights Commissioner & others slagging off Cantabrians doing about EQC's & insurers' slackness?
Sat-Sun 27-28.02.16. Deja vu Leah's London St teaching & to see our sons. Sat: I trekked Christchurch's CBD, deja vu rebuild: Cashel Mall: The Terrace, new greystone steps on Avon River bank. (Waterfowl toilet. What was Council dreaming?); BNZ; ANZ; a huge parking garage behind The Crossing on Lichfield St; Justice & Emergency Services Precinct going up, between Lichfield St & Tuam St. All those new bldgs had sturdy steel frames. Pagoda Court ghost, Colombo St was dwarfed by BNZ & ANZ. Rebuilds darkened Cashel Mall again, forming a W-E wind-funnel from Bridge of Remembrance. (2018-19. Pagoda Court would be demolished for a Kathmandu rebuild).
Deja vu New Regent St: Not Funny, 5 bldgs red sticker cordoned (27.02.16) by Council as dangerous after 5 years of quakes. Council only woke up to the danger after the Valentines Day quake. Par for Council, like Council libraries closed for repairs long after quakes: South Library, Fendalton Library, Bishopdale Library...
Deja vu Cathedral Sq: Christ Church Cathedral ghost: Still fenced cordoned after 5 years' neglect. Cracks had widened on all exterior walls. Many loose Oamaru whitestones, cladded corners, buttresses, window arches. Heritage hailers wanted to restore the rubble walled ruin. I wandered Christ Church Cathedral border, snapping weedy neglect, widened cracks, loose stones & protest slogans, chalked on flagstones, curbs & boards on closed Millennium Hotel / Distinction Hotel. Next door, BNZ ghost, part demolition was covered in graffiti. (Sept 2018. BNZ had been completely demolished & new Spark steel frame, multi-storey offices would go up.) What a mess CERA had left Cathedral Sq after its 5 year occupation.
S side Christ Church Cathedral ghost, greystone border wall & greystone paving, chalked protest signs:
JACK + PACK [Shoddy jack & pack, foundation repairs by Fletcher contractors].
VULNERABLE [To flooding & liquefaction according to EQC assessments].
FLETCHER'S KEY'S
CLOWNS [Fletchers, Crown company did shoddy post quake repairs to 1 000s of houses].
THE FLAG OR THE PEOPLE [PM Key's delusional, $26m flag referendum].
LIES LIES & MORE LIES
HONORABLE PM KEY IS A SELF CENTRED LIAR
CRIMINALS
CORRUPT INSURANCE COMPANIES & GOVT DEPARTMENTS
GET OFF YOUR ARSE GERRY [Brownlee] & OUT OF THE POCKET OF THE INSURANCE COMPANIES
INSURANCE BULLIES
TOWER
STILL WAITING [Tower, Crown insurance company delayed many payouts].
CORRUPTION RULES CHCH!
STUCK
TAKING TOO LONG
Manchester St: Margaret Mahy Family Playground, many kids enjoying themselves. Parents lolling below poplars on Avon River bank. No shade over the playground, yet.
Deja vu Oxford Tce: 5 years post quakes, below Rydges Hotel ghost, Our City ghost, scaffolded, steel mesh fence cordoned. Ditto Provincial Council ghost on opp Avon River Bank. (2021. Our City would begin repairs, bldg & scaffolding covered in white plastic. Provincial Council still mothballed, awaited repairs).
Deja vu Hereford St / Cambridge Tce: New carpark garage going up on Central Police implosion site.
Durham St Nth: Awly Building, glass & steel, multi-storey, office block rebuild loomed above Provincial Council ghost.
Deja vu Victoria Sq - Cathedral Sq: NZ National govt's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae: 5 years post quakes, no rebuild yet. Just a vast, steel mesh fence cordoned, dusty demolition site. (Sept 2018. Convention Centre / Te Pae steel frame going up. Sept 2019. Ditto, some cladding. 2020. Te Pae, almost complete, progress delayed by Covid-19 pandemic. 2022. Te Pae would open).
Gloucester St Bridge: After 3 years' cordon closure, Gloucester St Bridge was being restored by SCIRT. Steel mesh fence cordon, SCIRT suggestion book, I wrote: 5 YEARS! TOO SLOW!
Deja vu Durham St Nth / Kilmore St: Gap Filler activities, like food trailers, Commons sports, dancing, band playing, by the Wooden Arches on Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site near Town Hall restoration. At Last!
Deja vu Hagley Park: Year of the Monkey, Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival. 1 000s of viewers. CERA's last year of Christchurch occupation. CERA would morph into a troupe of Regeneration Christchurch monkeys, organ-grinded by National's PM Key & minister Brownlee.
Deja vu: Mon 29.02.16. Leap Year Day quake, 3.32am, M4.3, 5km depth, 5km S of Christchurch. (GeoNet). Port Hills fault again. We'd returned to Fairlie. But our sons awoke to strong jolts. There were so many known & unknown, crustal faults in & around Christchurch, when one ruptured, another soon ruptured, different faults rupturing for the Valentines Day & Leap Year Day aftershocks. Extinct Port Hills volcano cracks still flexed...
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Submarine faulting beneath Pegasus Bay (NIWA).
See EQC has about 5500 shoddily repaired homes to fix (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Christchurch quake Still waiting for repairs 5 years on (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Hundreds protest outstanding EQC & insurance claims in Cathedral Square (The Press / Stuff Co).
See PM John Key's opinion of Christchurch's recovery (The Press / Stuff Co).
See A city of two halves new quake reignites old battles (The Press / Stuff Co).
See New Regent St owner agrees to engineering inspections (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Quake claimant to fellow IAG customers clog the system (The Press / Stuff Co).
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