16.11.10 Pines Beach, Kairaki Beach signs near Waimakariri River Mouth
16.11.10. Pines Beach focus. Two months post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, M7.1, I drove N of Christchurch to Kairaki Beach & Pines Beach to snap liquefaction houses on beach sand.
16.11.10. Waimakariri River / Brooklands Lagoon confluence, Kairaki Beach. End of Brooklands Spit left, Brooklands right, Port Hills behind
16.11.10. Post quake, Kairaki Beach signs
Featherstone Ave, Kairaki Beach: Bumpy road, repairs done. New tarseal formed road stripes in the road dip to the camping ground. Whitebaiters tended their nets at Waimakariri River mouth, despite health hazard WARNING signs about sewage pollution. Roadside, concrete drain & manhole raised above road surface. Orange, plastic, road cone warnings. Grey liquefaction dusty.
16.11.10. Liquefaction damaged, concrete & iron drains, Featherstone Ave, Kairaki Beach. Quake raised, concrete & iron manholes, common damage in Canterbury
16.11.10. Liquefaction tilted, concrete & iron drain near Waimakariri River Yacht Club, Featherston Ave, Kairaki Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction tilted, concrete & iron drain, Featherstone Ave, Kairaki Beach
16.11.10. Quake snapped, concrete garage floor, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete path, quake tilted, garden gate, shoved up by quake shifted house, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. House junk by quake tilted, power pole, Dunns Ave / Reid Memorial Ave, Pines Beach
A Pines Beach resident we'd met at Kaiapoi had told us that 70 houses out of a total of 300 Pines Beach houses were badly damaged by the quake, especially houses on the flats. Her hilltop house was undamaged.
I drove bumpy, quake rutted Reid Memorial Ave to the beach. I found the concrete bldg on a dune undamaged by the quake, it had good foundations. On my bumpy way back to Pines Beach village I saw fence signs stating Pegasus Bay Walkway was closed.
16.11.10. Post quake, Pegasus Bay Walkway CLOSED sign, Reid Memorial Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Blue portaloo, Pines Hall, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Yellow stickered, quake tilted house, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Yellow stickered, quake tilted house, Dunns Ave, Pines Beach
Pines Beach: Blue portaloos roadsides. Liquefaction sand everywhere. Quake tilted power poles, supported by concrete blocks. Houses on dunes looked OK, but ghost houses on sandy flats were trashed, deserted; white, plastic, DANGER KEEP OUT tape cordoned. Ghost houses were quake shifted forwards, backwards, sideways; sunk into liquefaction sand; cracked concrete paths, driveways, walls; tilted, twisted houses; chimneys toppled, causing roof & wall holes; broken garages, sheds, awnings, trellises; wood deckings awry; curtains closed; doors, windows locked / closed, some warped open; gates awry; broken, leaning fences; weeds, long grass overgrowing devastation; rubbish & junk in gardens: old shoes, clothes, plates, garden furniture...
Hood Ave, Pines Beach: Ghost houses red stickered, sunshine faded red stickers pink.
After glaring at me from his Chichester St house, a grizzled drunk staggered over, while I snapped Batten Grove ghost houses. He slopped a half empty glass of red wine, reeking sweat, booze. Red faced, eyes popping, staring, he growled, "WHY are you photographing?"
I explained photo-blogging, it took a while to sink in. He growled there'd already been burglaries in empty houses, but he was last there, in his red stickered, unsafe, twisted, tilted house, shifted 20 centimetres sideways in the quake. He yelped that an aftershock had shifted nearby land about 30 centimetres, another aftershock had shifted it back again.
He barked that a builder had laid a concrete foundation at his neighbour's Chichester St house, days before the quake. He'd lost $10,000, as the quake had cracked the foundation at every corner. Insurance didn't cover damages during building.
16.11.10. Liquefaction tilted, cracked house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, house foundation, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Shoe. Quake damaged, house foundation, grey liquefaction silt, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Grass. Quake damaged foundation, grey liquefaction silt, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted house, damaged foundation, tilted power pole, Chichester St, Pines Beach
He showed me his friendly mastiff, putting its front paws on the low garden wall, letting me pat its huge head. The drunk whined, "The wise man built his house upon the rock..." He waved at his undulating, wooden decking, shaky, wooden trellises, growling that I must look at his shifted hell house. I did, up the gravel driveway to the back of his tilted house. When I asked if I could snap, he shook his head, stumbled through his front door, barking, "I'm sick of tourists & aftershocks!"
16.11.10. NO ENTRY quake damaged house, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction damaged house, decking & garden, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction silt ooze, quake damaged house & decking, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon, quake tilted, power pole supported by concrete block, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged house, overgrown garden, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. House damaged by toppled chimney, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, wall hole & roof due to toppled chimney, Chichester St, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, overgrown backyard, Chichester St / Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, house front, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. EQC inspection mark on letterbox, quake damaged house, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete house path, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, house wall, separated from concrete path, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, white / blue house, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, house front, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, house, liquefaction silt, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, garage, liquefaction damaged driveway & fence, white, plastic, tape codoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted garage & fence, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Two quake tilted houses, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Two quake tilted houses below grassy dune, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Two quake tilted houses, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, brown / green house, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Red stickered, house door, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Faded red sticker, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, tilted, twisted brown house, separated from concrete path, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, tilted garage, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, tilted garage, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway & wall, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway, tilted fence, quake shifted house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Hood Ave / Reid Memorial Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction silt, quake damaged house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Reid Memorial Ave / Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake split, house wall, Reid Memorial Ave / Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged house, Reid Memorial Ave / Hood Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake split, fence pole & fence moved more than a foot by quake, Reid Memorial Ave, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Reid Memorial Ave view, quake damaged house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Pines Beach. See split wall & toppled chimney
16.11.10. Backyard view, quake damaged house, Reid Memorial Ave / Hood Ave, Pines Beach. See toppled chimney
Reid Memorial Ave: Ghost house, quake split, abandoned. In the backyard, on the dune, two devil dogs stared at me through kennel fences: an Alsation stood up, a sheepdog lay, waiting.
16.11.10. Liquefaction damaged house, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Loose wiring, quake loosened window frame, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Sow thistle. Quake stickers on window, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted house, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, house wall, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Teddy bear. Quake damaged, house window, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake tilted, house door, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake shifted, house wall & door, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction silt, overgrown grass, quake sunk house, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10, Liquefaction silt, overgrown grass, quake sunk house cnr, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Faded red sticker, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction damaged, house fence, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake cracked, concrete driveway & house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged, concrete, house wall, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Quake damaged driveway & house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Rubbish, quake damaged fence, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Overgrown garden, quake damaged house, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
16.11.10. Liquefaction silt, overgrown driveway, white, plastic, tape cordon, Batten Grove, Pines Beach
*Trekked Featherstone Ave, Dunns Ave, Reid Memorial Ave, Chichester St, Hood Ave, Batten Grove. 78 snaps.
09.12.10. The Press reported that Pines Beach dairy owner, Dunns Ave, would be closing down business, due to reduced custom from post quake Pines Beach ghost town. The owner said that out of 307 Pines Beach houses about 90 quake damaged houses would need to be rebuilt.
Facebook:
@Maggie. Bet there're many planners, councillors, surveyors, engineers, architects, builders, estate agents... ducking for cover, since their sins sank into sand.
Post quake, there are Council blue & white threat signs by badly damaged areas like Avonside & Spencerville / Brooklands: "Non residents are asked not to enter this area. Traffic may cause further damage to roads and properties. Please respect the needs of local residents." 18 November 10.05am.
04.09.10 Some Canterbury Quake Towns. 79 new snaps. 18 November 11.02am.
@Andrew. Pines Beach, I saw several twisted, tilted ghost houses, moved about 20cm from cracked concrete around them at Hood Ave & Battern Grove, all built on sand. 20 November 3.27pm.
Our landlady checked our Heath St rental today. Found several cracked wood sections under the roof & a cracked roof truss, so aftershocks caused damage. Quake damage claims must be submitted to EQC by the end of the month, 3 months post quake. 20 November 3.53pm.
Three more aftershocks last night: 11.55pm-2.10am (Mon-Tues) M3.6, M3.0, M2.8, 10 km-20km W of Christchurch (GeoNet). Disturbed my sleep, acid reflux. 30 November 9.20am.
@Averil. Tremors all over NZ, mostly unfelt, depending on depth of quake & distance from the epicentre, as NZ is on the Pacific / Australian tectonic plates. There are only extinct volcanoes near Chch. Nearby Port Hills & Banks Peninsula were formed by volcanoes.
Auckland is built on 49 hopefully extinct volcanoes. Other volcanoes on the North Island: Mt Taranaki / Egmont (eroding quickly), Mt Tongariro, Mt Ngauruhoe, Mt Ruapehu which is active: erupted, 2007 & 1996, spewing ash, but it's about 800km N of us.
As Rotorua is N of Mt Ruapehu it has hot springs, boiling mud pools, electricity produced from steam etc, a hell zone built on the edge of a volcanic caldera. After arriving in NZ, we visited Rotorua. Sons still remember the hydrogen sulphide, rotten eggs smell. Fumeroles scary, gusts of hot, roaring gases from holes in the ground by boiling mud pools. Hot water pools, geysers around town, usually safety fenced. Must be careful, wandering known paths. Tourists love Rotorua, sense of danger, warm spas.
Hanmer Springs, about 100km N of Chch, has a hot water spa, we go there for a dip.
Big aftershocks now, after BIG Sept 4 Darfield Quake, hopefully they'll soon subside. We ride them, like wobbling on a canoe. 2 December 1.48pm.
Coda:
19.08.11. The Press reported that on 18.08.11 NZ National govt / CERA announced nearly a year post Sept 4 Darfield Quake: "940 orange zone houses in the district including 840 in Kaiapoi and 80 in Pines Beach are placed in the red zone..." Pines Beach dune top housing wasn't red zoned. Kairaki Beach was also red zoned.
Sun 14.12.16. Valentines Day M5.7 quake. Liquefactioned Featherstone Ave, Kairaki Beach again.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
