Post Sept 4 Darfield Quake, nearly 15 months before & post Feb 22 Killer Quake 9 months before, there were many sucker trucks around Christchurch, sucking shit & other substances from damaged homes, businesses, roads, messed pipes. Jake flatted at Geraldine St, where sucker trucks parked after sucking. Despite damages in the CBD & eastern suburbs, our alluvial shingled, Burnside got off lightly in the 2010-2011 quakes, lots of shaking, no liquefaction, less silt in the ground. Little sucking in Burnside.
Heath St: Over the last 9 months, our landlady & EQC inspectors twice inspected our rental. First inspection before the Feb 22 Killer Quake: Landlady told us there was about $10 000 damages to the house, including roof truss damage. Since the first EQC inspection, the house experienced more quakes & aftershocks. I was in the house during the XL quakes, Sept 4, Dec 26, Feb 22, June 13, having to rush to front or back door frames (whichever closest) for protection during the Feb 22 & June 13 quakes.
Thurs 01.12.11. Another EQC inspector (so young, he didn't shave yet, paid $75/hour, on the job for little over an hour, plus out of town expenses) & the landlady checked the house again: more cracks in walls, ceiling, floor joins since the last EQC check. The landlady told me Fletcher Construction would make a third check before any repairs were done to our green zone house. Two years later we would still wait for the Fletcher checkup. Why was EQC taking so long to pay? Why was EQC checking our house more than once? Why was Fletcher so slow?
Quake damaged houses I saw, waited so long for repairs, that new yellow boards, closing trashed windows, doors, walls, had weathered grey from exposure, while EQC's overpaid, inexperienced assessors slurped gravy.
God help those in Port Hills: There were 500 odd homeowners in that red stickered, white zone position in the Port Hills, where CERA took its time deciding on land condition of white zone houses.
Council harassed homeowners with eviction threats. Some home owners refused to leave their red stickered houses. Some never left, no money for rentals. Some camped in their gardens before leaving.
Port Hills, red stickered homeowners had to cope with CERA; EQC; Council; insurers; mortgages on red stickered homes; rates (60%) on red stickered homes; new rental homes; rental home accommodation allowances expiring; displaced families; packing & moving costs at short notice; quake shattered businesses; kids moving to temporary schools or tertiary education; indifferent bureaucrats; health problems.
Council had green stickered CTV & PGC, several times post Sept 4 Darfield Quake, allowing business to proceed in those multi-storeys. Despite post quakes complaints from businesses renting those shakey, cracked bldgs, the bldgs collapsed in the Feb 22 Killer Quake, 115 dead CTV, 18 dead PGC. Others died in Port Hills rock falls & masonry collapses in the CBD. Feb 22 Killer Quake, death toll 185.
Over the last week, we heard news from the Royal Commission why multi-storey PGC collapsed: Council green stickered PGC was only strengthened 30-40 % of the bldg code. Why not 100% Council?
Council faffed about dangerous bldgs post quakes: Bishopdale Library was closed by Council, after green stickering it for 8 months use by Council workers & citizens. Excuse: Bishopdale Library needed quake strengthening. (Bishopdale Library would be demolished, rebuilt). Fendalton Library was also closed for "earthquake repairs" after being opened for weeks.
30.11.11. Green stickered, Fendalton Library, closed for post quake repairs, Jeffreys Rd
Jeffreys Rd: When I went to Fendalton Library to return books, several citizens stood around outside, shaking their heads, muttering at Council incompetence, blue & white closure stickers on windows & doors. Signs told us to go to Papanui Library, open 7 days a week. Council was spooked about liability for past & future quake damages.
Cambridge Tce: The Royal Commission revealed finger pointing & ass covering by dissemblers claiming innocence of negligence & incompetence regarding PGC collapse in the Feb 22 Killer Quake:
PGC bldg owner said he didn't know PGC was "earthquake prone" when he bought it in 2009, as his lawyers & real estate agents hadn't told him about bldg reports stating PGC was quake prone. The owner was a real estate tycoon. It was his business to know. He said he would've paid for PGC strengthening had he known.
"I didn't know..." was the theme song for many at the Royal Commission:
Harcourts' PGC commercial manager said he knew from a Plant & Building Safety Ltd report & LIM report about PGC being quake prone, but didn't tell the new owner or Holmes Consulting engineers, but knew the engineers knew about PGC history.
PGC company secretary said he wasn't told PGC was quake prone, as warned by a Holmes Consulting engineers report in 2007 & only found out about quake prone warnings after PGC fatal collapse. (The Star 30.11.11).
Holmes Consulting Group engineers Boys & Whiteside did 4 PGC inspections post Sept 4 Darfield Quake. They inspected damages, not overall strength & passed PGC "safe to occupy." (The Press 06.12.11).
Council environmental policy & approvals manager admitted a Council green sticker was placed on PGC on Sept 5, but it was the responsibility of the bldg owner & engineers to do more checks on PGC. (The Star 30.11.11).
Engineers acted dumb about bldg safety. If I saw any quake cracks in a bldg, especially columns (easy to see) no matter how small, I was wary of the bldg. My rental home shook to hell in any M4+ aftershocks. I was wary of the danger of the bldg, although green zoned.
Green stickered PGC had quake cracks & was shaken by passing, heavy traffic, post Sept 4 Darfield Quake & Dec 26 Boxing Day Quake. Hare, the Holmes engineer, questioned by the Royal Commission, supported his engineer inspectors Boys & Whiteside, yet Hare was the principal engineer & advisor to CERA! (The Press 05.11.11.)
Hare said the PGC owner should've asked for a detailed inspection of PGC, post Sept 4 Darfield Quake, not just superficial damage inspections. Engineers thus blamed PGC bldg owner for doing superficial checks & not comprehensive checks.
Why did engineers take money from the bldg owner & not insist on comprehensive checks?
Pre-quakes Council wasn't concerned about Port Hills rockfall hazards. Post quakes Council employed a private investigator to spy on citizens living in their red stickered homes in white zone Port Hills: Avoca Valley, Bowenvale Valley, Lyttelton... (The Press). Council threatened that citizens could be evicted from their red stickered homes, if still living there. Who would own Council red zoned properties after owners were evicted & paid out under Council red sticker duress?
Thurs 01.12.11. Sunny afternoon, I drove to Bowenvale Ave to see damages. Pre-quakes, I'd done Port Hills walks in Bowenvale Valley, starting from the carpark at the end of Bowenvale Ave & climbing to Summit Rd.
01.12.11. Gate signs, start of Bowenvale tracks, end of Bowenvale Ave. 4x4s forbidden sign right, due to rockfall hazard
Bowenvale Ave: A track sign on the walkway start gate forbade 4x4 vehicles due to rockfall hazards. There were no signs forbidding walkers in Bowenvale Valley. I snapped Bowenvale Valley board map below a rocky bluff. No rockfalls.
01.12.11. Bowenvale Valley tracks map, by rocky bluff, end of Bowenvale Ave
Trekked down Bowenvale Ave to Centaurus Rd by Heathcote River. Rockfall hazards? There were rocky bluffs above some houses, protected by tall, mature trees. I didn't see any recent rockfalls: lighter coloured rocks on grey bluffs, rock slide gouges down grassy slopes, broken vegetation, which I'd seen in Heathcote Valley & Sumner Valley after rockfalls. Council was using rockfall hazard as an excuse to red sticker housing in Bowenvale Valley!
01.12.11. Bowenvale Valley bluffs, no signs of quake rock falls above quake damaged housing, Bowenvale Ave
After 15 months of quakes I didn't see any rockfalls in Bowenvale Valley! No signs of slippery slopes in Bowenvale Valley, despite 15 months of 4 XL quakes & 1 000s of aftershocks.
Council generalized rockfall hazards in all Port Hills valleys, after quake rockfalls at Sumner, Redcliffs, Heathcote Valley & tracks above Lyttelton, to the detriment of white zone & red stickered housing. Release of geotech reports could have enabled citizens to decide their own fates, rather than dictatorial Council & CERA.
01.12.11. Quake damaged, part repaired housing, Bowenvale Ave
01.12.11. Open concrete drain, Bowenvale Ave side
I didn't trek smaller roads off Bowenvale Ave, or up valley slopes. I saw enough damaged & part repaired housing on Bowenvale Ave to be convinced Bowenvale Valley was severely shaken in the 2010-2011 quakes.
01.12.11. Quake damaged housing with roof tarps, Bowenvale Valley slope, Bowenvale Ave
Bowenvale Ave tarseal, good condition. Bowenvale Valley, a Port Hills water catchment, had open drains both sides of Bowenvale Ave, going down to Heathcote River by Centaurus Rd.
01.12.11. Quake damaged, part repaired housing, Bowenvale Ave
Life continued in Bowenvale Ave: flowers blooming, cut lawns, flourishing trees, cars coming & going, people wandering amidst damages.
01.12.11. Quake damaged, part repaired housing, Bowenvale Valley slope, Bowenvale Ave
01.12.11. Post quake, wood braced, concrete garden wall, Bowenvale Ave
01.12.11. Quake damaged, part repaired housing, Bowenvale Ave
Snapped ghost houses: loosened roof tiles; tarped roofs; a fire scorched roof; cracked walls; wall bricks fallen off & stacked; boarded house walls; broken garden walls; wood braced garden & house walls; broken garages; broken, boarded windows; plastic covered, broken windows; black plastic repaired walls; a demolition site...
01.12.11. Post quake, fire damaged house, Bowenvale Ave
Nine months post Feb 22 Killer Quake, most Bowenvale Ave houses I saw were inhabited, but damaged housing owners waited for insurance payouts, so repairs could be done. Council, CERA, EQC, Fletcher Construction & insurers were slow.
Slow EQC wasted years figuring out whether 1 000s of damaged houses were under cap $100 000, worthy of monopoly Fletcher repairs, or over cap $ 100 000, to be shunted by EQC to slow insurers.
Bowenvale Valley controversy: Council had red stickered some housing, enforcing abandonment, yet CERA hadn't yet zoned the housing. So there was conflict between Council rapid assessment, red stickering & slow CERA zoning. Home owners were caught in the middle.
Similar conflicts between Council & CERA happened all over Christchurch & in the Port Hills: Avoca Valley, Heathcote Valley, Sumner Valley... Never mind houses on cliff tops & houses at the bottom of cliffs, which were were also rapid assessed, red stickered by Council, then had to wait months for CERA's slow zoning.
01.12.11. Post quake, open drain, Bowenvale Ave side
01.12.11. Quake damaged, part repaired house, Bowenvale Ave
01.12.11. Quake damaged, wood braced, garden wall, Oakview Ln / Bowenvale Ave
01.12.11. Post quake, house demolition site, Bowenvale Ave
01.12.11. Quake damaged, tarped garage, Bowenvale Ave
01.12.11. View of housing below Bowenvale Valley bluffs, Bowenvale Ave / Centaurus Rd
Bowenvale Ave checked out on CERA Landcheck website as mostly white zone land, the rest green zone land. There were many other while zone roads in the Port Hills. While CERA dithered, awaiting land reports, citizens waited.
Fri 02.12.11: Ad from a Burnside real estate agent, about a sold 3 b.r. house, Sevenoaks Dr:
"Now's the time to sell.
Yes, highly motivated buyers combined with an acute shortage of comparatively undamaged properties means that many properties are selling extremely well right NOW..."
"Comparatively undamaged properties?" The real estate agent dissembled. Undamaged properties would do me fine.
*Trekked Jeffreys Rd, Bowenvale Ave. 51 snaps.
Coda.
Nov 2013. Two years later, CERA still hadn't completed Port Hills zoning. Frustrated home owners would wait all that time while NZ National govt did interminable zoning reviews & more Port Hills zoning delays, due to CERA appealing a High Court judgement. Meanwhile, Council organized its own Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences (GNS) report, differing from CERA zonings regarding what were lethal land movements, or not.
Via CERA, all that NZ National govt did was take over Council functions, causing strife. Instead of advising Council about its local govt duties, NZ National govt interfered in local governance, usurping and / or duplicating many Council functions, with bureaucratic growth in EQC, Fletcher, CERA, CCDU, SCIRT.
Despite its Council interference, NZ National govt would take 2 years to produce rebuild house foundation specifications. National's bright & shiny future?
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Family aghast at being told to go (Stuff Co / The Press).
See Man ignores rockfall warning (Stuff Co / The Press).
See Legal challenges expose hasty process (The Press / Stuff Co).
