We'd endured quake-leeches: money-sucking-contractors; sewage-pipe & water-pipe layers & cleaners; linesmen; telecom technicians; architects; engineers; designers; demolishers; developers; builders; bureaucrats like Council, CERA, EQC; insurers; geotech-engineers & structural-engineers & their slow reports.
We endured do-gooders: USAR / TF teams from around the globe; local RT teams; social workers; NZ cops; Aussie cops; rubberneckers; NZDF- soldiers; media; psychologists; academic researchers; councillors; heritage-hailers; photo-op celebrities like movie stars, Prince William, priests, politicians...
Saturday 11.02.12. Evening TV news: Part of Merivale Mall on Papanui Rd was closed due to its dangerous building (weak design). 20 shops were closed. Mall-owners only became quake-savvy after 1 000s of citizens had used the mall for months during quakes & slow engineers had made a negative safety-report after post-quake revision of the building-code!
Although nearby buildings were ruined & demolished, with shipping-container "shop windows" on a next-door demolition-site & a rebuild in progress across Papanui Rd, it took Merivale Mall owners 17 months to wake up to safety! Why did Merivale Mall owners, Council, CERA & engineer- inspectors take so long sorting out citizens' safety in Merivale Mall?
Like recent closure of Northlands Mall carpark, Langdons Rd after public used the carpark for months during quakes, myself included & public library closures at Bishopdale & Fendalton after public used the libraries for months during quakes, myself included, slow Merivale Mall closure didn't say much for engineer-inspections. Was Council & CERA covering ass, scared of legal-action by citizens injured in more quakes?
Never mind Leah & I being caught in the "new" Peterborough St library during four life-threatening quakes on 23 December 2011, first eight minutes of the Xmas Quake Swarm.
We'd used Merivale Mall, nearby McDonald's & other shops for months during quakes! We knew how to save ourselves during dangerous-quakes, but we couldn't save ourselves from greed & stupidity of non-savvy mall-owners & non-savvy engineers. Given engineers' buck-passing at the Royal Commission of Inquiry, I didn't trust engineers & their inspection-reports!
15.02.12. Quake damaged apartments, Park Tce / Devon St, former CBD red zone. The apartments would be demolished
Valentines Day, Tuesday 14.02.12. CERA's demolitions boss Warwick Isaacs commented on TV about the belated demolition of Terrace on the Park apartments, as slow engineers had belatedly found it was in danger of collapse. Terrace on the Park ruin had rotted for months behind a steel- mesh-fence-cordon during quakes. Isaacs boasted about the spring and summer of demolitions while wearing an orange Hi-Vis jacket with CERA label. Isaacs needed to complete red-zone CBD demolitions pronto, as public was already banned from the CBD for a year. Isaacs also needed to get on with 1 000s of red-zone residential demolitions in the suburbs!
15.02.12. Red, plastic tape cordon. Quake damaged house, Park Tce, former CBD red zone
Wednesday 15.02.12. Park Tce: I'd often driven past steel-mesh-fence-cordoned Terrace on the Park ruin during quake-months & had parked my car on Salisbury St across the road from Terrace on the Park several times during quake-months. Why hadn't inspection-engineers, Council & CERA hung their EXTREME DANGER threat-signs on those steel-mesh-fence-cordons? The multi-storey facade had several XL cracks for any passerby to see.
One afternoon post 23 December 2011 Xmas Quake Swarm, I'd directed a tourist looking for a food shop to the Victoria St greengrocer, past Terrace on the Park ruin. There were few food shops in that CBD area.
15.02.12. Rubberneckers, Terrace on the Park demolition, Park Tce, former CBD red zone
15.02.12. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger demolition, Terrace on the Park bldg, Park Tce, former CBD red zone
Another afternoon post Xmas Quake Swarm, Leah & I'd stood by the steel-mesh-fence-cordon viewing Terrace on the Park ground-floor apartments. It annoyed me that non-savvy engineers, Council & CERA found those buildings were dangerous only six weeks post Xmas Quake Swarm!
15.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger demolition, Terrace on the Park bldg, Park Tce, former CBD red zone
15.02.12. I joined rubberneckers gathered on Park Tce by Avon River bank, watching Terrace on the Park demolition. Fletcher signs hung on the steel mesh fence cordon. Snapped a yellow digger smashing flats, a workman hosing dust. Another post quake demolition. We'd seen many.
15.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger demolition, Terrace on the Park bldg, Park Tce, former CBD red zone
Media hype about the demolition was CERA's diversion from slow land-zoning by Tonkin & Taylor geotech-engineers. TC3 green-zone & red-zone & orange-zone citizens still lived in squalor while demolition-boss Isaacs posed for TV cameras!
15.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger demolition, Terrace on the Park bldg, former CBD rd zone
15.02.12. Rubberneckers, Terrace on the Park demolition, Park Tce, former CBD red zone
I returned to my car on Carlton Mill Rd then snapped five ruined-houses on nearby Tonbridge St: The houses had familiar damages & part-repairs: collapsed bricks-walls, concrete-brick rubble on footpaths, wood-propped walls, boarded-walls, tarped-roofs, gaping "dolls house" rooms exposed to weather, all steel-mesh-fence-cordoned.
15.02.12. Quake damaged house, Tonbridge St, Christchurch
Papanui Rd: I snapped new shipping-container shops, including Cafe Metro on a house demolition-site, Merivale Ln. While customers sipped latte & nibbled muffins at Cafe Metro, demolishers flattened nearby St Mary's Church ruin.
15.02.12. Post quake, shipping container, Cafe Metro on a house demolition site, Merivale Ln / Papanui Rd
Church Ln: I snapped St Mary's demolition-site: The church-hall ruin still stood, the church a rubble-heap. The salvaged wooden-roof stood on the ground. Two workmen wearing yellow hard-hats & orange, Hi-Vis vests tinkered with the exposed church-organ which was orange-tarped. Savvy-parishioners wanted the organ saved. A steel-mesh-fence-cordon sign:
Change of Worship Venue
St Mary's Services
8am at 35 Church Lane
10am at 467 Wairakei Rd
Parish phone:...
Watch this space for
developments
After damages & demolitions, some churches shared venues with other churches, or relocated services.
2018. Papanui Rd / Church Ln: New All Souls Church would open on St Mary's demo site.
15.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Post quake, St Mary's Church Hall, Papanui Rd / Church Ln
15.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. St Mary's demolition site & church organ, Church Ln
Rugby St: Where Jake flatted pre-quakes, his wooden-apartment survived the quakes. But nearby Chinese Methodist Church hall was demolished. It had rotted by the decapitated church spire in the overgrown churchyard. The brick church ruin was abandoned for months behind a steel-mesh-fence-cordon. The church would be demolished in 2013 & rebuilt in 2014.
15.02.12. Quake survivor, wooden rental flat, Rugby St, Christchurch
15.02.12. Quake damaged, 2 storey, wooden house, Rugby St, Christchurch
15.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Serial quake trashed, Chinese Methodist Church, Rugby St / Papanui Rd, Church hall demolition site left. The church would be demolished, 2013, rebuilt, 2014
Papanui Rd, Merivale Mall: By a steel-mesh-fence-cordon between shops in the mall, a young security-man stopped me snapping pics. I said: "You're the first person telling me in 17 months of quakes I can't snap buildings. It's not illegal to snap buildings! What were Merivale Mall owners hiding, employing a security-man to bullshit public? Like at other malls, I thought the electrically operated glass sliding-doors were death traps, as the first malfunction in a big quake was power-supply.
15.02.12. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. Shops rebuild on quake demolition site, Papanui Rd, opp Merivale Mall
15.02.12. Shipping container "shop windows" on quake demolition site, Papanui Rd, next to serial quake damaged, Merivale Mall
15.02.12. Papanui Rd entrance, serial quake damaged, Merivale Mall
I left, then entered Merivale Mall again at Aikmans Rd side & back entrances. Little trade went on in the opened shops. There were few shoppers in the mall besides three Hi-Vis vested workmen in hard-hats behind a steel-mesh-fence-cordon which blocked the central mall area by Fresh Choice supermarket entrance below skylight windows. No security-men there so I snapped pics.
15.02.12. Quake closure sign, side entrance to serial quake damaged, Merivale Mall, Aikmans Rd
Merivale Mall, a door-sign:
While areas of Merivale Mall are currently closed the remaining stores are open and trading in a limited capacity.
Fresh Choice is currently closed until further notice.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Merivale Management.
15.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Serial quake damaged, Merivale Mall, part closed, after trading for months during the 2010-2012 quakes, Papanui Rd
Mall, a glass-door threat-sign:
CAUTION MERIVALE MALL
CARPARK SURFACE
UNEVEN
Besides Isaacs's demolition-lyricism, CERA boss Sutton also lost the plot: After organizing bus-tours in Isaacs's red-zone CBD, Sutton organized movies & BBQs for the public in parks during the Xmas holidays, then cajoled public to use sunscreen lotion during holidays!
Rotherham St / Riccarton Rd: Friday 17.02.12. TV announced that a shopping-building was closed due to damage. The old masonry-bldg was damaged in the 4 September 2010 Quake. Soon afterwards, while a cop directed a shop-owner's evacuation, I'd snapped collapsed awning rubbish & fallen parapet masonry which had collapsed onto the footpath. Why did Civil Defence quickly demolish old buildings on the opposite side of Riccarton Rd, but CERA allowed the shopping-building to continue trading post 22 February 2011 Quake? Why did engineers & CERA take 17 months post-quakes to re-close those shops? Any rubbernecker could see the unreinforced masonry building was ruined post 4 September 2010 Quake!
Jake had worked at Fox & Ferret gastro-pub in Rotherham St, so we knew the area well. Post-quakes, our family no longer shopped at Riccarton Mall as it was too crowded & creepy. We became wary of crowded buildings, especially malls.
Meanwhile, town clerk Marryatt took a half-day off playing golf & mayor Parker was in China schmoozing Chinese businesses to invest in Christchurch, while Christchurch businesses fled the CBD.
*Trekked Park Tce, Tonbridge St, Papanui Rd, Church Ln, Rugby St. 85 snaps.
Coda:
2021. Merivale Mall & nearby shops would be repaired / rebuilt & continue trading.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Five Riccarton businesses closed (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Property owners leaving town (The Press / Stuff Co).
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