03.07.12, Taranaki district (N Island) had a M7 quake, 230km deep, offshore, on a plate fault. Nearby Wellingtonians worried, little damage. Felt like a M4 to me in Christchurch.
Christchurch authorities are demolishing bldgs, old & new, eventually Christchurch will be one of the safest seismic zones in the world to live in, hopefully. Costs billions, including quake strengthened rebuild. CBD, still locked down in a military, red zone cordon, while high- rise demolitions continue. Has enabled suburbs to boom, businesses relocated from the CBD.
We sleep through many night quakes now. Some people can't stand it anymore, leaving for 'safer' towns & cities."
Post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, after more than a year of land zonings, CERA recently rezoned Port Hills white zone properties to red or green zones. CERA minister Brownlee's excuse for slow Port Hills zonings: difficulties for geotech experts ascertaining hill-slide, rockfall or cliff-fall dangers. Anyone could see living on a steep hillside, under a cliff, or atop a cliff was dangerous!
14.07.12. Quake damaged, boarded house, Port Hills Rd
14.07.12. Port Hills Rd view, quake rock fall hazard housing
166 Port Hills properties, still white zoned, in limbo, to be rezoned by October 2012. To see hillside dwellings, I drove to white zoned, Stonehaven Tce & Lucas Ln, Hillsborough, below slippery cliffs. I'd already trekked some of Hillsborough post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, on the flats.
14.07.12. Port Hills Rd / Alderson Ave
"Tce" rang alarms, as Terrace housing I'd seen in Christchurch were either damaged hillside housing, or damaged riverside housing. Parked, Port Hills Rd by boarded houses. Trekked past an Alderson Ave cnr boast:
Millennium 2000
Communities Christchurch Street
and Garden Awards
This plaque commemorates the special
efforts made by the residents of
Alderson Avenue which was selected
as the most attractive street
within the boundary of the
Spreydon / Heathcote
Community Board
14.07.12. Millennium 2000, Garden Awards board, Port Hills Rd / Alderson Ave
14.07.12. Quake damaged roof, Alderson Ave
14.07.12. Quake damaged, boarded house, Alderson Ave
14.07.12. Alderson Ave view, quake rock fall hazard housing
Development mess: Alderson Ave: Housing had crept up Port Hills. On my right Lucas Ln houses, damaged below loess cliffs. Alderson Ave veered left uphill as Stonehaven Tce, also damaged. Above houses at Lucas Ln & Stonehaven Tce: mix of gullies, rocky bluffs, thick vegetation. Below Stonehaven Tce houses: slippery loess cliffs, mostly covered in vegetation. Some houses below Stonehaven Tce, loess cliffs on my left.
14.07.12. Alderson Ave view, quake rock fall hazard housing
14.07.12. Alderson Ave view, quake loess slip hazard & rock fall hazard housing
Stonehaven Tce: Council planning / development: Below stony gullies, bluffs & a reservoir, new housing spotted the hillside, vegetation gaps between houses. Stonehaven Tce had retaining walls above & below the road. Stonehaven houses were sandwiched between rocky bluffs above & loess cliffs below. New houses were threatened by rockfall above the road & loess slip below the road. Why did Council consent building atop a cliff, or below a cliff?
14.07.12. Quake damaged house below loess cliff, Alderson Ave. Quake rock fall hazard housing above
Adding to the slippery slope, a concrete drain covered in metal grilles, was at the end of a gully by Aldersons Reserve & Lucas Ln, where the drain went underground down Alderson Ave.
14.07.12. Quake trashed house below slippery loess cliff, Lucas Ln
14.07.12. Quake trashed house below slippery loess cliff, Lucas Ln
14.07.12. Alderson Ave view, quake trashed housing below slippery loess cliff, Lucas Ln
14.07.12. Drain, Aldersons Reserve, Alderson Ave
14.07.12. Alderson Ave view, Aldersons Reserve, drain & drain ditch, above Lucas Ln, quake trashed housing
Aldersons Reserve: A gum grove sucked up gully water, some gums chopped down. Below gums were creamy loess lumps, which had bounced a distance during loess cliff collapse. Above the reserve, geotech experts had sprayed & chopped out vegetation, showing several huge cracks. Fault-line? I didn't venture up the cracks, fearing a quake would vanish me.
14.07.12. Alderson Ave housing in danger of quake rock fall & loess slip
14.07.12. Quake cracked curb & road, Alderson Ave
Cracks went uphill, about 3m wide & deep in places, widening going uphill to an old farm property. Further up the cracks, geotech experts had placed pink-tipped, wooden stakes in cleared ground, like hedgehog bristles, checking hillside slip & loess collapse, above Lucas Ln.
14.07.12. Loess clods flung from loess cliff by quakes, Aldersons Reserve
14.07.12. Aldersons Reserve, quake loess slip hazard above Lucas Ln
14.07.12. Quake rock fall hazard & gully drainage hazard above Alderson Ave & Lucas Ln
A mess! Dangers of flooding, rockfall, bluff collapse, loess cliff collapse, loess slip, all above Lucas Ln & Stonehaven Tce. Scandalous that Council planners, consenters, surveyors, architects, engineers, developers, builders went ahead with housing development on steep hillsides. Like Seabreeze Cl, Bexley swampland development, Stonehaven hillside development should never have been consented.
Port Hills houses with million dollar views, doomed to red zoning, meant ratepayers would be forced by CERA to share payouts to Port Hills red zoners. CERA's dealing with Council meant extortion of $100 million from ratepayers to punish Council planning stupidity & pay some ratepayers for building / buying / repairing dangerous Port Hills properties. (3News). Rationale for that extortion: Council was responsible for ameliorating Port Hills rockfall hazards on Council land above housing developments. That didn't benefit red zoners on the flats, earlier red zoned, but was belatedly decreed by CERA to benefit Port Hills red zoners!
Lucas Ln: closer look by Aldersons Reserve: Several boarded, tarped, ghost houses, protected from rockfall & loess fall by shipping containers. While I snapped, a woman stopped her car, demanding: "Are you just taking a look?" Affirmative.
Aldersons Ave: A sharp, uphill turn, by a farm gate & a 3 pronged gum tree, the road became Stonehaven Tce: Metal STONEHAVEN lettering on a stone wall announced entry to the new uphill development. Rocky bluffs loomed above Stonehaven development.
14.07.12. Housing in danger of quake rock fall, Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. Post quake, road repairs to quake cracked / slipped roadside, Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. Quake cracked, part repaired, roadside & curb, Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. Quake damaged, retaining wall, slipping away from quake slipped, Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. Quake damaged pavement, fence & gate slipping downhill, Stonehaven Tce
Stonehaven Tce: Housing was in danger of rockfall from above & slipping downhill, as some houses were built on loess below the road. All along the road, downhill side, cracked concrete curbs & repaired road cracks showed where quakes caused slippage.
14.07.12. Concrete retaining wall, quake rock fall hazard above, Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. Post quake repairs to quake slipped pavement & roadside, Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. Stonehaven Tce, loess cliff house, post quake view, Glenelg Spur & Hillsborough
14.07.12. Stonehaven Tce, loess cliff house, post quake view, Glenelg Spur, Hillsborough & Opawa
14.07.12 Post quake repairs to slipped roadside & pavement, Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. Concrete retaining wall below housing, quake rock fall hazard above, Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. House retaining wall, in danger of quake collapse, above Stronsay Ln, off Stonehaven Tce
14.07.12. Post quake repairs to quake slipped, retaining wall, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Stronsay Ln, quake cracked, concrete curb & loess cliff view, Hillsborough & Opawa
14.07.12. Loess cliff, slip hazard & quake rock fall hazard by new housing, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Loess cliff lot, quake loess slip hazard, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Post quake, Stronsay Ln view, Glenelg Spur & Port Hills Rd
14.07.12. Stronsay Ln view, quake trashed, red zone, abandoned, Christchurch CBD
Retaining walls separated from the road in a slow slide. Never mind housing damages. One house sported an architect's board in a window. Housing development & real estate boards hung hopefully on roadside fences:
Builders & Developers
Up to 100%
LAND & CONSTRUCTION FINANCE
AVAILABLE ON THIS SITE
14.07.12. Developers sign, quake rock fall hazard hillside, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Quake damaged house on quake rock fall hazard hillside, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Post quake, Stronsay Ln view, Glenelg Spur
14.07.12. Post quake, Stronsay Ln view, Opawa
14.07.12. Quake damaged, abandoned house, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Quake slipping house, loess cliff top, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Void under quake slipping house, loess cliff top, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Bare loess ground, quake slipping house, loess cliff top, Stronsay Ln
There were empty lots between Stonehaven houses. Below the road in empty lots, I saw bare loess. Some ghost houses, others occupied. One house had a huge void below concrete stairs: black void extended below the hillside house. The new house had no garden. Herbicide killed vegetation, exposed loess soil on the property.
Stronsay Ln fork, downhill off Stonehaven Tce: Trekked to the end of Stronsay Ln, past concrete, cracked retaining walls & builders' rubbish, stacked roadside, past overgrown lots, reservoir looming above. At Stronsay Ln end, rockfall boulders perched atop a rock-smashed, retaining wall.
14.07.12. Quake crack between retaining wall & pavement, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. Real estate sign, quake cracked road & retaining wall, Stronsay Ln
14.07.12. House in danger of quake rock fall, Stronsay Ln. See rocks secured by steel cables
14.07.12. Builders rubbish, Stronsay Ln end
14.07.12. Bare lots, loess cliff top, Stronsay Ln end
14.07.12. Concrete retaining wall, Stronsay Ln end
14.07.12. Quake rock fall damage, concrete retaining wall, Stronsay Ln end
Below the reservoir, bluff rocks above the last Stronsay Ln house were strapped with steel cables, stopping rockfall.
Lovely views over Hillsborough, Opawa, Glenelg Spur housing, towards hazy CBD. My 10x zoom camera took good pics of red zone, ghost CBD, about 10km away, still NZDF cordoned, 17 months post 22.02.11 Killer Quake. Demolition cranes loomed above ghost high-rises.
*Trekked Port Hills Rd, Alderson Ave, Lucas Ln, Stonehaven Tce, Stronsay Ln, McCormacks Bay Causeway, Cliff St, Emily Hts. 182 images.
Sun 22.07.12. Drove to Moncks Bay, I wanted to hear testing of the new tsunami warning system, built post quakes: sirens atop power poles along the coast. Over the last week, I'd seen digital road signs by QE11 Park & by McCormacks Bay Causeway informing residents about testing of new tsunami warning sirens at 11am, Sun 22.07.12. A first for Christchurch.
22.07.12. Tsunami siren testing, digital road sign, McCormacks Bay Causeway
While Leah & I waited for the siren, I viewed damaged Cliff St & Emily Hts by Moncks Bay. Several ghost houses along Cliff St, 1 house demolition site. Built on red volcanic rock, end house, horizontally cracked at window height. Red rock on which house was built, cracked vertically & horizontally. Another boarded, cliff-side house had a red rock in its driveway.
22.07.12. Quake damaged garden wall, Cliff St
22.07.12. Quake damaged housing, Cliff St
22.07.12. Quake damaged housing & house demolition site right, Cliff St
22.07.12. Shipping container cordon / rock fall barrier. Quake damaged house, loess hillside, Cliff St
22.07.12. Quake rock fall on driveway below loess cliff, Cliff St
22.07.12. Quake trashed house on volcanic rock, Cliff St / Emily Hts
22.07.12. Quake split, volcanic rock, Emily Hts
Emily Hts: Another pre-quakes, housing development, not as far gone as Stonehaven, Hillsborough, but also built on a slippery slope of loose loess & volcanic rock.
22.07.12. Wooden retaining wall, quake damaged, part repaired roadside, Emily Hts. Moncks Bay, Southshore spit beyond
Emily Hts zig-zagged up the hillside, past wooden retaining walls, to the top where another house was built. So far no other pre-quake houses were built on Emily Hts. Road trashed, roadside cracks, where the hillside was slipping due to quakes. Ghost houses above & below Emily Hts were tarped, boarded.
22.07.12. Quake trashed, part repaired roadside, Emily Hts. Loess cliffs beyond
Lovely views of Pegasus Bay, Moncks Bay, Avon / Heathcote Estuary mouth, Southshore spit, quake-stunted Shag Rock & shipping-container-protected Clifton cnr. Lethal due to rockfall hazard.
22.07.12. Cliff St view, quake trashed Emily Hts development. Houses below & above loose, loess cliffs
Over the last week I'd seen new ads touting bldg repair businesses. Ad on the back of a ute listed all repairs the contractor would do. Top of the list: EARTHQUAKE REPAIRS.
Metropol BUY BUILD INVEST, Issue 11, July 2012 periodical had many repair / rebuild ads. One ad:
"STAKE CONSULTING LTD...
GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) [For checking quake voids below bldgs].
Do you think you have underlying problems with your concrete floor?...
SLAB JACKING
Solution and repair for lifting driveways, paths and floors.
Filling of voids below concrete slabs.
CONCRETE CRACK REPAIRS
Don't allow water ingress through your concrete cracks this winter.
Epoxy Pressure Injection..."
Post quakes, I'd seen many tilt-slab bldgs with cracked walls, epoxy glued. Soon EQC would be castigated for shoddy repairs, like faulty jack & pack of pile foundations. Given damages & shoddy EQC repairs, I wouldn't buy any pre-quake house in Christchurch.
As for the tsunami warning siren, at 85db it wasn't loud enough. Parked at Beachville Reserve by Avon / Heathcote Estuary, Leah heard the siren faintly in our car. As I wore a hearing aid, I had to exit our car, but hardly heard the siren. Council needed to increase siren volume, or $550 000 would be wasted.
Luke didn't even hear the siren in a South New Brighton house, near South New Brighton School. Why did Council spend half a million+ dollars on a siren system for Pacific regional quakes & ignore our Pegasus Bay quakes?
Coda:
Wed 31.10.12, CERA press release, Brownlee: "All 190 000 properties in greater Christchurch now have a zoning...
The vast majority of the over 7 860 property owners in the residential red zone have already chosen a buyout option and are in the process of selling their properties to the Crown... "
The residential red zone buyout was a NZ National govt land-grab of riverside properties & hillside properties. Later on, NZ National govt would land-grab red zone CBD properties for its CERA Blueprint CBD. Geotech engineering firm, Tonkin & Taylor did the land zoning. Then NZ National govt / CERA, land-grabbed properties. Who checked Tonkin & Taylor?
Finalizing zoning of residential properties in Christchurch, the final 8 Lucas Ln properties were green zoned! CERA & Council would remove landslip material above Lucas Ln housing. CERA & Council would share the cost of loess removal & securing the slippery slope. Why did Council consent housing development below slippery loess cliffs?
By Jan 2014 the slippery, loess slope above Lucas Ln would be secured.
2012. Hopeful, real estate signs awaited sales of damaged land & housing. No buyers. Two Lucas Ln, cnr houses were rebuilds. Neighbouring ghost house, still boarded, garden overgrown.
2018-19. Stonehaven development, still wrecked, roads tarseal patch repaired as in 2012.
Cliff St: Closed. Steel, road barrier at hill bottom. Three ghost houses demolished: house at hill bottom; red rock, top house; house below loess cliff, where a fallen, red rock had obstructed the driveway. Only demolition sites left. Emily Hts: No further development.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Residential land zoning complete (CERA press release).
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