Post Valentines Day Quake, CBD focus. Deja vu: Sunday 14.02.16, Christchurch. M5.7 quake, depth 15km, 15km east of Christchurch, 1.13pm (GeoNet). Pegasus Bay Fault was quiet since the 23 December 2011 Xmas Quake Swarm. It was active again. Leah & I were in Timaru at the time, 162km south 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 was doing 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 six 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. Seismic-waves rolling underfoot, caused bent knees & arms akimbo for balance. I once described to an Oamaru friend that surviving a big quake was like being bashed at the bottom of a 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 rockfalls 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 December 2011, Xmas Quake Swarm, I'd snapped those liquefactioned Parklands roads.
Christ Church Cathedral's west facade crumbled more, despite steel-buttressing which was dubbed the "Battering Ram".
EQC accepted claims for the Valentines Day Quake. Given EQC's ineptitude over the last five 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 claimants would wait more years for their claims to be resolved by EQC & insurers!
Sunday 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. Latest protest, five years post 22 February 2011 Quake: 4 500 repair / rebuild claims, still unresolved; 5 500 repairs on EQC / Fletcher shoddy repairs claims, unresolved. What were PM Key, CERA minister Brownlee, CERA minions & the Human Rights Commissioner doing about EQC's & insurers' slackness?
Saturday-Sunday 27-28.02.16. Deja vu Leah's London St teaching & to see our sons. Saturday: I trekked Christchurch CBD's deja vu rebuild: Cashel Mall: The Terrace, I saw new greystone steps on Avon River bank. (Just a waterfowl toilet!) I saw BNZ & ANZ rebuilds & a huge parking garage behind The Crossing on Lichfield St. I saw Justice & Emergency Services Precinct going up between Lichfield St & Tuam St. All those new buildings had sturdy steel-frames. Pagoda Court ruin, Colombo St, was dwarfed by BNZ & ANZ rebuilds. Rebuilds now darkened Cashel Mall again, forming a west-east wind-funnel from Bridge of Remembrance. (2018-19. Pagoda Court would be demolished for a Kathmandu rebuild).
Deja vu New Regent St: Not Funny, as five shops were still red-sticker-cordoned (27.02.16) by Council as dangerous after five years of quakes. Council only woke up to the danger after the recent Valentines Day Quake! That was 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 ruin: Still fenced-cordoned after five years' neglect. I saw widened cracks on all exterior walls. I saw loose Oamaru whitestones on cladded corners & buttresses & window arches. Heritage-hailers wanted to restore that rubble-walled ruin! I wandered Christ Church Cathedral border, snapping weedy neglect, widened cracks, loose stones & protest slogans chalked on flagstones, curbs & boards on the closed Millennium Hotel / Distinction Hotel opposite the Cathedral. Next door, the multi-storey BNZ ruin was part-demolished, covered in graffiti. (September 2018. I would see that BNZ would be completely demolished for new multi-storey Spark steel-framed offices.) What a mess CERA left Cathedral Sq after five years' occupation!
On the south side of Christ Church Cathedral ruin, on the greystone border-wall & greystone paving I saw 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 $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: At the new Margaret Mahy Family Playground I saw kids playing while Parents relaxed below poplars on Avon River bank. There was no shade over the new playground, yet.
Deja vu Oxford Tce: five years post-quakes below multi-storey Rydges Hotel ghost, Our City ghost was scaffolded & SMF-cordoned. Ditto Provincial Council ghost on the opposite Avon River Bank. (2021. Repairs would begin on Our City, the old building would be scaffolded & covered in white-plastic. Provincial Council was still mothballed, awaiting repairs).
Deja vu Hereford St / Cambridge Tce: I saw a new carpark garage going up on multi-storey Central Police's implosion site.
Durham St Nth: Awly Building, the new glass-&-steel multi-storey office block loomed above Provincial Council ghost.
Deja vu Victoria Sq to Cathedral Sq: I saw CERA's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae. Five years post-quakes, there was no rebuild yet. Just a vast SMF-cordoned, dusty demolition-site. (September 2018. the Convention Centre / Te Pae's steel frame was going up. September 2019. Ditto, some cladding was installed. 2020. Te Pae was almost completed, progress delayed by Covid-19 pandemic. 2022. Te Pae would open).
Gloucester St Bridge: After three years' cordon-closure, Gloucester St Bridge was being restored by SCIRT. On a SMF-cordon I found a SCIRT suggestion-book. I wrote: 5 YEARS! TOO SLOW!
Deja vu Durham St Nth / Kilmore St: I saw G.ap Filler activities like food-trailers, Commons sports, dancing & band-playing by the wooden Arches on Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition-site. I saw Town Hall was being restored. At Last!
Deja vu Hagley Park: I saw the Year of the Monkey, Chinese New Years' Lantern Festival. There were 1 000s of viewers. It was CERA's last year of Christchurch occupation. CERA would morph into Regeneration Christchurch, organ-grinded by PM Key & minister Brownlee. Key would eventually leave parliament & Brownlle would become Speaker.
Deja vu: Monday 29.02.16. Leap Year Day Quake: 3.32am, M4.3, 5km depth, 5km south 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 Valentines Day & Leap Year Day aftershocks. Port Hills volcanic cracks still flexed, causing unpredictable waves for more Earth-Surfing....
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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