ANOTHER big earthquake in Christchurch

[Nick]

Thanks Christian It's a double shame because there's a "lets knock it down & answer questions later" attitude slipping in unfortunately. The old Addington flour mill had some of it's brick facade fall off so the owners had arranged to let a local joiner go in and remove tons of American Oregon from the structure inside & was going to re-use it for doors, then the owner would get the rest knocked down. Engineers came along amd said "get it down" without consulting the owner & now there is a pile of rubble & smashed up oregon laying on the ground.
The Civil defence refer to "deconstructing" a building, which to me infers some sort of methodical disassembly, to the Civil Defence it means get the diggers in and flatten it, asap. Another case in the paper this morning of a building owner employing his own engineer from England who assesed the damage & agreed the building could be bought back to it's former glory only structurally better as only one wall had collapsed. Next thing you know they've completely demolished the building (including all the stock that was still left inside) without letting the owner know, now civil defence are saying the building was a hazard. I can't help thinking there's an alterior objective behind some of this, sure some buildings were old & potentially dangerous & maybe needed to come down but there seems to be too many being pulled down & quickly without letting even the owners know it's coming down. Many of the buildings that totally collapsed, inflicting the worst death toll, were built in the 60's & 70's. I'm fearing a new city built on the concrete & glass model & completely characterless .

There were some 150 year old Oak trees (possibly planted by the first white settlers to Christchurch) felled in Hagley park that were huge across the girth, I'm sure they can be milled up into some nice B&S sets. I am going to try and get some & make a 'commemorative' model guitar, hopefully they haven't adopted the same attitude as the demolition guys & fed them through a chipper!

Ive ordered my "It's munted" tee shirt too

[christian]

Man !!! thats just not right pulling down buildings left right and centre just because, I guess their justification is that they are too dangerous....more like the owners want a mass payout from insurance and don't care about their historic value.
There must be some amazing timber floating around the place Nick,
I bet the Canterbury wood workers guild would know something about those Hagley Oak trees, maybe worth getting hold of them, also Southern Demolition will have scored well from the quakes too.
a commemorative guitar is a great idea mate !!!
all the best.

Christian.

[kiwigeo]

This is a sad story from the NZ Press. It hits home with me because I know both the women in the article and my Dad knows Russel Ritchie. His wife April used to often sit at the same table as my Dad at meal times at Kate Shepard nursing home and I used to talk with her.

=========

Russell Ritchie is demanding answers after his disabled wife and elderly grandmother were flown out of Christchurch in the earthquake aftermath without the family's knowledge.

A week later the grandmother, Florence Ritchie, 104, died alone in an Auckland care centre.

The Canterbury District Health Board has apologised to Mr Ritchie and has commissioned an internal review into the February 24 incident.

Mr Ritchie's wife April, who has multiple sclerosis, and his frail grandmother Florence Ritchie, were both in fulltime rest home care in Christchurch before the February 22 quake.

Both were evacuated to Merivale from the badly damaged Kate Sheppard Senior Care Centre in New Brighton on the day of the quake.

They were then transferred into care in Auckland's North Shore because of a shortage of beds due to quake damage.

Mr Ritchie, a sportsman and plumber, received only a call from a rank-and-file rest home staff member that his wife was strapped into an RNZAF Hercules that was about to depart for Auckland. But for that call, he would have had no idea of their whereabouts, he said.

"The carer rang and said 'the army turned up here half an hour ago and took everyone away'."

He raced to the Christchurch Airport and was permitted to board to farewell his wife, who was strapped into a stretcher hanging from the struts.

"I was chatting away trying to keep her spirits up, when a blanket fell off this little old lady wrapped in blankets parked in the corner of the Hercules. I picked it up and happened to notice it was my grandmother."

That was the last time he saw his grandmother alive. A week later the family was informed that she had died alone in an Auckland care centre.

"She died without family or friends around her," he said.

CDHB chief medical officer Dr Nigel Millar apologised to Mr Ritchie last week "for the distress caused to him and his family by this tragic event".

The CDHB paid for his grandmother's body to be transported back to Christchurch and a private funeral was held on Monday.

But Mr Ritchie is still angry over the lack of communication.

"We're extremely angry. We have none of her clothes and treasured memories. The whole family is gutted," Mr Ritchie said

CDHB chief executive David Meates said the volume and speed of transfers meant the board was not able to follow its usual process of working closely with families when patients were evacuated. ``The board continues to operate in a state of emergency,'' he said.

Mr Ritchie, North Wai Boardriders chief, said the morning after his wife and grandmother's departure, the health board called to say he could drop his wife's wheelchair at a hotel for transfer north.

Tragedy for the Ritchie family also drew headlines in 2005, when on New Year's Day the couple's 14-year-old son James, a promising surfer, was killed when he fell off a high rope at Gore Bay.

[Nick]

Sad indeed Martin, I do think that there seems to be a large amount of a rip, shit & bust attitude immediately following the quake & continuing on to this day, a headless chicken approach rather than a planned & methodical approach. There is an aweful lot of 'officialdom' that seem to think that they know better & have the right to do as they please & unfortunately with this being declared a national disaster, are allowed to get away with it under the guise of being a controlling body. When shifting/rehoming any of our cared for people, the immediate family should be the first to know whats going on & kept in the loop as you are all too painfully aware!
Many lessons will hopefully be learned from all of this but it's too late for some of our population & buildings unfortunately.
I just heard of a friend of mine who grinds the coffee for a well known local brand, there was bugger all wrong with the building but it happened to be the same colour as the shops next to it, one was damaged so now the whole lot have been flattened! The owner is out many thousands of dollar's worth of very expensive specialised coffee equipment & my friend is now out of a job. Once again the owner was not informed of the fact that his business was to be demolished, otherwise he could of recovered all the equipment & setup shop somewhere else. Finally though Civil defence admit that they "might" have made a cock up with this one!

[kiwigeo]

I just heard of a friend of mine who grinds the coffee for a well known local brand, there was bugger all wrong with the building but it happened to be the same colour as the shops next to it, one was damaged so now the whole lot have been flattened! The owner is out many thousands of dollar's worth of very expensive specialised coffee equipment & my friend is now out of a job. Once again the owner was not informed of the fact that his business was to be demolished, otherwise he could of recovered all the equipment & setup shop somewhere else. Finally though Civil defence admit that they "might" have made a cock up with this one!

Yeah I read this story in the press......one of many small businesses who are suffering big time.

My Dad finally got out of hospital in Auckland 2 days ago......just got an email from my sister to tell me hes back in hospital again. The stress of the evacuation and being by himself in Auckland is stressing him big time.

[Nick]

Hope you can get your Dad sorted on your trip over Martin, poor old fella is not having a good time of it by the sounds. If there's anything I can do from here let me know.
Don't know if you've seen these video's shot by the Civil defence & showing the devistation that has occured in the CBD. Maybe some familiar 'landmarks' you remember in there, unfortunately it looks like that's the only way they'll be from now on...memories. They maybe a few other forum members that maybe aren't familiar with Christchurch that are interested too? It takes about 14minutes to watch all up. The shot of the "Frews" digger in clip two is or was the CTV building that collapsed killing so many (including one woman I knew )

youtu.be/
youtu.be/

youtu.be/
I was driving around the outskirts of town yesterday & it's amazing how so familiar things become over time, that you fail to see them after a while. I found myself seeing a pile of rubble and trying hard to remember what it used to be. I was shocked as I drove down Fitzgerald avenue around by the river (before it hits Kilmore street) & the whole of the Northbound side of the road had slumped down toward the river by about 10-12 feet.

[kiwigeo]

Hi Nick,

My sister sent me the video link but cant watch it out here due to low bandwidth on the sat com system (made worse by roughnecks dowloading massive amounts of porn).

Im not looking forward to this trip and quite honestly would be happier staying out here at work....just not ready for dealing with a city I knew thats now gone.

I still havent heard from Charlie Jemett...I assume hes ok. Allan Cattermole at The Rock Shp was going to check up on him for me but I havent heard back.

Cheers Martin

[Kim]

I have never been to CH Ch but those three videos really drive home the incredible destruction...more so they show the incredible beauty that was lost....very sad indeed, so much life, so much heritage, so little one can say about the terrible loss.

Kim

[Nick]

Yeah I haven't heard about Charlie either Martin, but from the images & having worked in the South City carpark area post-quake the shop looked ok (provided he didn't get hit by flying stock during evac!), fortunately he's got the free standing shop so wasn't affected by others (Longhorn leather in the next group down was an absolute write off, more rubble than building). I heard that the Rockshop have temporarily moved out to premises at Hornby, from a very quick shot on last night's news, the frontage looks OK you could see the flying vee's & Les Paul's still hanging up but I'm guessing that they won't be going back there again when you see other buildings around them, Mr Brownlie will have it down! They were saying that they are now working with shop owners in "the red zone" to allow them back in to recover stock & shop records/computers...YAY! Finally Civil Defence are catching on (but only after much publicity & protest).

Thanks Kim, Yeah I'm devestated seeing alot of the old buildings now in ruins, I loved Christchurch for it's neo-gothic architecture (i could sit and just stare at a building for ages & get warm fuzzies)..It gave the place character & a definite sense of history that many overseas & NZ cities lack. In the third video they show the Arts Centre which, until the quake, used to be quite a 'hub' not only for tourists but as a focal point to the city, they had markets, buskers/musicians & alot of artisan studios that you could visit. It was also the original University up until the 60's so has a tenuous link to me, my old supervisor (who's job I now have) used to work in there & gave me the guided tour a couple of years ago of where our old workshop used to be....up in the loft/roof space! Ernest Rutherford had his research area in there (was preserved as a tourist attraction but probably gone/ruined now ), I now work in the building named after him.
But now, if done properly, we have the opportunity to build a new & different city from the old that will still differentiate us from others so I'm quite excited about that, as long as it isn't left to too many politicians (both local & national) & architects that think they know better, to stuff up.

[Nick]

There were some 150 year old Oak trees (possibly planted by the first white settlers to Christchurch) felled in Hagley park that were huge across the girth, I'm sure they can be milled up into some nice B&S sets. I am going to try and get some & make a 'commemorative' model guitar, hopefully they haven't adopted the same attitude as the demolition guys & fed them through a chipper!

Well they haven't been converted to chips or firewood thank a deity!
I contacted the council who put me on to the Arborist contractors they use. The secretary at the contractor went away to find out about the trees and came back to me saying to submit my plans/ideas to them in the form of an email as they had had a number of requests for the wood for various purposes. At the end of it they will go through the emails and pick out the ones they feel will put the Oak to it's best use. I said that it would have been a shame to have seen it end up as firewood & she assured me that it wasn't going to be.
I haven't thought too hard into a guitar should I get given some but thought maybe all NZ woods (Maybe a Macro or TaneKaha top) with some poignant tastefull inlays relating to the quake & the dead, then either gift it to the city or auction it off & give the "winnings" to the Earthquake appeal fund. Just got to compose an email that dots all the I's & crosses the T's now.

[kiwigeo]

Watched half of the first video...couldnt watch the rest.

[Nick]

Watched half of the first video...couldnt watch the rest.

It is fairly heart wrenching when you see 'your' city in such a state.

[kiwigeo]

Got back from Christchurch last night......emotionally drained, sad, angry.......confused. This has been one of the hardest journeys I've made in a long time.

Nick mate...if you can stay in that sad broken city and maintain a semblence of normality in your life than you must be made of better stuff than me mate.

Martin

[Nick]

Nick mate...if you can stay in that sad broken city and maintain a semblence of normality in your life than you must be made of better stuff than me mate.

Martin

I wasn't born here but just love this city, so while it breaks my heart to see it in collective piles around the place & can hardly travel on a flat or a non-patched up piece of road, I want to help make the new city a place to be proud of & somewhere different. There are some prize a'holes in this city (and I saw both ends of this spectrum whilst on the ambulances) but we can sure pull together when the shit really hits the fan, I've learnt this over the past month and been proud to be called a Cantab, may have had blue blood in me veins when I arrived but it's pure Red & Black now.

[kiwigeo]

Frig.....my Japanese brother in law whos a paramedic has just been sent to Fukushima. This is not good. Trying now to find out if hes going to be anywhere near the nuclear plant.

[Lillian]

Martin, I am so sorry. I hope that he stays out of harms way.

[Nick]

Bum! Not a good year for the Turner household Fingers crossed for him Martin. Saw some footage last night of a Japanese news crew that drove into the 20K exclusion zone around the plant...there's still many of the older locals living inside the supposedly 'evacuated' area.

[Nick]

Just came upon this youtube vid. Showing an area at the other end of the subdivision I live in, we, fortunately, didn't have anywhere near this amount of Liquefaction although the street developed a few "bunkers". Nice parody of Tim Finns song too.

youtu.be/

[Nick]

Got to look on the funny side of things at times otherwise you'd cry so here's a list that's been doing the rounds here of "You know you are from Christchurch when:"


» Geonet or ChristchurchQuakeMap is your homepage.

»The rest of the country offers you a place to stay.

»Munted and buggered are official technical terms.

»You go "pfffff" when Wellington has a 4.5 earthquake that's 40km deep.

»You see a nice park in another city and think it would make a good evacuation point.

»You sleep in one suburb, shower in another and collect water from yet another.

»You drive on the right side of the road and no-one thinks it's wrong.

»You are happy two police officers came to visit.

»Your bike becomes your best friend.

»You think it's fine for a soldier to be stationed at the end of your street.

»You see armoured vehicles driving down the road.

»It's normal to greet people with "do you need a shower?"

»Every house is a crack house.

»Instead of rushing to the clothesline to get clothes in when it rains, You put dirty washing on the line in the hope it will rain enough to clean them.

»Going to Wellington to escape earthquakes makes sense.

»Your doctor recommends having a few stiff drinks before bed.

»You know how to start and refuel a generator with ease & know it's maximum load rating.

»You have tied the pantry, liquor cabinet and all the cupboard doors closed - and not to keep kids out.

»You prefer to sit under the table instead of at it.

»You think electronics that have "shock proof" should say to which earthquake magnitude.

»You know and understand the terms and conditions of your house and contents insurance.

»Your en-suite has a vege garden, dog kennel and grass.

»Your teenagers are only too happy to sleep in the same room as their parents.

»Dressing up to "head into town" means putting on a hi-viz vest, hard hat and boots.

»Discussing toilet habits with total strangers is an everyday norm.

»Wee boys don't get excited when they see (another) digger or a dozer - but all the adults in the street cheer wildly.

»Voluntarily staying in Timaru for five days seems like a good idea.

»You have dust mask tan lines.

»When a massive group of students appears in your street, you feel overwhelmed with gratitude, instead of calling the police. And what's more they leave the street in better condition than when they arrived.

»The answer to where anything is . . . "it's on the floor".

»You smile at strangers and greet people like you're one big family.

[kiwigeo]

Hey Nick,

I heard people talking about this funny when I was in Chch but never got to read the thing.....