This is a temporary pile of silt piled on the old Bexley landfill sight. Some trucks are addng to the pile, while other truck and trailer units are taking it away to the old Bottle Lake landfill sight, a few km to the north of here.
Cleaning up Manning Signs of the silt from liquefaction. Three fellow workers man the shovels while two building engineers talk to the boss (hidden). After doing the car park we then turned our hands to the inside of the factory, once clearance was given that we could go inside.
Text reads 'Could the wrecking ball be used on structures outside Christchurch?' The cartoon shows Minister for the Reconstruction of Christchurch Gerry Brownlee as the wrecking ball on a crane; he says 'let the fun begin'. To one side is a large house crowded with people which represents 'the welfare state' and is surrounded by a barrier on which are printed the words 'Fiscal emergency'. Context - Gerry Brownlee is seen by many as rather too quick to demolish heritage buildings in his rush to rebuild Christchurch. The wrecking ball idea also suggests that the National government is likely to wreck the welfare state in its efforts to sort out economic problems. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A crowd of rather sad people queue for jobs and work at the Christchurch rebuild; all around them are signs that read 'Pike River', 'leaky buildings', 'Chch quake rebuild', 'EQC levy hike', '200,000 children in poverty', 'food prices up', 'deficit', and 'GST hike'. Prime Minister John Key in the centre of the crowd yells 'Hey everyone - look up there!' as he kicks a rugby ball into the sky. Context: John Key attempts to divert the attention of people from New Zealand's current woes. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A photograph of a sign taped to a window. The sign includes a bullet pointed list of humorous observations about Christchurch following the February 2011 earthquake. The sign reads, "You know you're from Christchurch when: you use the term 'liquefaction' and 'seismic design' in casual conversation; digging a hole and shitting in your garden is no longer weird; your mayor describes the city as munted. If he means FUBARed, you agree; weaving through car size potholes on the street is no longer weird; a shower is heaven; you have a preference of which kind of silt you'd rather shovel, dry or wet; you see tanks...driving around town; you are always noting what you are under; due to frequent aftershocks during the night, you sleep like a baby - every 10 minutes you wake up and shit yourself".
People stand in front of a damaged house in New Brighton. The upper storey at the front of the house has collapsed onto the floor below. The photographer comments, "This house at 158 Marine Parade, New Brighton, Christchurch was owned by the man leaning on the fence. He lived next door and his daughter lived here. During the earthquake the 2nd storey stayed mainly whole, but the 1st collapsed. Luckily the daughter was in the top storey. She was rescued from the building by neighbours, by climbing out of the window and down a ladder. Another piece of luck is that most of the belongings were stored in boxes in the garage at the front. Though the garage also collapsed the boxes appear intact. The owner had tried to sell it previously without success".
On the day the the government and council jointly announced who will fund what, for the Christchurch rebuild, a rainbow appears over the rebuild of the Latimer Hotel. For the central city the figures are: NZ$4.9 billion with $2.9 billion coming from central government and $1.9 billion coming from the local city council (us ratepayers in Christc...
Went for a drive down to South New Brighton/Southshore after work today to see what interesting birds I could find on the Estuary (godwits, skuas, terns etc), but passing Jellico Street, I saw this. T-Rex the seismic survey truck from the University of Texas that is visiting the city (first time out of USA). Weighs 30 tonne and from the marks o...
20140521_1080_1D3-24 It has started! Removal of the double-glazed windows is underway at my "red zone" house, now owned by the Government of New Zealand. Sold to CERA (the government agency) in October 2012 and has remained empty since, despite having little damage, apart from the tilt to the front from the land damage that occurred during the...
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission, CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. Risk Acceptance. It is the role of insurance companies, the EQC included, to accept the risks covered under their terms of reference/policies and compensate policyholders when such risks eventuate. However, many policyholders in Christchurch have not been compensated for the damage to their homes and their lives. These responsibilities need to be faced by the entities responsible. An equitable solution needs to be found for properties with hazards such as flooding that are a direct result of the earthquakes. In tandem with this, every effort must be made to protect residents from the risks posed by climate change. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable residents".
20131214_6268_1D3-24 Where once stood houses (Day 348/365) The area beside the lower Avon River in New Brighton of Evans Avenue and Admirals Way has been cleared of houses and boundary fences (there were between 15 and 20 houses on this block) , fully fenced with post and wire and "spray on" grass applied. These were all red zone properties a...
The two nice trees in the front of my old property (now owned by the government) have been cut down so the main section of the house behind could be trucked down the drive. The truck must have been up against the fence to get the height above the house to the left (15 Velsheda Street). Down this drive were numbers 17, 19 and 21 (still occupied b...
Surrounded by mud and puddles in Christchurch Prime Minister John Key puts his arm round co-leader of the Maori Party Pita Sharples and smiles happily; behind them is a brand new plastic portaloo. On the ground lies a newspaper with a headline that reads 'Govt. to fund $2m giant RWC plastic waka'. Pita Sharples says 'and to show we're not neglecting our priorities in these austere times, Christchurch will get a new plastic portaloo!' Context - The government has hit back at criticism over a $2 million venue centre in the shape of a waka for the Rugby World Cup (RWC), defending the cost as necessary to host a world-class event. Co-leader of the Maori Party Pita Sharples says the waka will promote Maori culture during the Rugby World Cup and at other events (like the America's Cup). Labour Party MP Shane Jones asks "How can Dr Sharples and Prime Minister John Key actually believe that this expensive indulgence is a positive advertisement for Maori? The truth is they don't but they're both working together in a desperate effort to keep the Maori Party afloat. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Heavy traffic at the corner of Moorhouse Avenue and Manchester Street as people attempt to leave the city centre shortly after the 22 February earthquake. The photographer comments, "Just after the aftershock settled on Tuesday afternoon, myself and colleagues fled our Tuam Street office to absolute devastation outside. We couldn't see more than a block in either direction due to the clouds of dust that had arisen from buildings that had just collapsed ... From here, we picked up our vehicles from the CCC car park and headed out to get out of the chaos to a position where we could check on loved ones ... As we got to Moorhouse Avenue, we found we had to quickly drive underneath [the Colombo Street overbridge]and carry on down to Brougham Street as the bridge was being closed at that moment. From Brougham, we headed back up towards Madras. The traffic lights were out and the intersection was chaos. Over the next couple of hours, we continued crawling through heavy traffic. Impressively, everyone was very orderly despite the feeling of panic and the continuing aftershocks. We chatted to others in other vehicles to exchange news and stopped to speak to a lady that had broken down following water in the engine after having driven hrough floods".
Balloons and a sign advertising a garage sale hang from a fence. The photographer comments, "Today, 23/7/2011 the Bexley community in Christchurch got together and held a Bexley wide garage sale. You could pick up a map of the garage sales in Arncliffe St, which meant that people could find all the garage sales even if they were on the back sections. People got together with close neighbours to hold joint Garage Sales. In the area where the garage sales were held all the homes have been 'written off' by the government, as the land on which they sit is too damaged by the Christchurch earthquakes to repair. In places it looked more like a ships graveyard with the hulls of the houses sinking lopsidedly into the sand. Unfortunately for nearly everyone in the red zone they cannot rebuild a new home as sections to build on start now around $2,000 and the government is not paying them enough to buy a plot of land and build a new home. The choices for Bexley residents in most cases is to rent, buy a house at least a few years old or move to Australia to start again. I was told that up to 80% could be off to Oz".
In the top frame someone unseen (Murray McCully) in the Beehive says 'John! - There's been a bad reaction to us taking special powers to fix problems in Auckland!' Prime Minister John Key says 'What Murray?' In the lower frame Minister for the Rugby World Cup, Murray McCully, says 'The worst hit parts of Christchurch have declared themselves Fan Zones!' and the PM says 'Oh S..t!' The little Evans man says 'Sounds better than Red Zone!' Context: Refers to the chaos over transport and crowd control in the fanzone when much larger numbers of people flocked to the Rugby World Cup opening and revelry than expected. The government used special powers to take over the management of Queens Wharf fanzone spaces previously managed by an Auckland Council group, thus rather undermining the Mayor, Len Brown and the Auckland City Council. A new plan was signed off under special powers by Murray McCully directly after the fiasco. The Christchurch comment refers to the areas worst hit by the earhquakes. Colour and black and white versions available Quantity: 2 digital cartoon(s).
