
Awaiting demolition. Blue pipes are water supply to anyone still living on Hulverstone Drive.
A man sits in an armchair in the ruins of his house with his wife beside him. A man carrying a briefcase marked 'EQC' has come to make an insurance assessment and says 'Unfortunately, this is a North Canterbury collapse - so you'll only get your first $100,000 back'. Context; the Christchurch earthquake of 4th September and the collapse of the South Canterbury Finance Company. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A man representing 'EQC' (Earthquake Commission) talks to a couple outside their collapsed house. He says 'Unfortunately, this is a NORTH Canterbury collapse - so you'll only get your first $100,000 back.' Context: This refers both to the collapse of the South Canterbury Finance Company and to the problems that people are having with insurance companies in North Canterbury after the first Christchurch earthquake on September 4th 2010. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Maori Party MP for Te Tai Tonga, Rahui Katene' is buried up to her neck in earthquake rubble as she reads a newspaper headline referring to her statement that the aftermath of the earthquake has demonstrated 'racism and ethnic profiling'. Rahui Katene's head is disintegrating and two engineers who are examining the damage decide that 'This can't be repaired, it needs to be condemned'. Rahui Katene says the authorities, who kicked a Christchurch family out of a welfare centre that was set up after the Christchurch earthquake that struck on the 4th September, should apologise for judging them too early and shaming them publicly. Mrs Katene was also concerned about claims that Maori youth were being targeted by police. "I've heard from whanau that in one particular area rangatahi who were volunteering in their community and helping their whanau were accused by police of theft. The whanau are trying to work these issues through with the police, but I'm growing concerned about what appears to be ethnic profiling." Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Two children running across the empty lot in Beckenham that housed Gap Filler's "Film in the Gap!" project. Behind them is a chalkboard sign outlining the programme for the evening of April 2nd, 2011. The sign reads, "Gap Filler: 1st - 10th of April. Free live music and films from 6pm onwards. Saturday: 5pm: The Captain Willis Trio, 6pm: Ed Muzik, 7pm: The Cracks in Everything, 8pm: Film - 4 Houses, 4 Decades (Christchurch Architecture). All welcome! Bring a blanket or cushion. Ex demolition site. Please be safety aware. Proper footwear must be worn!".
An aerial photograph of the IRD Building in the Christchurch central city and the surrounding area. The photograph has been captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "There are many empty sites in this part of the CBD. The street running up the photograph from the left to the right is Cashel Street. The empty site left of centre with the trees is where St John's Church has been demolished. To the left of the IRD building, is the site of the CTV Building".
Liquefaction and buckled tarmac on a residential street in North New Brighton. The photographer comments, "In the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch the kerb at the end of my road was pushed from both ends. This caused it to move away from the grass verge and push itself under the tarmac. The tarmac would normally have been 3 inches below the top of the kerb. Between the kerb and the grass can be seen the colour of the liquefaction that spewed out from the ground. The tarmac in the area seemed to flow downhill".
Large cracks run through the brick cladding of this house in Wainoni. The photographer comments, "During the numerous earthquakes in Christchurch the land which ran alongside the Avon river on Avonside Drive slumped towards the waterway. Houses which were wooden framed and had an external brick veneer started to sink into the liquefied soil. This caused the brick walls to crack, but the houses' occupants though shook up were saved by the wooden framework from the houses collapsing on them".
Digitally manipulated image of graffiti on a brick building on St Asaph Street. The graffiti depicts a sticking plaster over a broken section of the wall, with the words "I'll kiss it better". The photographer comments, "After the 22 February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch band aid plasters starting to appear in different parts of the city on damaged buildings. A year later most can still be seen. This one was once a whole plaster, but it has slowly broken up where it crossed the gap. The red bricks seen to symbolise the terrible wounds caused to the City and it's people".
A photograph of the former site of Westende Jewellers and Alva Rados, on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street. The building was badly-damaged in the 4 September earthquake and was demolished soon afterwards. A two-storey building was built on the site and completed in July 2012. The building then had to be removed when the decision was made to widen Manchester Street as part of the draft transport plan for central Christchurch. The photograph was modelled after an image taken by Ian McGregor from Fairfax Media in September 2010.
A photograph of the former site of Westende Jewellers and Alva Rados, on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street. The building was badly-damaged in the 4 September earthquake and was demolished soon afterwards. A two-storey building was built on the site and completed in July 2012. The building then had to be removed when the decision was made to widen Manchester Street as part of the draft transport plan for central Christchurch. The photograph was modelled after an image taken by Ian McGregor from Fairfax Media in September 2010.
A view down Manchester Street, looking south. The road is noticably buckled, and rubble from damaged buildings can be seen beyond the cordon fence. The photographer comments, "Today I ... went for a walk along the cordon to the north of Christchurch CBD which runs about one street back from Bealey Avenue. The soldiers manning the cordon seemed happy for me to take photos but I couldn't see much of the city from the barrier ... what you can see shows there's obviously a lot of damage. The roads are swollen and raised in many place. The once flat CBD will now feature plenty of hills as well as natural traffic calming features".
A digitally manipulated image of liquefaction around a house in Avondale. The photographer comments, "The bottom of the gates were swallowed up by liquefaction, but the house still looked in good condition, which was confirmed by builders just going in to work on the property. It is in the Christchurch red zone, which after testing has been deemed unsuitable for houses to be built on. All the land will be bought by the Government and they would also buy any properties that could be repaired. The remaining insured property owners will get a payment from the insurance company. All the buildings are condemned to be knocked down".
20120805_7441_1D3-600 Newstalk ZB building starting to go down 06 #2642
An impressive Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis) that was in someone's back yard prior to the demolition of houses post the 2011 earthquake.
A Phoenis Palm (Phoenix canariensis) that was in someone's back yard prior to the demolition of houses post the 2011 earthquake.
Graffiti on a wooden wall depicts a child pointing at a site across the street and reads "I remember when the Kazbah was over there." The photographer comments, "A local street artist has commemorated Christchurch's deadliest earthquake. The anniversary is tomorrow. Where the photograph was taken was the site of the Ozone Hotel, which has now gone as well. For some of us who live and work in the East of Christchurch the earthquake was not what happened in the City as we were almost unaware of it. We had no water, toilets and most of all no electricity for weeks. For myself petrol was low and with tales of all the petrol stations on our side of town being damaged we could not take the chance of venturing out on severely damaged roads to find no petrol and the possibility of not getting home. We walked around and saw the damage that was local to us. TJ's Kazbah was one that stood out. A building that had a beauty with its round tower standing proud and always looked well kept - it was now collapsed. Its tower, which was once pointing towards the sky was laying on its side. It had kept its shape, but had a lightning shaped crack through it. The one thing that kept us feeling almost normal through the coming weeks was The Press our daily paper still being delivered even though the Press building and staff had suffered so badly themselves.
The sign for Perry's Cafe has had "Shaken but not deterred" added under the name of the cafe. One of the iconic figures of two workmen painted on the side of the building, which have regularly-changed speech bubbles commenting humorously on topical subjects, are saying "Is my crack showing?" The paint has peeled from the other speech bubble, obscuring the reply. The photographer comments, "After the numerous earthquakes in Christchurch a lot of buildings were damaged and made off limits. This affected a lot of cafes and take aways, so if you were open you needed to make it known. The words missing from the speech bubble are 'Don't be silly'".
A digitally manipulated image of the high diving boards at QEII swimming pool. Rubble has fallen on the boards during the demolition of the complex. A sign reads "Poseidon Extreme". The photographer comments, "I do not know what Poseidon Extreme at this swimming pool looked like before the earthquake damaged it, but it looks really radical now during it's demolition. A strange coincidence is that Poseidon is referred to as 'Earth-Shaker' due to his role in causing earthquakes. So the demolition of this pool due to the series of quakes in Christchurch all seems to be foretold by the gods and that sign".
The temporary ASB branch in the Re:Start mall. The photographer comments, "The new temporary city mall has been open in Christchurch now for a week. Buildings damaged in the earthquake have been demolished and replaced with cargo containers to create a new, temporary, Cashel Mall. I visited the mall yesterday and was quite impressed with what they have done. The cargo containers have been nicely converted, brightly painted and smartly branded to create some good looking stores ... ASB is the only bank to grab a container, which is fair enough seeing as they appear to be a large sponsor of the mall. The 'Re:START' Cashel Mall signs also display the tag line 'Supported by ASB'".
A faded yellow sticker stuck to the window of a house on Avonside Drive. It has been issued by the Christchurch City Council and reads, "Restricted Use. No entry except on essential business. Warning: This building has been damaged and its structural safety is questionable. Enter only at own risk. Subsequent aftershocks or other events may result in increased damage and danger, changing this assessment. Re-inspection may be required. The damage observed from external inspection is as described below." It goes on to set out the conditions for entry to the building and information about the inspector. The sign is so faded that the handwritten information is almost illegible.
A couple of city blocks away from the now damaged Cathedral a temporary $4million cathedral has been built using large cardboard tubes and sheeting.
Sitting on the concrete in front of what was my model railway room - a single car garage at the rear of our house in Pacific Park. Reason it is here - one of the houses behind my old house is going to be trucked out. See previous photo.
'The Politician' cartoon strip. A member of the government staff reads in a newspaper 'These emergency powers they've given the minister are the equivalent of war powers' and he adds 'and he's making the most of them!' The second frame shows a minister wearing a military uniform with cap that includes copious braiding and medals; he is sitting behind a desk labelled 'Minister General'. Context - Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) will be established as a stand-alone government department to enable an effective, timely and co-ordinated rebuilding and recovery effort in Canterbury. The controversial bill empowers the new Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) to take control of councils it believes are failing on reconstruction work. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
The title is 'Gerry BrownLie?' and the cartoon shows the Minister for Earthquake recovery, Gerry Brownlee, saying 'I promise not to promise again'. The words 'Red Zone' appear beneath with the word 'faced' inserted between them. Context: The 'Red Zone' is the earthquake area in which houses cannot be rebuilt. Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee has apologised for falsely promising red zone homeowners they would be paid out for improvements to their house. Brownlee promised in June that, in some cases, home improvements like new kitchens would be included in the government settlement offer for red zone houses. But the offer is only valid if the improvement has added to the footprint of the house. (Press - 4 September 2011) Alternate version of DCDL-0018757 Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).