Work on Christchurch Town Hall nears half way mark
Audio, Radio New Zealand
Repair work on Christchurch's iconic Town Hall, badly damaged in the earthquakes, has nearly hit the halfway mark.
Repair work on Christchurch's iconic Town Hall, badly damaged in the earthquakes, has nearly hit the halfway mark.
People can walk over Christchurch's Bridge of Remembrance once again, after nearly seven million dollars in earthquake repairs.
Many Christchurch residents have used shipping containers and other temporary structures to store belongings in while repairs were carried out after the earthquakes. But the Christchurch City Council says it's had an increase in complaints from residents about containers and other temporary structures obscuring neighbours' views or obstructing council berms. Chairman of the council's regulation and consents committee David East says if earthquake repairs are completed, the container may have to go.
It's almost eight years to the day since the first Christchurch earthquake, and as anyone who lives in Christchurch knows, some insurance claims are still in dispute. Dodgy repairs are still being discovered and previously undiscovered damage is being found. Earthquake Commission minister Megan Woods says as problems emerge, people can come back and ask for re-repairs or have their home looked at. But just how much money is in the National Disaster Fund?
Some 10 years on from the devastating Canterbury quakes, the wait is still not over when it comes to law changes needed to improve the Earthquake Commission. The government will not get it done until 2021, if it's re-elected. Meanwhile cases of botched quake repairs needing a fix are still flooding into EQC, Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods told Checkpoint.
The Christchurch City Council says it needs Government money to help repair its earthquake damaged heritage and character buildings.
Christchurch businesses are calling on the council to keep the New Brighton pier open while earthquake repairs are completed.
Christchurch businesses are calling on the council to keep the New Brighton pier open while earthquake repairs are completed.
Christchurch builders are worried asbestos repairs in the earthquake rebuild will continue to cause problems for years to come.
It could be up to 18 months before 660 Christchurch homeowners know who will pay for earthquake damage repairs with a $1 billion price tag. The bill to fix houses in Christchurch that weren't repaired properly the first time round, or have suffered more damage in aftershocks, is climbing - and the government can't say who's liable. The problem is the homes have new owners who can't claim on theri insurance because the damage pre-dates them owning the home. Earlier Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods told us the previous National government put no plan in place, and the current government is being left to pick up the pieces. Former Christchurch earthquake recovery minister Gerry Brownlee disputes the issue.
Canterbury homeowners are questioning the validity of a survey which was supposed to independently test the quality of earthquake repairs.
Canterbury earthquake victims with the most damaged homes could have to wait more than two and half years for their houses to be fixed - but one owner says her problems are nothing compared to the misery of the Pike River mine disaster.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says all but a few Cantabrians will be able to rebuild on their original properties.
The Transport Agency says initial repairs to State Highways damaged in the Canterbury earthquake could cost up to six million dollars.
17 jobs have gone at the Christchurch Art Gallery, which is closed for earthquake repairs until at least June next year.
An historic Christchurch clock tower damaged in the earthquakes was unveiled today, after undergoing more than eight hundred thousand dollars of repairs.
Some Christchurch residents are angry they will have to wait almost three years before their severely earthquake damaged homes can be repaired.
Some Christchurch drainlayers repairing damage from the Canterbury Earthquake say there are delays and confusion in getting repayments from the earthquake commission.
The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority wants private insurers to provide homeowners with clear timeframes for when earthquake repairs will be carried out.
Some Christchurch residents fear there's a risk to the region's history if headstones damaged by September's 7.1 magnitude earthquake are not repaired.
Victoria Square, the slightly less famous cousin of nearby Cathedral Square was re-opened today following $7.5 million worth of earthquake repairs.
Time is nearly up for owners of on-sold quake damaged properties in Canterbury to apply to claim money for botched repairs. The Government announced last year it would give an ex-gratia payment to home-owners with properties that went over the Earthquake Commission's then cap of $100,000. Today is the last day for applications after the original August deadline was extended due to Covid-19. But there are calls to extend that deadline again, as applications have flooded in over the past month.
A Christchurch construction firm says businesses who are complaining about losing money on earthquake repair jobs should work more closely with their project managers.
Two years on from the February twenty second earthquake, large parts of Christchurch Hospital are a construction site as repairs to damaged wards continue.
The owners of more than three-thousand properties damaged by the Canterbury earthquake have been told the repair job could take nearly three years.
Fletcher Construction has won the largest building contract in New Zealand history to repair half of the Canterbury homes damaged in last month's earthquake.
Christchurch council has asked its residents to tell it if earthquake repairs haven't been done so it can accurately assess their property's value.
The Property Council says an ultimatum from the Christchurch City Council to owners of earthquake damaged commercial buildings will add to the stress business people are already under.
EQC was ill-prepared to deal with the wide spread damage of the Christchurch Earthquakes and as a consequence its reputation been left in tatters with many seeing the commission as uncaring, miserly and inefficient. That is according to the findings of the inquiry into EQC and its handling of quake claims in Canterbury and Kaikōura. Inquiry Chair Dame Silvia Cartwright lays out a raft of inadequacies including EQC not being equiped to handle a mass scale managed repair programme - leading to multiple mistakes, poor staffing decisions and inadequate quality control. Damage assessments were the root of claimants disputes time and time again. Dame Silvia Cartwright described to Checkpoint the way claimants have been treated by EQC.
Investigations into handling of asbestos in Canterbury earthquake repairs and a man's appeared in court charged with the murder of the Auckland woman, Blessie Gotingco.