Is organising anarchists like herding cats? Apparently not. Sage Forest talks to an anarchists' collective with a deep faith in human nature. Beyond Resistance is a nation-wide anarchists' collective based in Christchurch. They hold regular meetings with the primary goal of empowering workers. But their faith in human nature has proven itself in the response to the earthquake crises. This, they say, is true anarchy at work.
Tonight Christchurch's Bread & Circus Buskers festival is swinging into action, and its promising to lure the biggest crowds to the central city since pre-earthquake times. But organisers admit the festival hasn't escaped its dire financial past, despite new management and a rebrand as the Bread and Circus Festival last year. And it it will still be running at a loss until about 2022. Katie Todd reports.
A report commissioned by the Ministry of Health has found Canterbury residents are unlikely to suffer any health risks from asbestos exposure during the canterbury earthquake repairs. The Report is a review of Scientific Evidence of Non Occuptional Risks - and was convened by the Royal Society and the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor. Sir David Skegg, president of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Dr Alistair Humphrey, Canterbury Medical Officer of Health.
Building plans signed off by the Christchurch City Council show one of its own structural engineers was involved in the design of a new multistorey building that is unstable. The eight-storey office building at 230 High Street is off-limits as it is too weak and might 'rupture' in an earthquake. But the council insists the planning documents are wrong and its engineer had only a minor role. Phil Pennington reports.
British researchers have found smokers are twice as likely to succeed in quitting if they receive supportive text messages, the head of the Christchurch Earthquake Rebuilding Agency (CERA) Roger Sutton says there will be no quick end in sight for the ongoing insurance problems in Canterbury and the government's hoping a new deal with Bollywood film-makers could bring millions of dollars into New Zealand.
The Earthquake Commission (EQC) criticised for misleading and inadequate measurements on housing foundations when assessing damage to Canterbury homes; Wellington historic building champions vow to save heritage structure in the capital; the spread of didymo in Fiordland; Defence Force sentencing today after drowning last year; the censorship of Maniac, arty audiences only please, and; the PM changes tack on working with NZ First.
A new exhibition is simply called " 37". The show is by the photographer Doc Ross, features 37 Christchurch people captured on film using a 37 second exposure. The aim: to reflect the length of time their city shook during February 2011's devastating earthquake. Katy Gosset hears some of the stories behind the exhibition and hits the streets to record her own take on the 37 second concept.
Topics - A big study from Harvard and UC Berkeley has looked back into family trees, over centuries, to determine how social mobility has changed. The "Moon man" has used his claimed Christchurch earthquake predictions to defeat an Advertising Standards Authority complaint over his weather forecasting website. The Prime Minister John Key says Labour's flat performance in recent polls is because it's focusing on the wrong issues.
For many years the Heathcote-Avon estuary was the dumping ground for Christchurch's sewage. Then, in 2010, the wastewater was diverted well out to sea, via a long pipe. David Schiel from the University of Canterbury and John Zeldis from NIWA were investigating the effects of this diversion on the health of estuary when the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes happened, re-engineering both the estuary and their experiments.
Exactly 75 years ago today, Superman made his debut in "Action Comics" No. 1. Campaigners for the restoration of the Christchurch Cathedral are "thrilled" that rebuilding the earthquake-damaged church remains on the table. The Press reports Christchurch's hotel shortage is so critical that at times visitor centre staff have had to put tourists up in their own homes.
For six weeks after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake millions of litres of raw sewage - along with lots of liquefaction - poured into the Avon and Heathcote Rivers. A team of biologists quickly got to work to measure the impact of this catastrophe on life in the Heathcote River and as they tell Alison Ballance, they were surprised by what they recorded over the next few months.
A story of hope, at least when it comes to the rebuilding challenge ahead, particularly of Christchurch's badly damaged Cathedral. The Australian city of Newcastle suffered a major earthquake in 1989, and over the next few years put huge effort into rebuilding, virtually brick by brick, its ruined Cathedral. John McNaughton, who was the Lord mayor of Newcastle who oversaw the rebuild, joins us.
A special trauma team has been brought into Christchurch to try to stop a panic exodus of refugees living in the city. Among the 70-thousand people who have fled Christchurch in the last week are refugees who are afraid that another big earthquake will hit. The team is also working with new immigrants, many of whom are victims of war and torture. Dr Arif Saeid is with the organisation Refugees As Survivors.
Shift to quake recovery operation devastating for survivor;Brother of missing woman speaks out;Police say end of rescue effort sad day for all concerned;Other families trying to come to grips with rescue's end;Hundreds struggle on with life inside Christchurch cordon;Christ's College spared from large scale damage;Gang patches can return - Hells Angels lawyer;Botany to elect new MP tomorrow;Earthquake Minister on shift to recovery operation.
A big bake off is being planned in Auckland this weekend to raise funds for the people affected by the Christchurch earthquake. The sale is taking place at Queen Elizabeth Square, opposite Britomart on Monday from 10.30 to 12.30. All the funds raised will go to the Red Cross. The organiser Glenn Browne has had such a strong response he's had to close the doors of his business and concentrate on the event.
Many Christchurch trades people are refusing to carry out quake repairs unless the homeowner agrees to pay the bill, saying it takes too long to get the money out of the Earthquake Commission. Some contractors say they still haven't been paid for jobs done after the quake in September and the amount of debt some businesses are carrying are putting them in jeopardy.
Sixteen-year-old Sam Mackwell and his mates from St Thomas of Canterbury College have created a device that uses boiling water to charge cellphones, power a light and run a radio. They came up with the idea for the small generator after the first earthquake in Canterbury in September when electricity supplies were cut to much of the city. They call the device"The Lion"and hope to sell it in retail stores soon.
Topics - The Government has just announced it is to allocate $70 million from its Canterbury Earthquake Appeal fund of about 100 million. National's party list is out and Tau Henare is one of the biggest losers. As Pacific leaders gather in Auckland for the Pacific Forum meeting this week, several of the nations' leader are calling for Fiji to be restored as a member of the Forum..
Iwi from Northland, Bay of Plenty, the East Coast and Taranaki are joining a pan-tribal hui against new oil drilling and mining; Marae and Maori families around the country are opening their doors to Canterbury earthquake victims who have also suffered from domestic violence; The lead agency for Whanau Ora in Whangarei says it could do with a few more Nannies-on-Wheels.
Tairawhiti District health board officials are going into schools in the Gisborne region in an effort to reduce cases of rheumatic fever; A designers' group says the Canterbury earthquake has created an opportunity for the local iwi to put its architectural stamp on the new Christchurch; Kaitaia people will be among the first in the country to see a long-awaited film about the much-loved comedian - Billy T James.
The foreign affairs minister says he's satisfied police computers were not at risk from a group of Israelis caught up in the Christchurch earthquake. In a fierce parliamentary debate the British Prime Minister says he regrets hiring a former News of the World journalist, but won't yet apologise for it and the last fugitive indicted for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia is arrested in Serbia.
The country's biggest Maori performance event is coming to Christchurch in 2015; A Burnside woman who's been helping tangata whenua has received a Christchurch Earthquake Award; The Ministry of Education will help fund up to 40 Te Pumaomao nation-building courses this year; and One of New Zealand's most influential Maori academics is one of six recipients of Auckland University's 2012 Distinguished Alumni Awards.
Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 17 September. This week........criticism of some media over coverage of the Canterbury earthquake, the French five hour working week exposed, Sir Keith Park's legacy 70 years after the Battle of Britain, Cold - a new book explores this temperature good and bad and fond memories shared of the Monde Marie coffee shop in Wellington.
Topics - Facebook coordinates students to provide assistance after the Christchurch earthquake and 'The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet'. Bits and Bobs - Parents use 'digital' grounding as a 21st century disciplinary tool, Gmail Priority Inbox Sorts Your Email For You, introducing Wikileakileaks: Your Source for Wikileaks-Related Leaks and Melbourne computer hacker turned whistleblower extraordinaire Julian Assange is under pressure from within WikiLeaks to step down.
A review of the week's news including: Labour struggling to put a dent in the National Party's lead in the polls, questions over Israelis caught up in the Christchurch earthquake, the latest from the Pike River Mine inquiry, electricity price rises fuelling inflation, an Auckland school wanting all students to take an iPad to class and Steve Williams dropped as Tiger Wood's caddy.
A new council report into Wellington's resilience has found the city's economy would take a $37 billion hit if it experienced an event like the Christchurch earthquake. Old people stand accused of displacing more than 40,000 teenagers from jobs over the past five years, as more of them choose to stay in the workforce and employers choose experience over youth.
Gary Luff's home was destroyed in February earthquake in Christchurch and he faced scenes of devastation in his work with the fire service. He and his partner struggled to find somewhere to stay in the aftermath and ended up living on a borrowed boat. They've enjoyed the surprise lifestyle change so much they're thinking of making it permanent - but it hasn't all been plain sailing.
On the 10th anniversary of the devastating 2011 Christchurch quake we hear the first-hand story from Zara Potts, who describes how the brick cafe she was in caved in around her; we hear from Dr Caroline Bell on how the earthquakes impacted the mental health of Cantabrians and how things are looking a decade later; and our panellists share their own memories from that day.
Thousands of people have turned out for the National Memorial Service in Ōtautahi today, where the 185 victims who died in the Christchurch earthquake 10 years ago are being remembered.
Maurice Gardiner's sister, Donna Manning, died in the CTV building collapse.
Ms Manning was the presenter of CTV's Good Living Show, and her brother describes her as someone who was the life and soul of the party, and cared deeply for others.
Christchurch residents will gather today to mark the tenth anniversary of the Christchurch Earthquake.
The 6.2 magnitude quake killed 185 people and caused widespread destruction across the city.
It hit at 12.51pm while many people were in the city centre, working, shopping or enjoying their lunch in the sunshine. This is where our coverage began.
A warning this is confronting audio of events that day.
