The quake was just 7 kilometres deep.
It's 10 years since the first big Christchurch earthquake - and if you'd just started school then you're now ending your decade of education amidst a global pandemic. We meet two teens for whom disruption is normal.
How do you help children cope with a life-threatening incident? And what if you’re stressed yourself? Katy Gosset looks at the far reaching emotional effects of the Canterbury earthquakes.
It’s that time of year again. Behold! Some of our favourite discoveries and images from 2015. It’s been an eventful twelve months. Archaeology happened. Sites were surveyed, excavated, photographed, investigated, disseminated and ruminated upon. Clues were followed and mysteries unrav...
Early photographs are the best. They encompass everything from the utterly absurd to the momentous to the mundane. They provide us with a window into the past that is rare and wonderful (especially from an archaeological perspective), putting faces to … Continue reading →
Regarded as Christchurch’s oldest home, this two storey farm cottage was built in 1851-2 for Mr. Parkerson, a surgeon. It was built with 600 mm thick scoria stone blocks quarried from Lyttelton and roofed with Welsh slate. The layout of this cottage … Continue reading →
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 government plans to introduce legislation to change the Earthquake Commission's operations, after a report found major failings. It found EQC was woefully unprepared as it dealt with the Canterbury quakes, and made dozens of recommendations about clarifying EQC's role and improving the way it deals with claimants. RNZ political reporter Yvette McCullough has more.
This week marks 10 years since the start of the Canterbury earthquakes.
The magnitude 7.1 struck at 4:34am on September 4, 2010.
So much of the archaeology that we deal with on a daily basis, particularly from an artefacts perspective, is associated with the everyday domestic lives of Christchurch’s 19th century residents that it becomes quite easy to forget about the other … Continue reading →
Over 1000 people have reported feeling the earthquake.
Our managed isolation hotels are too posh and returnees should not be treated like hotel guests with luxuries like free menu choices and drycleaning. That's the verdict from New Zealand woman Toni Foster who has returned to the country to take up a job and has spent the past 11 days in isolation at Ellerslie's Novotel Hotel. Toni says she had expected to return to isolation in accommodation similar to the container village after the Christchurch earthquakes - not a free four or five star hotel which she said some returnees were treating as a holiday. She says returnees should not be treated like hotel guests because they're not paying a cent to be there.
If you walk along the Avon River by Cashel Street you might catch a glimpse of the small gondolas taking their fares for a leisurely punt through the city and botanical gardens. Today this attraction is aimed largely at tourists, … Continue reading →
One of my favourite features of a pre-1900 building is the beautiful ceiling rose. Ceiling roses are often found in ‘public’ rooms in Victorian homes – usually in the parlour and dining room. But sometimes, if the original owners were … Continue reading →
National's new deputy leader Gerry Brownlee discusses today's resignations from Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams, his track record in helping Christchurch earthquake claimants, and National's plans for the Auckland Central electorate.
They’re one of the most ubiquitous aspects of 19th century houses, a feature that functions as both a source of warmth and light and a decorative element in the interior design of the house (as so many things do). We … Continue reading →
To many people they’re simply a nostalgic throwback to childhood. To some, they’re treasures to be collected and curated. To others, they’re objects of horror, a sentiment encouraged by tv, films and a particular island in Mexico. To archaeologists, they’re … Continu...
Earlier this year, we excavated a site on Armagh Street that revealed not only a large quantity of artefacts, but also a historical and material narrative set in the swampy bowels of a fledgling city, a tale of politics, commerce, … Continue reading →
The appointment of Christchurch MP Gerry Brownlee as National's deputy leader has been met with a chorus of outrage from some Cantabrians - who say he is responsible for lengthy delays in settling insurance claims from the Canterbury earthquakes.
In 1861, the city of Christchurch would have been virtually unrecognisable to a 21st century resident. Buildings were scattered sparsely throughout what is now the central business district and dirt roads and low fences traversed a landscape that was more grassland … Continue reading →
As another year comes to an end, we present you with a selection of our favourite sites, discoveries and archaeology moments from 2014. It’s been a good year. We did a lot of digging…. …and recording. We found some cool … Continue reading →
Two and a half years after some of the most badly earthquake damaged parts of Christchurch started getting cleared of residential homes, half a dozen businesses are still trying to make a go in the areas.
It must be said that, here at Underground Overground Archaeology, we have something of a coffee problem. With a (very) few exceptions we’re an office of hardened coffee drinkers, ranging from one-cup-a-day habits to the occasional and somewhat obscene four-or-five-cups-a-day … Continue read...
My passion is anything and everything to do with archaeology. So when I was given the opportunity to be an intern at Underground Overground Archaeology Ltd., I jumped at this chance of a lifetime! My name is Jessica Hofacher and … Continue reading →
Our Christchurch reporter Rachel Graham travelled to Japan, with the support of the Asia New Zealand Foundation, to find out.
As the fourth anniversary of the earthquake which devastated Christchurch approaches, the slow pace of the rebuild has surprised many. But how quickly have other earthquake hit cities returned to their former glory? Radio New Zealand Christchurch reporter, Rachel Graham, visited Japan for an Insight documentary to compare the progress made in the Sendai area, almost four years after it was hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake and a mega tsunami. She also visited Kobe to look at the impact on that city, and the lessons learnt, 20 years after it was hit by a major earthquake.
EQC has reopened over 600 claims for defective foundation repairs in 12 months.
Changes are on the way for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority which from today becomes part of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The jury's still out on whether changes at the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority represent a winding back of the government's involvement in the rebuild of Christchurch or simply a shift in its focus.