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.
The company running the restoration of Christchurch's Anglican Cathedral is confident it will be able to raise the extra $51 million still needed to finish the job, and says potential large donors are already being approached here and overseas. The building has sat derelict since the 2011 earthquake and now the cost to fix it has soared from an original estimate of $104 million to $154 million. Some Cantabrians are finding the price hard to justify. The director of the restoration project Keith Paterson speaks to Corin Dann.
A school leader says the Ministry of Education of wasted millions of taxpayer dollars over years of earthquake repairs, and was obstructive and misleading. The building budget at Christchurch Girls High School has blown out by 50 percent to $40 million and it's not finished, even after five years of work. Mike Lay, who was chair of the board of trustees for most of those years, until 2018, says the ministry botched the job then targeted him when he tried to hold it accountable. He told Phil Pennington about the school's struggle to get the school re-built properly.
What are the lessons from the Christchurch earthquakes? The Government was slow in their quake response, but does that mean we should give more property market power to the private sector?
Tomorrow will mark four years since a huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked North Canterbury. As well as severely damaging homes and roads, it left some hill country farms in the area with up to 40 percent of their land unusable. Four years on, sheep and beef farmers are finding new ways to work. Rural reporter, Maja Burry and cameraman Nate McKinnon have the story.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a class action by Canterbury insurance holders against Southern Response can go ahead. Ali Jones, insurance claimants advocate explains to The Panel what this means for home owners who've been fighting for years to get their fair entitlements.
Christchurch’s architecture, both new and old, has been brought to life in an illustrated walking book that pays homage to the city’s historical buildings and showcases its new direction in the post-earthquake era.
The families of those who died in the CTV building's collapse during the Christchurch Earthquake in February of 2011 are vowing to continue their Fight For Justice after The Independent Police Conduct Authority rejected their complaint about the Police Investigation . The Police decided 3 years ago not to lay charges against the building's designer. Yesterday the families announced that the IPCA, the body that advised the Police, had told them that it had no jurisdiction over Crown Law. Families spokesperson, Maan Alkaisi, told reporter Conan Young that they will continue to push for somebody to be held to account. He wants a retired judge to take another look at the decision not to prosecute.
A lawyer acting for Christchurch home-owners short changed in earthquake settlements says a new plan announced by the government is likely to run into trouble. Last year in a landmark case, the High Court found the government's claim settlement agency, Southern Response, misled and deceived Karl and Alison Dodds. It ordered the government to pay the couple nearly $180,000. The government has now set up a package for other Southern Response claimants who settled before October 2014. Its estimated about 3000 people will be eligible to benefit. But most of them are already taking part in a class action led by Brendan and Colleen Ross. Their lawyer Grant Cameron speaks to Corin Dann.
A momentous day in Christchurch as a huge steel frame was installed as part of the stabilisation work for Christ Church Cathedral. Karyn speaks with project director Keith Paterson about the plans to return the famed rose window extensively damage in the 2011 earthquake.
Moves towards returning the famed rose window to Christ Church Cathedral begin today. An eighteen-tonne steel frame is being installed onto the cathedral's west facade as part of restoration work. It will eventually housing the rose window. The cathedral was critically damaged in the Christchurch earthquake of 2011. Project director Keith Paterson is in Cathedral Square. He speaks to Susie Ferguson.
