The seismic survey truck T-Rex (from University of Texas) was in Bexley and Pacific Park a few days ago and may have left this calling card on the front lawn of my old "red zone" house. Obviously the geotechs will know what it means.
Male mammals don't stay monogamous to produce fitter offspring, instead they do it for love and to protect their partner; Edward Snowden granted temporary asylum in Russia; Parking companies in central Wellington increase fees after earthquakes; and tours of Christchurch's Red Zone started this week.
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. Weeds have grown near the fence and the grass has not been mowed. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that access to the house is restricted.
A photograph of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Parts of the fence are missing and the garden has overgrown. The photographer comments, "Large section of the front fence has been stolen by looters".
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. Plastic sheeting has been placed over sections of the house to keep it water tight. One of the windows has also been boarded up with plywood.
A photograph of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Parts of the fence are missing and the garden has overgrown. The photographer comments, "Large section of the front fence has been stolen by looters".
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. Weeds have grown near the fence and the grass has not been mowed. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that the access to the house is restricted.
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. The garden is overgrown and one of the windows has been boarded up with plywood. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that the access to the house is restricted.
A photograph of a bow made out of curtains pinned to Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. In the background, the house has been covered in plastic sheeting. The photographer comments, "The bow is a memorial to Murphy's living room and her life in the house".
A photograph of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. The photograph was taken from the empty lot next door. The front of the house has been covered with plastic sheeting. Wire fencing has been placed around the outside of the property as a cordon.
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. The garden has overgrown and one of the windows has been boarded up with plywood. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that the access to the house is restricted.
A photograph of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. The front walls has been covered with plastic sheeting. A bow made out of curtains has been pinned to the plastic where the fireplace juts out from the wall. The photographer comments, "The bow is a memorial to Murphy's living room and her life in the house".
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a section of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. The chimney has fallen off the roof and is now resting in the patio. Behind the chimney, one of the walls has a noticeable lean and the glass of one of the French doors is broken. The photographer comments, "The glass was broken by looters who entered the house and took bits that interested them".
Lincoln University was commissioned by the Avon-Otakaro Network (AvON) to estimate the value of the benefits of a ‘recreation reserve’ or ‘river park’ in the Avon River Residential Red Zone (ARRRZ). This research has demonstrated significant public desire and support for the development of a recreation reserve in the Avon River Residential Red Zone. Support is strongest for a unique natural environment with native fauna and flora, healthy wetlands and rivers, and recreational opportunities that align with this vision, such as walking, cycling and water-based sporting and leisure activities. The research also showed support for a reserve that promotes and enables community interaction and wellbeing, and is evident in respondents’ desires for community gardens, regular festivals and markets, and the physical linking of the CBD with eastern suburbs through a green corridor. There is less support for children’s playgrounds, sports fields or open grassed areas, all of which could be considered as more typical of an urban park development. Benefits (willing to pay) to Christchurch residents (excluding tourists) of a recreation reserve could be as high as $35 million each year. Savings to public health costs could be as high as $50.3 million each year. The incorporation or restoration of various ecosystems services, including water quality improvements, flood mitigation and storm water management could yield a further $8.8 million ($19, 600) per hectare/year at 450 ha). Combined annual benefits of a recreational reserve in the ARRRZ are approximately $94.1 million per annum but this figure does not include potentially significant benefits from, for example, tourism, property equity gains in areas adjacent to the reserve, or the effects of economic rejuvenation in the East. Although we were not able to provide costing estimates for park attributes, this study does make available the value of benefits, which can be used as a guide to the scope of expenditure on development of each park attribute.
20131214_6268_1D3-24 Where once stood houses (Day 348/365) The area beside the lower Avon River in New Brighton of Evans Avenue and Admirals Way has been cleared of houses and boundary fences (there were between 15 and 20 houses on this block) , fully fenced with post and wire and "spray on" grass applied. These were all red zone properties a...
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. The grass has not been mowed and one of the windows has been boarded up with plywood. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that the access to the house is restricted. There is also a sign in the window to the left, depicting a bulldozer with a line through it. The photographer comments, "Avon Loop resident Donna Allfrey made the sign for Duff".
A photograph of Siobhan Murphy outside her house at 436 Oxford Terrace. The front walls of the house have been covered with plastic sheeting. A bow made out of curtains has been pinned to the plastic where the fireplace juts out of the closest wall. The photographer comments, "The bow is a memorial to Murphy's living room and her life in the house".
A photograph of the letterbox and a section of the fence around Donna Allfrey's property at 406 Oxford Terrace. The house number is missing from the letterbox and a picket is missing from the fence. The photographer comments, "The mail is no longer being delivered".
A photograph of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. The front walls has been covered with plastic sheeting. A bow made out of curtains has been pinned to the plastic where the fireplace juts out from the wall. The photographer comments, "The bow is a memorial to Murphy's living room and her life in the house".
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. The grass has not been mowed and one of the windows has been boarded up with plywood. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that the access to the house is restricted. There is also a sign in the window to the left, depicting a bulldozer with a line through it. The photographer comments, "Avon Loop resident Donna Allfrey made the sign for Duff".
A photograph of the house number spray-painted on the front of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. To the right, two stickers have also been stuck to the door. The top sticker reads, "Attention, power has been removed". The bottom sticker is the Christchurch City Council's 'yellow sticker', which indicates that access to the building is restricted.
A photograph of a room in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. The fireplace has been removed and boarded up with gib board. The mantelpiece has been propped in front of the gib board, and two couches have been placed on their sides next to it.
A photograph of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. A green sticker on the front door indicates that the house has been inspected and is safe to enter. A sign in the garden reads, "It's been a lot of fun - yeah right!". The photographer comments, "'It's been a lot of fun' is a quote from John Key about the Canterbury earthquakes and the 'yeah right' is a play on the Tui Beer advertisements".
A photograph of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Allfrey has placed a sign in the garden which reads, "It's been a lot of fun - yeah right!". The photographer comments, "'It's been a lot of fun' is a quote from John Key about the Canterbury earthquakes and the 'yeah right' is a play on the Tui Beer advertisements".
A photograph of a sign in the garden of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. The sign reads, "It's been a lot of fun - yeah right!". The photographer comments, "'It's been a lot of fun' is a quote from John Key about the Canterbury earthquakes and the 'yeah right' is a play on the Tui Beer advertisements".
A photograph of graffiti on one of the walls of the kitchen in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. Parts of the graffiti read, "Quakes, a national disaster", "Recovery, a national disgrace", "Ring fn EQC, ring fn insurance", "Useless fn council", "Don't let the bastards get you down", "Avon Loop - park or developers fodder?", and "Never trust a Carter". There are also shopping and to-do lists scrawled amongst these messages.
There are occasional sewerage spills into the Avon River while all the sewer and road repairs are carried out. This rock wall was level and well above high tide level prior to the eathquakes. All the houses that can been seen here (except for those on the distant Port Hills) are in the suburban "red zone" and are still to be demolished.
A video of the removal of the earthquake-damaged Medway Street bridge from the banks of the Avon River. The video shows members of the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team removing the bridge and preparing it for transport to the Ferrymead Heritage Park. It will remain at the park until a permanent home can be found for it as an earthquake memorial.
A video of a helicopter using a monsoon bucket to wash loose debris off a cliff in Redcliffs. The debris is from an earthquake-damaged building on the edge of the cliff which has had to be urgently demolished after wet weather and aftershocks made it unstable. The video also includes an interview with Brenden Winder, Red Zone Cordon and Access Manager at CERA, about the removal of the debris and the need to check other properties.
None