The empty site of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, now demolished. This is where the Pallet Pavilion is to be built. In the background, the Town Hall can be seen.
International Red Cross Manager Bob McKerrow talks with Deborah Nation about his long career spent helping others. Bob is no stranger to disaster but it's a new experience to see the sufferings of his earthquake-hit home-town of Christchurch.
A photograph of people walking past the Convention Centre on Kilmore Street. Wire fencing has been placed along the street to keep people away from the damaged Town Hall.
Background and methodology The Mw 7.8, 14th November 2016 earthquake centred (item b, figure 1) in the Hurunui District of the South Island, New Zealand, damaged critical infrastructure across North Canterbury and Marlborough. We investigate the impacts to infrastructure and adaptations to the resulting service disruption in four small rural towns (figure 1): Culverden (a), Waiau (c), Ward (d) and Seddon (e). This is accomplished though literary research, interviews and geospatial analysis. Illustrating our methods, we have displayed here a Hurunui District hazard map (figure 2b) and select infrastructure inventories (figures 2a, 3).
Christchurch and its surrounding towns are slowly starting to be rebuilt after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Our political editor Brent Edwards has been in Christchurch to find out whether the rebuild debate will dominate the election campaign in the city.
In previous blog posts we’ve touched upon the smells of 19th century Christchurch and how, in the absence of an organised sewerage and rubbish disposal system, early Christchurch was, at the best of times, a dirty old town. Inadequate drainage … Continue reading →
An aerial photograph of Victoria Square and the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
The bridge that used to run from the Town Hall to the Convention Centre, now detached from the buildings and placed on Kilmore Street. Three diggers can be seen through the glass of the bridge.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking south along Colombo Street towards the CBD".
Damage to River Road in Richmond. The road surface is badly cracked and slumped, and liquefaction silt covers part of the road. The photographer comments, "Liquefaction in River Rd. This is minor compared to many streets in town".
Eve Welch (UC Photographic Services), Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Ian Town, Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, Prime Minister John Key, Mayor Bob Parker and and Roger Sutton from CERA at the Community Engagement Awards 2011.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Prime Minister John Key on his visit to Kaiapoi and Hororata to meet people badly affected and see the damage from the earthquake. Standing outside Blackwell's Department Store in Kaiapoi town centre".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Prime Minister John Key on his visit to Kaiapoi and Hororata to meet people badly affected and see the damage from the earthquake. Standing outside Blackwell's Department Store in Kaiapoi town centre".
The organ at the Christchurch Town Hall made a welcome return yesterday in front of a capacity crowd of 2,500. The instrument was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake. Conan Young was there as another important part of the city came back to life.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The remains of the Convention Centre viewed from Peterborough Street with the Town Hall behind. The skyline from here will change considerably as a number of the tall buildings shaping the skyline are demolished".
Residents in the Marlborough town of Seddon say they are relieved their post-quake rebuild hasn't been hit by the same delays as Canterbury. Eight months on from the Cook Strait earthquakes, repairs and remedial works are continuing apace in Marlborough.
A photograph of street art on the side of the Victoria Mansions building. The artwork is part of the "Roger Sutton/Man About Town" paste-up series created by Nathan Ingram and Jemma Brown.
A photograph of Stacey from Strowan taking part in #FiveYearsOn. Stacey holds a sign which reads, "Five years on, I feel... Town is coming back and excited for things to come. Stacey, Strowan".
Businesses in the Christchurch suburb of New Brighton are demanding urgent action to pull the area out of an economic slump. The seaside town has struggled since the Canterbury Earthquakes, with thousands of people - and customers - leaving the area due to land damage under their homes.
An aerial photograph of the Christchurch central city with the Farmers car park in the centre and Victoria Square in the background.
An aerial photograph of the Christchurch central city with Victoria Square in the centre and the Crowne Plaza in the distance.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Prime Minister John Key on his visit to Kaiapoi and Hororata to meet people badly affected and see the damage from the earthquake. The badly-damaged Blackwell's Department Store in Kaiapoi town centre".
A police officer directing traffic on the intersection of Worcester and Montreal Streets shortly after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. People can be seen on either side of the street, attempting to exit town and make their way home.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPXqb7k4azU Details inside a half demolished theatre in central Christchurch. November, 2012. Christchurch, NZ. (c)Mike Brebner. All rights reserved.
In the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes, one of the biggest threats to our heritage buildings is the risk of earthquakes and the associated drive to strengthen or demolish buildings. Can Small Town NZ balance the requirements of the EQPB legislation and economic realities of their places? The government’s priority is on safety of building occupants and citizens in the streets. However, maintaining and strengthening privately-owned heritage buildings is often cost prohibitive. Hence, heritage regulation has frequently been perceived as interfering with private property rights, especially when heritage buildings occupy a special place in the community becoming an important place for people (i.e. public benefits are larger than private). We investigate several case studies where building owners have been given green light to demolish heritage listed buildings to make way for modern developments. In two of the case studies developers provided evidence of unaffordable strengthening costs. A new trend that has emerged is a voluntary offer of contributing to an incentive fund to assist with heritage preservation of other buildings. This is a unique example where private owners offer incentives (via council controlled organisations) instead of it being purely the domain of the central or local governments.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Give Enterprise a Life Line business meeting in the Christchurch Town Hall re: the aftermath of the 4 September earthquake. Judi Tardi speaking. Those listening are (from left): Garth Snell, Mark Lee, Tom Fuller, Mathew Carpenter and Brendon Burns".
As a result of the Christchurch Earthquake that occurred on 22nd February 2011 and the resultant loss of life and widespread damage, a Royal Commission of Enquiry was convened in April 2011. The Royal Commission recommended a number of significant changes to the regulation of earthquake prone building in New Zealand. Earthquake prone buildings are buildings that are deemed to be of insufficient strength to perform adequately in a moderate earthquake. In response to the Royal Commission recommendations the New Zealand Government carried out a consultative process before announcing proposed changes to the building regulations in August 2013. One of the most significant changes is the imposition of mandatory strengthening requirements for earthquake prone buildings on a national basis. This will have a significant impact on the urban fabric of most New Zealand towns and cities. The type of traditional cost benefit study carried out to date fails to measure these impacts and this paper proposes an alternative methodology based on the analysis of land use data and rating valuations. This methodology was developed and applied to a small provincial town in the form of a case study. The results of this case study and the methodology used are discussed in this paper.
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Victoria Square is at the centre of this picture with its green lawns and trees. The bare patch of earth in front s the demolition sites of the Allan McLean building, the Oxford on Avon, and Plunket House. The contract to demolish the Crowne Plaza Hotel has been let, while the fate of the Town Hall is still undecided. The Convention Centre is coming down. On the very bottom, slightly to the right is the Medlab building which is also to be demolished. In the bottom left corner is the PWC building which is also to be demolished".
A video of an interview with Hororata residents Tish Ballagh and Vicar Jenni Carter about remaining positive a year after the 4 September 2010 damaged their town. This video is part of The Press's 'One Year On: September 4, 2010' series.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking south across Bealey Avenue and between Colombo and Durham Streets towards the CBD".