A review of the week's news including... Mt Albert voters head to the polls to select a new MP this weekend, we hear from three candidates contesting the by election, Maori political leaders respond explosively to the Labour leader's comments that the Maori party is "not kaupapa Maori", how did a senior council roading manager receive over 1.1 million dollars in payments from a council contractor without his bosses knowing? the High Court rules Kim Dotcom is eligible for extradition US, the Fire Service's principal rural fire officer says lives may have been lost had firefighters not been told to return to their station, Sky TV says a decision to deny its billion dollar proposal to buy Vodafone is bizarre and disappointing, Pharmac considers funding women's sanitary products, we have coverage from the 6th anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake, the Prime Minister puts the board of the NZ Super Fund on notice after it approved a 23 percent pay increase for its Chief Executive, an Australian woman helping New Zealand dairy farmers across the Tasman who have fallen onto hard times is horrified by a lack of Government help and helicopters to Hercules and F-16s to classic spitfire replicas are on display at Ohakea airforce base during this weekend's Air Tattoo.
A review of the week's news including... a major health alert in Pukekohe after two and a half thousand children were exposed to contaminated water, the Prime Minister kicks off election year with a pledge to spend more than half a billion dollar on crime-fighting, is New Zealand citizenship for sale? several former employees of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority are being investigated, international Indian students to be deported, more alleged mistreatment of animals revealed at another New Zealand rodeo event, a women's sexual abuse group says the judge got it wrong when he ruled in favour of a man who posted photos of his half naked wife on Facebook, people increasingly find ways to get around petrol prices that they think are too high, should an unofficial white chair memorial to the victims of the 2011 Christchurch quake be moved? the scientific test results which reveal exactly how Havelock North's drinking water supply was contaminated, the Maori Party backs calls from a group of local councils campaigning to keep their regions free from genetic modification, a film producer is caught out by a recent law change banning anyone travelling from America from entering New Zealand with medicinal cannabis and an update on a seriously unwell albatross chick.
The 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquakes, which involved widespread damage during the February 2011 event and ongoing aftershocks near the Christchurch Central Business District, left this community with more than $NZD 40 billion in losses (~20 % GDP), demolition of approximately 60 % of multi-storey concrete buildings (3 storeys and up), and closure of the core business district for over 2 years. The aftermath of the earthquake sequence has revealed unique issues and complexities for the owners of commercial and multi-storey residential buildings in relation to unexpected technical, legal, and financial challenges when making decisions regarding the future of their buildings impacted by the earthquakes. The paper presents a framework to understand the factors influencing post-earthquake decisions (repair or demolish) on multi-storey concrete buildings in Christchurch. The study, conducted in 2014, includes in-depth investigations on 15 case-study buildings using 27 semi-structured interviews with various property owners, property managers, insurers, engineers, and government authorities in New Zealand. The interviews revealed insights regarding the multitude of factors influencing post-earthquake decisions and losses. As expected, the level of damage and repairability (cost to repair) generally dictated the course of action. There is strong evidence, however, that other variables have significantly influenced the decision on a number of buildings, such as insurance, business strategies, perception of risks, building regulations (and compliance costs), and government decisions. The decision-making process for each building is complex and unique, not solely driven by structural damage. Furthermore, the findings have put the spotlight on insurance policy wordings and the paradoxical effect of insurance on the recovery of Christchurch, leading to other challenges and issues going forward.
