Being in Pacific Park with our land "red" we have to shift. My wife Shamina wants to stay in the east but my feeling is to have shingle/stable ground under me and shift west or out of Christchurch City.
Eastern land is either red (can't be rebuilt on), blue (liquefaction highly probable in a future significant event), or yellow (liquefaction possible in future).
And housing costs are sky rocketing in Christchurch so what we get from the government (2007 ratable valuation) for our 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 lounge, 3 car garaging 9 year old house ($381,000) will be about $50,000 - $80,000) short to get a comparable house in western Christchurch.
Going to Rangiora (Waimakariri Council) or Rolleston (Selwyn Council) is slightly cheaper, but to retain similar property and value we need to shift about 40km out of Christchurch.
I also beleive that with less rate payers in Chrischurch (both multi-storey business buildings and the 5,000+ red zone houses) and a need for a lot more money, rates in Christchurch will rise far above the national average. The city has not got enough residentail development to cater for that many new houses.
So, do we shift to Selwyn or Waimakariri, or even slightly further to Amberley (Hurunui Council)? But what do we gain - possibly just a couple of years of lower rates as I am of the opinion (and it has been voiced after I wrote most of this, but before I published it) that there will be a merger of three or four councils to make a "super council area", similar to Auickland's super city status.
Yes, a lot of the quakes/aftershocks have been centred on Rolleston, and while houses have some suprficial damage, none are being demolished and rebuilt. In fact new houses are being erected at a rapid rate and the insurance companies are insuring them, something that is difficult in Christchurch city at the moment.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The rest of 2011
In mid February (Tuesday 22nd) we were struck with another massive quake, this one killing 181 people in the city and on or near the Port Hills. I was at work in Bromley when it struck, but managed to get home within 10 minutes - ANZAC Drive/Bexley Road was under water (liqufaction)and Pacific Park was hit hard again. We had a lot of liquefaction, mainly down the south side of the house, and again no services.
Two things were going to be done on Tuesday after work. One was to fill the car with petrol and the other was to sort out and package my entries for the Photographic Society of NZ National Salon (NATEX). Neither of these happened.
The day from when the quake struck at 12:51pm is a bit of a blur, but before dark I went to my mother's house in New Brighton, found Shamina in South New Brighton, returned home, back to Mum's to take the fallen chimney off the roof, into New Brighton to see the church (Union/Collingwood corner), down New Brighton Mall, home and then out twice on the mountain bike looking for one of our two students (the first one saw the cathedral spire come down and hitched home).
Tim and his friend Holly (she had been working in the IRD building) arrived, walking from McKenzies Pub where Tim left his car (he later shifted it to park it on the Bridge Street/Dyers Road/Breezes Road/Bexley Road round-a-bout).
The sky was busy with helicoptors and a RNZAF Orion, and rain started to fall about 8:00pm. We survived the night with plenty of aftershocks, and reports of traffic chaos the next day stopped us heading over to Alastair's in Islington. I had enough petrol to get there, but not enough to spend three hours crawling across town in slow traffic. We stayed home again, and prepared to leave at 6:30am on the Thursday morning, which we did.
Manuel (the Swiss student) departed home the following Wednesday (March 2nd), cutting short his NZ and Australia visit, and Ken (from Japan) left on Saturday 5th March, heading home to Japan, on the day he was scheduled to, so did not cut short his stay in New Zealand.
We had managed to shift my mother and her 91 year old husband out of the city (to Picton) on Saturday 26th February as it was difficult for them to "live" with no power, water or sewer. Tim took them to Kaikoura where my cousin from Picton picked them up. Tim then returned to Alastair's house where we celebrated his birthday on the Saturday night. Tim stayed at Hardy Street alone and managed to survive OK, but with the major releif outlet in the east, just 100m away at the school hall he had no major worries. And one of the churches provided him with a hot meal each day for a couple of weeks.
On Saturday 26th February Alastair and I returned to Pacific Park to collect the freezer and tidy up some of the stuff. We ended up getting lunch from the "Ragiora Express" - hot food delivered by helicoptor (it landed at Wairoa Street Reserve, just around the corner).
With Mum away in Picton (and later Auckland), and our two students back home, Shamina headed to Auckland to stay with her family for a couple of weeks. I cummuted from Islington to Bromley for work for the next two weeks (until power was restored), collecting the work power generator from Tim each morning and returning it each nigh, so he could charge his phone and watch a little bit of the television (news) each night.
On a Saturday evening in April we had more liquefaction (minor amount) from another 5.? aftershock, but June 13 was another major day with two quakes 80 minutes apart. The first was 5.9 (originally 5.8 but revised in December) and the second at 2:20pm a 6.4 (originally a 6.3), and again liquefaction was more than February. The following Saturday a group from the Farmy Army (farmer volunteers) cleaned up the remaining liquefaction down the side of the house.
It was relatively quiet on the quake front through to December 23rd., but on June 22nd it was announced that 5000+ properties in easter Christchurch would be "red zoned" and unable to be repaired or the land built on again, and all of Bexley was included so we have till April 2012 to decide what option we take (total government payout or land payout and deal with insurance company over a rebuild on land to be purchased).
On Decemeber 23rd at 1:56pm Alastair and I had just pulled up at Greenpark Huts (Lake Ellesmere) to eat our Subway lunch, when the car started rocking and rolling, and posts and fences started swaying. We knew it was big quake well over 5 (was a 5.8), so motored back to town (120kmh to Lincoln), Al trying to contact his partner Tanya as well as his mum/my wife (Shamina) who was out helping my Mum do her grocery shopping. I dropped Al at his place, filled the car up with petrol in Hornby and headed across town towards Eastgate Mall. Two minutes short of Eastgate, while I was driving along Linwood Avenue another massive qwuake struck (6.0) and the car was bouncing along, not to mention the swaying lamp posts etc.
I retrieved Shamina, Mum and Syd and headed home to see what was teh damage. More liquefaction (third most of the five times we have had it), but inside was not too bad, with just one bookshelf unit down, and Soy Sauce spilled in the pantry.
We still had water and sewer and power was out for about 12 hours.
Christmas Eve was spent doing cleanup (shifting silt) and preparing for Christmas the following day, and on Christmas Day I shifted the last few barrow loads of silt - something that I have not done in the past or hope to do in the future (shifting silt on Christmas Day).
Two things were going to be done on Tuesday after work. One was to fill the car with petrol and the other was to sort out and package my entries for the Photographic Society of NZ National Salon (NATEX). Neither of these happened.
The day from when the quake struck at 12:51pm is a bit of a blur, but before dark I went to my mother's house in New Brighton, found Shamina in South New Brighton, returned home, back to Mum's to take the fallen chimney off the roof, into New Brighton to see the church (Union/Collingwood corner), down New Brighton Mall, home and then out twice on the mountain bike looking for one of our two students (the first one saw the cathedral spire come down and hitched home).
Tim and his friend Holly (she had been working in the IRD building) arrived, walking from McKenzies Pub where Tim left his car (he later shifted it to park it on the Bridge Street/Dyers Road/Breezes Road/Bexley Road round-a-bout).
The sky was busy with helicoptors and a RNZAF Orion, and rain started to fall about 8:00pm. We survived the night with plenty of aftershocks, and reports of traffic chaos the next day stopped us heading over to Alastair's in Islington. I had enough petrol to get there, but not enough to spend three hours crawling across town in slow traffic. We stayed home again, and prepared to leave at 6:30am on the Thursday morning, which we did.
Manuel (the Swiss student) departed home the following Wednesday (March 2nd), cutting short his NZ and Australia visit, and Ken (from Japan) left on Saturday 5th March, heading home to Japan, on the day he was scheduled to, so did not cut short his stay in New Zealand.
We had managed to shift my mother and her 91 year old husband out of the city (to Picton) on Saturday 26th February as it was difficult for them to "live" with no power, water or sewer. Tim took them to Kaikoura where my cousin from Picton picked them up. Tim then returned to Alastair's house where we celebrated his birthday on the Saturday night. Tim stayed at Hardy Street alone and managed to survive OK, but with the major releif outlet in the east, just 100m away at the school hall he had no major worries. And one of the churches provided him with a hot meal each day for a couple of weeks.
On Saturday 26th February Alastair and I returned to Pacific Park to collect the freezer and tidy up some of the stuff. We ended up getting lunch from the "Ragiora Express" - hot food delivered by helicoptor (it landed at Wairoa Street Reserve, just around the corner).
With Mum away in Picton (and later Auckland), and our two students back home, Shamina headed to Auckland to stay with her family for a couple of weeks. I cummuted from Islington to Bromley for work for the next two weeks (until power was restored), collecting the work power generator from Tim each morning and returning it each nigh, so he could charge his phone and watch a little bit of the television (news) each night.
On a Saturday evening in April we had more liquefaction (minor amount) from another 5.? aftershock, but June 13 was another major day with two quakes 80 minutes apart. The first was 5.9 (originally 5.8 but revised in December) and the second at 2:20pm a 6.4 (originally a 6.3), and again liquefaction was more than February. The following Saturday a group from the Farmy Army (farmer volunteers) cleaned up the remaining liquefaction down the side of the house.
It was relatively quiet on the quake front through to December 23rd., but on June 22nd it was announced that 5000+ properties in easter Christchurch would be "red zoned" and unable to be repaired or the land built on again, and all of Bexley was included so we have till April 2012 to decide what option we take (total government payout or land payout and deal with insurance company over a rebuild on land to be purchased).
On Decemeber 23rd at 1:56pm Alastair and I had just pulled up at Greenpark Huts (Lake Ellesmere) to eat our Subway lunch, when the car started rocking and rolling, and posts and fences started swaying. We knew it was big quake well over 5 (was a 5.8), so motored back to town (120kmh to Lincoln), Al trying to contact his partner Tanya as well as his mum/my wife (Shamina) who was out helping my Mum do her grocery shopping. I dropped Al at his place, filled the car up with petrol in Hornby and headed across town towards Eastgate Mall. Two minutes short of Eastgate, while I was driving along Linwood Avenue another massive qwuake struck (6.0) and the car was bouncing along, not to mention the swaying lamp posts etc.
I retrieved Shamina, Mum and Syd and headed home to see what was teh damage. More liquefaction (third most of the five times we have had it), but inside was not too bad, with just one bookshelf unit down, and Soy Sauce spilled in the pantry.
We still had water and sewer and power was out for about 12 hours.
Christmas Eve was spent doing cleanup (shifting silt) and preparing for Christmas the following day, and on Christmas Day I shifted the last few barrow loads of silt - something that I have not done in the past or hope to do in the future (shifting silt on Christmas Day).
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