Global biodiversity is threatened by human actions, including in urban areas. Urbanisation has removed and fragmented indigenous habitats. As one of the 25 biodiversity ’hot spots’, New Zealand is facing the problems of habitat loss and indigenous species extinction. In New Zealand cities, as a result of the land clearance and imported urban planning precepts, many urban areas have little or no original native forest remaining. Urbanisation has also been associated with the introduction of multitudes of species from around the world. Two large earthquakes shook Christchurch in 2010 and 2011 and caused a lot of damage. Parts of the city suffered from soil liquefaction after the earthquakes. In the most damaged parts of Christchurch, particularly in the east, whole neighbourhoods were abandoned and later demolished except for larger trees. Christchurch offers an excellent opportunity to study the biodiversity responses to an urban area with less intensive management, and to learn more about the conditions in urban environments that are most conducive to indigenous plant biodiversity. This study focuses on natural woody plant regeneration of forested sites in Christchurch city, many of which were also surveyed prior to the earthquakes. By repeating the pre-earthquake surveys, I am able to describe the natural regeneration occurring in Christchurch forested areas. By combining this with the regeneration that has occurred in the Residential Red Zone, successional trajectories can be described under a range of management scenarios. Using a comprehensive tree map of the Residential Red Zone, I was also able to document minimum dispersal distances of a range of indigenous trees in Christchurch. This is important for planning reserve connectivity. Moreover, I expand and improve on a previous analysis of the habitat connectivity of Christchurch (made before the earthquakes) to incorporate the Residential Red Zone, to assess the importance for habitat connectivity of restoring the indigenous forest in this area. In combination, these data sets are used to provide patch scenarios and some management options for biodiversity restoration in the Ōtākaro-Avon Red Zone post-earthquake.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Historic building owner John Phillips wants the red tape to go so he can pull his very badly damaged heritage building down and start again so the businesses in the premises can start again".
20130808_2300_1D3-40 Warning (Day 220/365) Across the river were a row of several houses - all gone now. That side of the river is "Red Zone" and will be devoid of houses soon. #4077
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 shopping and to-do lists written on one of the walls of the kitchen in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace.
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 two-storey house in Avonside Drive with a warped upper balcony. The photographer comments, "This house is on Avonside Drive opposite the Avon River. The land in this area spread laterally and had bad liquefaction of the soil. This caused some houses to sink into the ground, but as the balcony supports did not sink as much the balcony came to rest at a crazy angle".
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 wooden house in Wainoni has visibly bowed inwards towards its centre. The photographer comments, "During the numerous earthquakes in Christchurch the land which ran alongside the Avon river on Avonside Drive slumped towards the waterway. In a line parallel to the road the road, but around 20m away a ground movement occurred which caused some houses to rise up or sink down".
A photograph of trailers and trucks stacked with salvaged items from people's homes leaving the central business district. The photograph was taken during the Residential Access Project which gave residents temporary access within the red-zone cordon in order to retrieve items from their homes.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Hairdresser at Beckenham Elites $10 Haircuts For All cuts regular customer John Horgan's hair in her ex-husband's garage where she has set up shop following the red sticker on her Colombo Street shop in Beckenham".
Senior Constable Bruce Lamb is the Christchurch police dog handler who narrowly survived being shot in the course of duty on 13 July 2010, his police dog, Gage, was killed. Then Bruce's house was red stickered following the Canterbury earthquake in September, condemned and to be demolished.
The National Recovery Coordinator for Red Cross Emergency Services in Australia, who has researched disaster recovery practices around the world including the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, London bombings and Sichuan earthquake. She is visiting New Zealand ahead of the first anniversary of the February earthquake in Christchurch.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "2010 Canterbury Earthquake. Most houses should be able to be rebuilt on the land they are on. The Crean family at their red-stickered house. From left: Nadia, Rose (10), Stephen and Nathan Crean (5)".
The deconstruction of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, with a digger and a pile of demolition rubble in front. Road cones and signs have been placed in front to divert traffic around the area. Flags in Canterbury colours, red and black can be seen on the street lights.
The deconstruction of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, with a digger and a pile of demolition rubble in front. Road cones and signs have been placed in front to divert traffic around the area. A flag in Canterbury colours, red and black can be seen on the street lights.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Red and black support. Rosebank Primary School pupils (from left, top) Leighana Budd (12), Hamish Gillespie (12), Harry Ollerenshaw (5), Caitlin Bennett (11) and Brianna Dent (7) show their support for the Christchurch earthquake victims".
A photograph of trailers and trucks stacked with salvaged items from people's homes leaving the central business district. The photograph was taken during the Residential Access Project which gave residents temporary access within the red-zone cordon in order to retrieve items from their homes.
Detail of spray painted codes left after a building had been cleared by a USAR team. This system was used following the February earthquake to mark buildings that have been checked. This building has also been red-stickered, and has a notice that says "Danger. Do Not Enter".
Stonemason Mark Whyte puts sculpting commissions aside in order to respond to the Christchurch earthquakes and save classic street facades from the 1870s. Across the Red Zone and 3 generations of the Aires family- Bob, Rob and Suzie are at work on the Heritage Hotel which were the old government buildings.
Page 6 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Friday 25 February 2011.
The question of whether forced relocation is beneficial or detrimental to the displaced households is a controversial and important policy question. After the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, the government designated some of the worst affected areas as Residential Red Zones. Around 20,000 people were forced to move out of these Residential Red Zone areas, and were compensated for that. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, we aim to estimate the impact of relocation on the displaced households in terms of their income, employment, and their mental and physical health. Second, we evaluate whether the impact of relocation varies by the timing of to move, the destination (remaining within the Canterbury region or moving out of it) and demographic factors (gender, age, ethnicity). StatisticsNZ’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) from 2008 to 2017, which includes data on all households in Canterbury, and a difference-in-difference (DID) technique is used to answer these questions. We find that relocation has a negative impact on the income of the displaced household group. This adverse impact is more severe for later movers. Compared to the control group (that was not relocated), the income of relocated households was reduced by 3% for people who moved immediately after the earthquake in 2011, and 14% for people who moved much later in 2015.
A damaged house perched on the edge of the cliffs above Sumner. The photographer comments, "This house has slowly gone over the edge since the big earthquake in Christchurch in February 2011. Subsequent earthquakes has caused the rock face to crumble more and more".
A pdf copy of panel 5 of Guy Frederick's 'The Space Between Words' exhibition. The panel includes text from an interview with Jolene Parker about her experiences of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquake. Above this is an image of Parker sitting in the site of her grandmother's house, which was demolished after the earthquakes.
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.
A photograph of an Urban Search and Rescue team member removing a framed picture from the wall of a flat on Poplar Street during the Residential Access Project. The project gave residents temporary access within the red-zone cordon in order to retrieve items from their homes.
A photograph of a worker examining the contents of a flat on Poplar Street during the Residential Access Project. The project gave residents temporary access within the red-zone cordon in order to retrieve items from their homes. The wall has crumbled leaving the room exposed.
A photograph of a room inside a flat on Poplar Street taken during the Residential Access Project. The project gave residents temporary access within the red-zone cordon in order to retrieve items from their homes. The building's outer wall has crumbled leaving the room exposed.
A photograph of a room inside a flat on Poplar Street taken during the Residential Access Project. The project gave residents temporary access within the red-zone cordon in order to retrieve items from their homes. The building's outer wall has crumbled leaving the room exposed.