An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 2 March 2011 entitled, "Day 9, 10am - inside the Christchurch cordon".
The Prime Minister says the Labour Party is threatening to write cheques the country can't afford with its Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Package.
Some residents in one of Christchurch's worst affected suburbs doubt a new government agency will help their earthquake recovery. An announcement about a new department is expected within days but some of those still severely affected question the setting up of a new bureaucracy.
Bronze award presented to Claire Laredo, from Christchurch. Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Bronze award presented to Matthew Prendergast, from Christchurch. Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
The Prime Minister and the Earthquake Recovery Minister are poised to announce decisions on the fate of homes on quake damaged land in Christchurch.
The Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority says today's aftershocks have caused up to 50 additional buildings in the city's redzone to collapse or partially collapse.
Christchurch MPs - Labour's Lianne Dalziel and National's Amy Adams - say it's not fair for seat-of-the-pants post-quake red/yellow and green sticker assessments to be formally recorded forever. They say the assessments were hastily done and inconsistent. But the Christchurch City Council says its required to do so under the provisions of the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act.
There is a critical strand of literature suggesting that there are no ‘natural’ disasters (Abramovitz, 2001; Anderson and Woodrow, 1998; Clarke, 2008; Hinchliffe, 2004). There are only those that leave us – the people - more or less shaken and disturbed. There may be some substance to this; for example, how many readers recall the 7.8 magnitude earthquake centred in Fiordland in July 2009? Because it was so far away from a major centre and very few people suffered any consequences, the number is likely to be far fewer than those who remember (all too vividly) the relatively smaller 7.1 magnitude Canterbury quake of September 4th 2010 and the more recent 6.3 magnitude February 22nd 2011 event. One implication of this construction of disasters is that seismic events, like those in Canterbury, are as much socio-political as they are geological. Yet, as this paper shows, the temptation in recovery is to tick boxes and rebuild rather than recover, and to focus on hard infrastructure rather than civic expertise and community involvement. In this paper I draw upon different models of community engagement and use Putnam’s (1995) notion of ‘social capital’ to frame the argument that ‘building bridges’ after a disaster is a complex blend of engineering, communication and collaboration. I then present the results of a qualitative research project undertaken after the September 4th earthquake. This research helps to illustrate the important connections between technical rebuilding, social capital, recovery processes and overall urban resilience.
Shift to quake recovery operation devastating for survivor;Brother of missing woman speaks out;Police say end of rescue effort sad day for all concerned;Other families trying to come to grips with rescue's end;Hundreds struggle on with life inside Christchurch cordon;Christ's College spared from large scale damage;Gang patches can return - Hells Angels lawyer;Botany to elect new MP tomorrow;Earthquake Minister on shift to recovery operation.
Responsibility for dealing with the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake could pass from Civil Defence to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority within a matter of days.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 1 March 2011 entitled, "Day 8, 6pm - inside the Christchurch cordon".
Bronze award present to Matthew Prendergast and Thomas Nation, both from Christchurch. Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Bronze award present to Michael Mullins, from Christchurch. Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, Prime Minister John Key and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Silver Award presented to Peter Jakowetz, from Christchurch. Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, Prime Minister John Key and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Bronze award presented to Chanel Harris, from Christchurch. Pictured here with Prime Minister John Key, Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Bronze award presented to Chanel Harris, from Christchurch. Pictured here with Prime Minister John Key, Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Health officials in Christchurch have today begun work on a recovery plan for how they will replace hundreds of beds lost in rest homes because of the recent earthquake.
The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority is now double checking all of its paperwork following fears earthquake rubble dumped in a Christchurch land fill could have been contaminated by asbestos.
Bronze award presented to Jonathon Atkins, from Christchurch. Pictured here with Prime Minister John Key, Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, is in Europe in an attempt to convince insurance companies not to pull out of New Zealand after the Christchurch earthquakes.
Signs posted the fence cordoning off High Street. They read "Welcome to Limboland, just waiting!", "Christchurch Economic Recovery Abandoned", and "We're raising $50,000 for our City C96 FM".
Demolition companies and building owners in central Christchurch hope efforts by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority will speed up the city's rebuild after it's been languishing for weeks.
A video of Dallington resident Christine Mathieson being told that her orange-zoned property has been rezoned as green. The rezoning was confirmed earlier in the day by Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, who announced that 400 earthquake-damaged properties in Christchurch will be bought by the government. Mathieson's house is not one of them.
Bronze award present to Matthew Prendergast and Thomas Nation, both from Christchurch. Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, Prime Minister John Key and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Bronze award present to Matthew Prendergast and Thomas Nation, both from Christchurch. Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, Prime Minister John Key and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Silver Award presented to Dean Manson (originally from Ashburton but studied in Christchurch). Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, Prime Minister John Key and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Silver Award recipients, Dean Manson (originally from Ashburton but studied in Christchurch). Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, Prime Minister John Key and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Depicts huge elderly woman with 'CERA' on her dress scolding smaller adult dressed as schoolboy near bustop with sign 'CBD red zone tours' Text reads 'And don't talk to strangers and don't cross the road and remember to eat your lunch..' Context: After the 22 Feburary 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, the central business district (CBD) was marked as a red zone. Red zone areas were deemed unsuitable for habitation due to significant damage and at high risk of further damage from low levels of earth shaking. CERA (Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority) ran public bus tours of the Christchurch CBD from November to December 2011. For safety reasons the public was not allowed off the buses as it was a dangerous and active demolition site. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Text reads 'The new liquefaction?...' and the cartoon depicts a huge mass of 'insurance red tape' inside which is a man with a spade. Two people stare despairingly at the red tape and the man says 'How are we EVER gonna rebuild with this stuff bubbling up!' Context: The people are trying to rebuild their house after the Christchurch earthquakes and are having trouble with their insurance company. The Press has been contacted by people unable to get insurance to buy new homes, construct buildings or start businesses. Business leaders have called insurance delays a "cancer" eating away at the city's recovery, and Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has acknowledged insurance is an "ongoing problem". (The Press - 24 August 2011) Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).