Kiwiblog

Rachel Young at Stuff reports:

A 40-tonne boulder has been turned into a political football after it smashed into an unoccupied house in Christchurch’s Port Hills.

Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee said the rockfall, which may have been caused by the recent dry weather, vindicated the Government’s decision to take no risks when it came to red-zoning some Port Hill properties.

But some residents forced out of their homes by the Government’s zoning decisions still believe rock protection work is possible.

I would have thought a 40 tonne rock would convince people that safety should be a real concern, but it seems not.

But Sumner resident Phil Elmey, who has vowed to fight the red-zoning of his land, said the house in Finnsarby Place was in a “bowling alley”. He said most of the red-stickered houses could be saved if money was spent on rock protection work.

“Even a rock that size could be stopped by the right protection . . . We think it’s disgraceful that it hasn’t happened.”

I am not an engineer, and I suspect neither is Mr Elmey. But if anyone out there is, maybe you can give us some idea of what sort of protection will stop a 40 tonne rock from ploughing through a house? And what if it was 100 tonnes?

UPDATE: Mr Elmey is an engineer, so I am happy for him to assess his own risk. So long as he is willing to pay for the rock protection himself, and also recuse himself from cover by ACC, health and welfare in case any rocks fall – then he should be free to stay in his house at his own risk.

From the annual report of the Christchurch Appeal Trust. They have had over $100 million in donations. Major donations of over $500,000 were received from:

• AEON
• AMP
• ANZ Bank
• America New Zealand Association
• Bruce Plested
• Commonwealth Bank Australia
• Fonterra
• Fox Studios
• Glenn Family Foundation
• Governments of Canada, Indonesia, Oman, China, Russia, Victoria and NSW
• Infinity Foundation
• James Cameron
• NZ Aluminium Smelter
• New Zealand Community Trust
• Salvation Army Hong Kong
• Seven and I Holdings
• The Southern Trust
• Valar Capital Management
• Warner Bros
• Wesfarmers Ltd
• William James Duncan

As well those very generous large donations, some great examples of community fundraising globally:

• The Gherkin stairclimb, London – on 22 May 2011 around 1,000 people raised GBP25,500 in a sponsored ‘Step Up 4 Christchurch’ climb of the famous Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe) in the City of London – that’s 38 fl oors and 1,037 steps – organised by Kent Gardner and Paul Kendrick of Evans Randall investment banking group.
• South Point High School Ohio, USA – on 29 April 2011 the athletes of South Point High School in Southern Ohio sprinted, shot putted, and high-jumped for the Appeal, donating the $1,832 proceeds from their annual track and fi eld meet which is named after legendary Kiwi running coach Arthur Lydiard.
• Radiothon, Cook Islands – the small Cook Islands community of Aitutaki held a radiothon and its Mayor of Aitutaki John Baxter said that in four hours the community collected $25,000 for the Appeal. Aitutaki is a small island more than 260km from Rarotonga with a population of about 2,000.
• NZ university graduates, Vietnam – a group of Vietnamese who studied at New Zealand universities over 25 years ago (1950 – 1975) raised $62,000. The 100 former students and their families, who now live all over the world said: “We were given not only an education, but also hospitality and love by the people of New Zealand. We sincerely hope, as members of the big New Zealand family, it can lend a hand in soothing and comforting earthquake victims as they rebuild their lives.”

Great generosity and initiatives.

The last two times I flew to Australia, the first and second Christchurch earthquakes occurred. Each time as I landed, I was reading tweets and stories about the devastation.

I was feeling cursed, when I saw the headline at The Press about a quake shaking Christchurch. Luckily only a 4.3, so not that strong. As it was shallow though, I understand it was felt strongly.

Katie Chapman at Stuff reports:

Major routes in and out of New Zealand’s capital city could be blocked by rubble from more than 400 buildings with unstable masonry in the event of a big earthquake.

A new council report into Wellington’s resilience has found the city’s economy would take a $37 billion hit if it experienced an event like the Christchurch earthquake, with many core businesses and services – including the Government – likely to leave the city permanently.

Among concerns highlighted in the report are the 435 buildings in Wellington with unreinforced masonry, 166 of which are heritage buildings.

The location of many earthquake-prone buildings along important strategic roads means routes needed by emergency services in the event of a big earthquake could end up blocked by fallen masonry.

The short version is if a big quake hits Wellington, we’re all fucked.

Transmission Gully will at least provide an alternate route out in the future , but even getting to the start of that will probably prove highly difficult.

Still it could be worse than being left to rot in a quake destroyed Wellington. The Government will probably relocate to Palmerston North – a fate worse than death!