Christchurch – 5 years on
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- Date published:
6:03 am, February 22nd, 2016 - 31 comments
Categories: accountability, christchurch earthquake, disaster -
Tags: actions speak louder, christchurch, christchurch earthquake, christchurch rebuilding
The most destructive and deadly earthquake in the Christchurch / Canterbury sequence happened on 22 February 2011 at 12:51 pm.
The anniversary has attracted media attention. The Herald’s (Olivia Carville and Mike Scott) piece – ‘Don’t think about the bad stuff’: How the children of the quake survived and thrived – is thoughtful and moving.
While the dead are mourned, many of the living are still dealing with extreme stress in the aftermath:
Hundreds protest over quake insurance delays
Organisers of a protest in Christchurch’s cathedral square this afternoon are calling for an external review of the way the Earthquake Commission has handled claims.
Almost 1,000 Christchurch residents attended today’s rally around lunchtime to vent their frustration over insurance delays.
The timing of the protest is symbolic – just a day out from the fifth year anniversary of the February 2011 earthquake.
…
“This recovery for so many thousands of people in Christchurch has been the most appalling mess I’ve ever seen,” said MC Mike Coleman.… pictures were placed at the front of the stage of John Key, Gerry Brownlee, Insurance Council CEO Tim Grafton, and EQC boss Ian Simpson to symbolise their absence.
The recently renewed quake activity has been another blow to a fragile city, read this excellent personal account: We need to talk about Christchurch.
The people of Christchurch don’t need any more words about how brave and resilient they are. They need action.
https://twitter.com/BelMcCammon/status/701247835816132613
https://twitter.com/LI_politico/status/701250555604152321
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Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
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+100 – I guess aka Pike River, lots of photo ops from John Key and Brownlee when it first happens and promises and media appearances and then oh, nothing…
We have moved onto the flag now people. Wellington will have a panda and we may even get a tube stop at the Casino in Auckland in a few decades… Serco did Nothing wrong an ‘independent’ enquiry has found. All is good in NZ apart from the rent-a-crowd stirring up trouble…
I see “rent-a-crowd” is recruiting from the middle aged and elderly middle classes now
Well they can’t possibly be genuine protesters, everyone loves Key and National after all. It’s like we live behind the Iron Curtain! Brownlee got a non subtle assessment of his shortcomings by a passerby on RNZ this morning whist being interviewed by Espiner.
lol…indeed he did….and he was very reluctant to voice desire for continuing in the role
+100 Great Post ….and Guyon Espiner on Morning Report was very good too:
‘Anger lingers five years on from Canterbury earthquake’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201790206/anger-lingers-five-years-on-from-canterbury-earthquake
‘Tardy settlement of Christchurch quake claims stirs protest’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201790228/tardy-settlement-of-christchurch-quake-claims-stirs-protest
‘Five years on delays still plague Christchurch’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201790213/five-years-on-delays-still-plague-christchurch
‘Five years on, how is Christchurch faring?’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201790223/five-years-on,-how-is-christchurch-faring
‘Challenges ahead for Christchurch city council’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201790225/challenges-ahead-for-christchurch-city-council
Chooky
You have been busy composing that easy reference for us hanks.
smirk…well I do my best
..imo it is appalling how many people are still living in substandard conditions and are in limbo and still have the stress of fighting for their rights
…it will have killed quite a few people through the stress of this long drawn out aftermath
…terrible uncaring management by this nactional government.
…there needs to be an independent review of how this has been handled by Jonkey Nactional and Brownlee
And from the BBC on the rebuild or lack of it..
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35612298?post_id=948545545196248_1102926076424860
what its all about…without the spin
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/80204/cam-prestons-take-whats-really-happening-christchurch-5-years-after-big-earthquake
Thoughts are with all Cantabrians today. It will be a good day when those who are suffering and those who have been let down, finally find resolution and get the peace of mind they deserve.
Moata’s blog, in the link in the post is a must read for all NZer’s – to help us understand why the quakes will have lasting effects and possibly life time effects for some – certainly for some children who are growing up during this time.
Moata focused on the effects of mental health and well being. I also think of all those who had terrible injuries who then had the insult of having to part pay for physio treatment. One of the little talked about things that the Nats did to intentionally make life harder for all ordinary NZer’s was to remove full ACC funding of physio treatment. They did this soon after they got into power.
Depending on what clinic you go to you now pay between $25 – $30 per session. If you need to go to physio 3 times a week thats the best part of $100 gone. For some, they won’t be able to make to the $30 payment so will have been left untreated.
Th level of abandonment by govt has been quite astonishing. This one, an acknowledgement of the fact that EQC and the insurance co’s could have worked together is a real pearler:
“Earthquake Commission chief executive Ian Simpson agreed that it and the Insurance Council needed to find better ways to work together.”
No shit Sherlock!
No wonder you protest. Have a listen to the stories from people that Guyon Espiner interviewed yesterday and how their lives have changed:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/297089/five-years-on,-why-is-chch-still-waiting
The government are looking to do something about all these protests – find a bigger carpet to sweep them under and out of sight! Perhaps it could be a newspaper cover, all the compressed leftover rags that are the national newspapers – there aren’t enough fish and chip meals to provide a use for them – until now.
emotional day
on early morning read of paper
talking with mechanic
driving looking remembering
vivid
last week’s shake and a half
a week of 2011/12
18,000 shakes, counting…
a city of many tales
youngest not well
doubt shakes over
PM’s misplaced uber-confidence
stress city
stresscity
city stressed
today
real
Kia Ora vto.
good poem – keep them coming mate
Thinking it’s appropriate to remind people that mental health services are being slashed at the same time as suicide related incidents in Christchurch are numerically way in excess for the same incidents for Auckland.
Someone linked to a very good piece the other day. Scoop? Stuff? Written by a medical professional, it catalogued the numbers and (astonishingly to my mind) highlighted the fact that no mental health response programme had been put in place in spite of it being, internationally, the bog standard thing to do
In addition to the now visible people (children, homeowners), let’s also think about the people who ended up with lifelong disabilities*, either physical or mental, and the people who’ve never owned a home but are still struggling to replace the one they lived in pre-quake, or the people that are homeless, or the people that already had any or all of those conditions before the quake but whose lives are now exponentially worse. Those people aren’t even being named for the most part.
*thanks for your comment above Rosie!
More than probably anything else in my lifetime it’s the way the rest of NZ has moved on from and now ignores Chch that tells me just how much impact the neoliberal colonisation has had on our culture.
“More than probably anything else in my lifetime it’s the way the rest of NZ has moved on from and now ignores Chch that tells me just how much impact the neoliberal colonisation has had on our culture.”
This really bothers me.
I think this lack of care, or can’t be bothered to care any more about the fate of the people of our second largest city “feeling”, one gets from reading online media is a disturbing marker of where our society is going. Self absorbed and compassion less. That can also said about our view on poverty.
I’ve read the cruellest comments on stuff.co.nz over the years, about the people of CHCH who have lost so much. Mind blowing really.
If they’re not the ones dependent on paroxetine/fluoxetine, zopiclone and lorazepam to get through the days and nights, not the ones dependent on painkillers to get through the days and nights due to injuries that will affect them for life, not the ones having lost loved ones, not the ones having lost their homes and been involved in the battle of their life to get it rebuilt, and even not the ones who lost a beloved animal companion – then it just doesn’t matter.
Very true. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Chch people vote at the next General Election. Because I expect Chch has been colonised as much as the rest of the place ;-(
Well, from foggy memory, they didn’t exactly punish the nat govt in 2014 general election….??
Well said Rosie. It also depends if the doctors will prescribe those drugs or not. Some are cruel.
Sorry to hear that some people can’t get access to the medicine they need. In the case of zopiclone, the sleeping pills, they can be used as a means for suicide, so I’m wondering if some Dr’s may have been cautious of that in patients they suspected or knew to be a suicide risk.
Then again, access to free professional counselling should have been a priority for those people.
Brownlee attacked at Christchurch memorial service:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11593722
He says he’d like to know what the man’s gripe was.
Well, fuck. That would be the unconscionable arse taking the biscuit… and dipping it in the ‘foul smelling muck’ flavoured ice-cream all innocent like, aye?
Go on son (Magisterium). Regale us with how being upset about something for the best part of 5 years, and then expressing it in a fairly straight forward, direct and non-violent way for the elucidation of the appointed “Henry of Christchurch” is beyond the pale.
No.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/77169484/gerry-brownlee-protestor-lost-son-in-quake
Holy shit, Gerry Brownlee killed this guy’s son?!
Heres your “rent a crowd”
+100….that is a great film!….they dont look like a “rent a crowd” at all!…they are genuine Christchurch salt- of- the- earth citizens…real New Zealanders
… unlike slimey John Key and bully Brownlee who have let Christchurch down
Christchurch Wizard said it all imo
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201790327/wizard-of-christchurch-discusses-the-five-years-since-quake
sadly this morning Andrew Little demonstrated on RNZ he has yet to grasp the issues in ChCh….bloody disappointing after 5 + years
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201790383/labour-calling-for-deadline-to-christchurch-quake-claims
Can’t believe Key flippantly summed up Christchurch’s problems as just three or four things left to be done.
He then went on to list three or four things which encompassed the entire failure of the rebuild.
The convention centre (he loves those)
The sports stadium (those too)
The Cathedral (not pressing I would have thought)
The claims (which he blamed on the claimants).
the day gets better and better….not
Stonewood in liquidation tomorrow with nigh on a hundred partial builds underway in ChCh