Posts by Rosemary McDonald
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http://nzhistory.govt.nz/massive-earthquake-hits-wellington
The uplift caused by the quake led to improved transport links. Parts of the road between Wellington and Hutt Valley had been impassable at high tide, but this route was now safe for vehicles and (later) trains. Dangerous sections of the coastal route to Wairarapa were also raised. The earthquake also drained the notoriously swampy lower reaches of Hutt Valley and enabled the creation of the Basin Reserve cricket ground in Wellington.
Despite its strength, the quake killed only a few people – one in Wellington, two in Manawatū and up to six in Wairarapa.
Understanding Wellington’s Vulnerability to Earthquakes....
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Up Front: Giving It the Bish, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
‘The Message’ down there…
Oh my fucking giddy Aunt Fanny.....the chutzpah of the .....thing...
Mission Statement
You have a voice, a viewpoint, an insight that is important and distinct.Our mission is to deliver the clearest, most articulate and most effective representation of your unique voice.
We are your ally and your advocate. You have a message - we are your messenger.
No Sir Dalziel...you shall not drag me down this path...I am going to now return to my (carefully constructed for the sake of my mental equilibrium) default position of accepting we are a democracy, we all enjoy the right to free speech, and we are a society which embraces diversity.
(This mindset was developed after the 594th instance of the driver of a small vehicle pulling out in front of my 5 ton housebus travelling at 90km/hr on the open road, forcing me to brake suddenly and/or take evasive action. I remind myself how fortunate indeed we are in Aotearoa that the blind are free to drive motor vehicles.)
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Bishop Tamaki blames gay people for the earthquakes, Michael Laws calls the parent of a child with a disability a 'monstrous zealot' for not doing the 'decent' thing and aborting her child.
Y'all really should read the exchange between Laws and the mother of a boy with Down's....makes Tamaki's little rant seem trivial. Tamaki was not advocating the killing of people because they are gay. Laws was advocating the killing of people because they are disabled.
Somehow, people with disabilities, and especially those born with disabilities, had to find a way of managing to occupy the same country, the same planet, as fuckwits like him.
So, we express our disgust. We don't give him the oxygen to grow his hate speech. And we make sure he knows that we wouldn't piss on him if he were on fire.
(I signed the petition yesterday.)
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Hard News: #eqnz: Okay?, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
is the owner of the dangerous building liable for your expenses as a result?
Methinks this is one of the reasons for the apparent reluctance of the Authorities to issue Grand Proclamations. They will be damned if they do and damned if they don't....
I don't live in Wellington, but have Bussed through and around the city often. I love Wellington....but...will keep a close eye and ear on the weather and at the slightest hint of an adverse event will head up SH 1 or SH 2 before shit gets real. We have more than once got out just in time.
One Sunday, on our first visit to Wellington in the Bus, we reconnoitered the CBD in order to find Bus parking with wheelchair access in anticipation of our business on the morrow. We drove up the Terrace...for fun...in an howling northerly...those tall buildings were moving in the wind.
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Hard News: #eqnz: Okay?, in reply to ,
We are also getting a bit of earthquake action here in Wellington.
And Katherine Ryan spent the first part of her session this morning asking the Mayor if a more precautionary approach should have been taken over allowing free access to the CBD, and speaking with David Hopkins and Paul Campbell, actual experts, about a star rating system for buildings.
The impression I got from the Mayor was a reluctance for the Authorities (central and local) to take responsibility for issuing 'safe or unsafe to enter' notices. "Ask your boss or your landlord."
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Hard News: #eqnz: Okay?, in reply to Alfie,
Whoever would have known that Kaikoura was such a hotbed of murderous, homosexual imperfection.
The Bishop digs even deeper....
And other ‘extra sexual behaviour’.
(Confused, and concerned at getting behind the times vernacularly, I foolishly asked Mr. Google for a definition of the term ’extra sexual. Oops!)
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Hard News: #eqnz: Okay?, in reply to Farmer Green,
Throw in the administrative incompetence at every level . . . it’s quite a disturbing picture.
The cynic in me thinks that perhaps this is part of the Plan.
We are being taught not to rely on The Administration to provide support.
We are being 'encouraged' (read forced) to stand on our own individual or collective feet.
Its all about 'building resilience', a term that pops up in many forums these days.
This might be a good Plan....community level post disaster actions are often very good....until, of course, The Administration steps in, takes control, fails to respect the locals, stuffs up, and ultimately magnifies the stress and frustration.
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Whew! Thank god!!!!
It was very near the end of all things...
"It's done." "Yes, Mr Frodo, it's over now."
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Hard News: #eqnz: Okay?, in reply to Carol Stewart,
Again...we plan. (and don't we hate doing that...but needs must.)
We generally let someone know where we will be for the night....or the week or so...if we are parking up in a remote place, or a remote place where there is the possibility of having unwanted visitors. Message is often along the lines of "If you don't hear from us by X date, our rotting, stinking corpses can be found here". Of course, they are going to suck all the fun out from that particular site as the plan is to upgrade the cellphone coverage at the Cape...so we may just get cover down at the camp.
I jest....better cellphone reception in the more remote parts of the motu makes sense. Some of these areas are on the 'must do' list for our overseas travelers. Some of the roads into these areas require driving skills beyond that of many of our younger visitors. Mistakes happen, and getting help when finding cellphone cover requires local knowledge can be problematic.
We were at that particular camp when the Te_Araroa_earthquake struck in September. It woke me up. Automatically, I put on the radio,...RNZ...and had the pleasure (under the guise of performing a public service) of going around and waking the other campers and informing them of the tsunami warning.
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Hard News: #eqnz: Okay?, in reply to Carol Stewart,
You beat me to posting Beck Eleven's piece....
Unfortunately, that sense of humour is a fair way down the aftershock timeline. It will emerge after a lot of forlorn swearing while you clean up the mess that Mother Nature made. One day you will learn that Blu Tack is a friend to ornaments. Or, eventually, that ornaments are not your friend at all.
I can promise though, that friends and neighbours count for everything at this time. One day you will laugh about digging your own toilet in your back yard.
S O and me were abed the other night when the Waikato decided to party with the rest of the country. He was snoring, me just nodding off and thinking this "falling dream thing" is going on a bit too long....wtf ???
Just as I was deciding that maybe I'd better drag him out of bed and onto the floor under the bed, the wobble stopped. The water in our concrete tanks didn't stop sloshing for about five minutes. There was clearly some wave amplification shit going on, not only in each tank...but we could hear the water being pushed through the pipe connecting the two tanks....and water was being pushed back up the inlet pipe and creating little gurgles in the down pipes. All very interesting.
However....back to our contingency planning....Living most of the time in a seven metre housebus, often parked up in remote places with no cellphone coverage and usually by the ocean, we are constantly doing risk analysis. We are not risk averse, and we will be found going to and staying in areas that other travelers (without the tetraplegic issues) avoid. But we do take a few moments to identify possible risks, ensure we have an escape route and we always make sure we have enough water, food and required paraphernalia for managing tetraplegia in case we are stuck for longer than we planned. Our lives are all about identifying and managing/mitigating risk ,and also all about being fit and well enough to get 'out wide' and taking a few risks.
In the Bus....our equivalent of 'tall furniture' would be the pots, pans, cutlery and the like in our overhead cupboards. I have, on occasion, after parking the Bus with her bum into the howling gale, removed the heavier kitchen equipment and stowed them where they won't land on us should the wind change and we get blown over. (I have also sat behind the steering wheel with the engine running ready to bolt (but to god knows where!) should the constantly shifting hurricane force wind get worse. Truly frightening, was that night.)