Posts by Lilith __
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Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to Hebe,
It’s not as simple as saying the big one one has come and gone and it won’t happen for another 15,000 years. Another one could have big effects, and it could happen tomorrow.
I never said that. Just that our recent quakes are somewhat freakish when seen in a long perspective.
And yes, we could have another big one tomorrow. But so could lots of other places in NZ, and they have more things that can fall down. :-)
The new Chch is going to be much more strongly engineered and much more resilient.
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Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to Steve Barnes,
A floodplain on geologically unstable terrain is not a suitable place to build a City. I think Nature made that point quite plain.
No amount of mitigating earthworks will beat a solid foundation. Maori understood this and only used the area as a seasonal encampment, we, on the other hand, decided to build high-rise structures. Not smart.As I’ve already said, we’re a bit short of “safe” places for cities.
The faults around Chch that have recently moved are long-return events, the Greendale fault near Darfield that caused the Sept 4, 2010, quake had not ruptured in at least sixteen thousand years. The alpine fault and the faults running through Wellington and Hawkes Bay are MUCH more active.
Edit: Also, I don't buy the idea that Maori had experienced major earthquakes in Chch, or that that was why they were only living here on an itinerant basis. They may have found it damp here, or prone to flooding, or there may be other reasons. AFAIK they had a permanent settlement at Kaiapoi and various parts of the Peninsula. Perhaps the plains offered poor strategic resources? Too hard to defend?
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Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to Richard Aston,
Fair enough but I was just pointing out the ChCh quake has affected us all, insurance and govt spending are just a couple of lines.
Yeah, thanks for that. We know.
Thats true about Wellington but I’d like to think their buildings are earthquake proof just because they get so many reminders that they on on the fault line but …
Auckland will be a doosie though when Rangitoto fires up , bang there goes the Sky Tower and the casino will be buried under a mile of ash.
Hard to volcano proof buildings .Wellington buildings are not earthquake proof. When that fault-line moves it’s gonna be wrecked. Auckland is built on an active volcanic field and as far as I’ve heard no-one’s suggesting moving either Wellington or Auckland. Dunedin is full of un-reinforced masonry buildings that will come down when they have a decent shake, which will happen eventually.
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Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to Paul Campbell,
(then again maybe they’re just gouging rather than gauging ….)
You can be sure they're making a good profit in spite of everything.
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Field Theory: And they're off!, in reply to David Hood,
some complaints from sports watchers who feel that you shouldn’t revisit the ref’s (or in this case judge’s) decisions after the fact.
Yeah, to me it's more important to get it right. If there's some obvious point that's been missed in the heat of the moment, I think it should be corrected. Otherwise the winners know they didn't really win and the losers know they should have won, and everyone feels bad.
I must say the gymnasts move so fast that a casual observer misses most of it until the slow-mo replay!
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Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to Richard Aston,
the ChCh rebuild is being funded by all New Zealand , and we have all taken a hit on insurance premiums because of the earthquake damage.
... the rebuild does affect us all.Honestly, I'm kind of sick of non-Cantabrians complaining about their insurance premiums. We've all been paying premiums in case disaster struck. Just be glad it struck us and not you, this time.
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Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to Islander,
Which means,
just in case the post was misunderstood,
NOTHING
will be reinvested into the Government-driven scheme for THEIR rebuilding of ChChCh….There are much better places to rebuild Otautahi – which was a temporary river & seasonal camp.
Get out of the flood plain – go into the foothills – otherwise,
grief IS assurred.Islander, can you explain what you mean? I thought you were talking about right-wing politics, but are you talking about geography?
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Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Unfortunately post-quake they’ve been struggling for patronage
and are proposing cutting back or stopping services all over the place – buses every hour instead of half hour in some places – and creating extra connections for people to get where they used to go in one trip…
Yes. That would suck. I remember back in the day when the buses only went once an hour on Sundays, and they all met in the Square, and we scurried between. I remember walking long distances because walking was better than standing and waiting for 45 minutes. An hourly bus service is hardly worth having. Anyone with any other option will take it.
I remember when they switched some of the routes to 15 minutes from half-an-hour and patronage soared. Buses were suddenly an easy option.
I understand they don't want to keep running mostly-empty buses, but if they cut services, the system will die.
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Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Chchch had a chance to get these things right, green belts for cycles and infrastructure etc – and Steven Joyce rejected it out of hand!
But…isn’t a green belt and lots of cycle paths/lanes in the Plan?
Has the govt actually read the plan? Or are they just signing things like John Banks? -
Hard News: Christchurch: Is "quite good"…, in reply to BenWilson,
I’d have thought buses better, personally, just because we’re a poor country, and buses are the initially cheap option, very low political hurdles, whilst still a big improvement on a system designed around cars.
I've said it before, but Chch's bus system is really good, and pre-quake was expanding rapidly to be really brilliant. Unfortunately post-quake they've been struggling for patronage (as have taxi companies) because people are going out a lot less (fewer places to go!)