2009. When I'd trekked Avon River & Heathcote River banks, I thought people were stupid buying property near rivers, due to potential flood damage. New houses at Bexley Wetland looked dodgy, as some were built next to Bexley Wetland, lovely views across Avon Estuary, but potentially lethal. A small stopbank was graded before some houses as a barrier to Bexley Wetland, but Avon River water was between those houses & the stopbank, which looked useless.
1994. When I'd first visited NZ, at Auckland museum I heard about quake liquefaction. As a 1995 immigrant I couldn't believe Christchurch house buyers were unaware of liquefaction dangers. It was disturbing that surveyors, engineers, planners, councillors, architects, builders, developers, real estate agents, whose business was to know about liquefaction, had allowed building & selling of expensive houses at Bexley Wetland on a thick layer of silt. I'd seen that thick silt layer when I'd dug holes in my Halswell rental garden across town. Below that thick layer of silt was alluvial shingle. People who'd allowed building & selling of houses at Bexley Wetland were negligent, as liquefaction was a well known quake hazard. Never mind Christchurch Council consenting such bldgs.
I drove Luke to his building site work at Willowbank Reserve & stopped for snaps at Styx Mill Rd : shattered brick chimney on a tin roof.
Afterwards, I drove to Travis Wetland, snapping quake damages at Frosts Rd & Mairehau Rd : cracked roads, cracked, buckled pavements, quakemire & cracks on roadsides, snapped concrete curbs, concrete curbs pulled from tarseal by lateral spreading, tilted power poles.
07.09.10. Quake toppled farmhouse chimney, Styx Mill Rd
07.09.10. Close up, quake toppled farmhouse chimney, Styx Mill Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked Frosts Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Quake cracked footpath, Frosts Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Quake buckled wooden lining of footpath, Frosts Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Overlap of footpath tarseal caused by quake, Frosts Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Quake buckled footpath, Frosts Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Quake cracked pavement & driveway, Mairehau Rd. Liquefaction silt in gutter. Dried silt, grey colour
07.09.10. Quake tilted lampposts & power poles, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked pavement, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked pavement by gate, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Liquefaction damaged driveway & pavement, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked driveway by gate, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake shoved pavement tarseal against a gate, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked pavement, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked pavement, doctor's surgery, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked pavement, doctor's surgery, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake damaged concrete drain, steel mesh fence cordoned, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Liquefaction damaged curb & road, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked pavement, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake damaged curb, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake damaged curb, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Liquefaction silt & quake crack, Travis Wetland, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Liquefaction silt & crack, tilted power poles, Travis Wetland, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake tilted power poles, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake buckled carpark, Travis Wetland, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake cracked carpark, Travis Wetland, Mairehau Rd
07.09.10. Quake damaged roadside, Mairehau Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Quake damaged roadside & power pole, Mairehau Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Quake damaged curb, Mairehau Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Quake damaged roadside, Mairehau Rd, Travis Wetland
07.09.10. Quake damaged roadside & curb, Mairehau Rd, Travis Wetland
As roads to Bexley Wetland were road blocked, I drove along a side road off Pages Rd where I parked, then trekked across Bexley Park to Bexley Rd. Along the tarsealed footpath I crossed many quake cracks, where tarseal was flipped, flung by the quake all over the path.
07.09.10. Quake cracked footpath, Bexley Park. Quake flipped & flung tarseal
Two workmen walked along the path in Bexley Park placing broken tarseal aside, in readiness for path repairs, so we were the last 3 to see quake damage to the path as it really was. I felt creepy trekking freshly quaked ground, anticipating more aftershocks. That creepy feeling would not abate during my quake trekking over the next 3 years.
Crossing Bexley Rd to Seabreeze Cl, I sludged through shitty liquefaction on the roadside. Sewage pipes had burst, mixing shit with liquefaction mud. Trekking, I always wore flip-flops, easy to slip off in quakemire, easy to clean afterwards. I also used my flip-flops as a rough measure of quake damages, like road cracks, bridge cracks, bridge movements...
Seabreeze Cl, Kokopu Ln, Wetlands Gr: Roads & footpaths cracked. A foot deep layer of liquefaction mud had already been cleared from roads, gardens. Residual mud on driveways showed liquefaction depth.
07.09.10. Yellow & blue portaloos, Seabreeze Cl, due to liquefactioned sewage pipes
07.09.10. Liquefactioned Seabreeze Cl, after silt was graded away. People relocating due to quake damaged housing
07.09.10. Liquefaction silt already graded away from a Seabreeze Cl driveway, Bexley Wetland
07.09.10. People relocating from liquefactioned Seabreeze Cl, Bexley Wetland
07.09.10. Depth of liquefaction silt in Seabreeze Cl driveway, Bexley Wetland
07.09.10. People relocating from liquefactioned Seabreeze Cl, Bexley Wetland. Silt in driveway & garage
07.09.10. Man measuring a quake crack at the end of Seabreeze Cl, Bexley Wetland. (Pic laterally inverted)
07.09.10. Green & yellow portaloos, end of quake cracked Seabreeze Cl, Bexley Wetland
07.09.10. Quake damaged steps rising from the public footpath to a garden, Bexley Wetland. (Pic laterally inverted)
07.09.10. Quake buckled wooden lining to footpath in front of housing, Bexley Wetland
07.09.10. Quake damaged footpath in front of housing, Bexley Wetland. Liquefaction silt boils on path
07.09.10. Quake cracked footpath in front of housing, Bexley Wetland. Liquefaction silt boil on path
07.09.10. Quake cracked footpath in front of houses, Bexley Wetland
07.09.10. Quake damaged public footpath between houses, showing thick silt layer on which housing was built, Bexley Wetland
07.09.10. Quaked cracked Kokopu Ln, after liquefaction silt was graded away
07.09.10. Neighbours talk by a liquefaction silt pile, Wetlands Gr
07.09.10. Bexley pavement, blue portaloos, as sewage pipes were quake damaged, Wetlands Gr
Seabreeze Cl: I didn't stay long, I felt sad for people leaving their damaged properties. They still looked shocked four days post quake. An intruder, I slipped past, angry that authorities had allowed such a catastrophe to happen, due to rotten planning. Seabreeze Cl had blue, yellow, green portaloos on pavements, showing that sewage pipes were destroyed by the quake, Seabreeze Cl in deep shit. Bexley was the first suburb where I saw portaloos (generic term). Colourful portaloos would become another symbol of Christchurch quakes.
I didn't snap as many images as I would've liked at Bexley, as power surges after the quake had fried my battery recharger & I needed to buy a new one. Despite spares, my Coolpix camera batteries ran out while I was at Bexley. I had limited conventional film for my 30 year old Minolta manual camera, hence different quality in pic development.
07.09.10. Shitty feet after an afternoon's sludging through Bexley Wetland housing sewage, caused by quake sewage pipe breakages
Bexley would be trashed by 22.02.11 Killer Quake & 13.06.11 Quake. I would return to Bexley after those quakes.
*Trekked Styx Mill Rd, Frosts Rd, Mairehau Rd, Seabreeze Cl, Bexley Wetland, Kokopu Ln, Wetlands Gr. 51 snaps.
Facebook:
@Lynelle. We're OK in Chch, shocking, but we survived unscathed. Electricity, water immediately cut off, restored hours later, kitchen cupboard doors popped open, stuff on the floor, like spaghetti, books, files flung off shelves, ironing board, big mirror on floor, no breakages, some squiff pictures on walls. One small crack in front door roof panel. Of 1 000s of garage items only a pumpkin & tennis ball were flung from a windowsill, ended up under our Honda car.
Others not so lucky, much damage in the CBD, some Christchurch riverside suburbs bad & riverside Kaiapoi bad. Darfield district near epicentre village Kirwee, bad, much damage.
Better to live in single storey wooden houses in seismic zones, forget about brick houses & chimneys, as quakes loosen mortar, shake brick structures to bits. I trekked through Christchurch Botanic Gdns yesterday, Day 3 post quake, not a downed tree in sight, some are massive like redwoods, oaks, pines, cedars, gums. Wood is flexible, bricks, concrete, mortar not. Any structure above single storey, dodgy, as quake shakes are vertically amplified. Many brick chimneys, brick upper walls, brick parapets, gables toppled. I've seen 3 crushed cars so far, all parked by brick bldg walls.
Kids are off school till Wednesday as school bldgs must be safety checked. Leah is at a staff meeting today Tuesday at school, Day 4 post quake. I drove past Leah's Jean Seabrook Memorial School yesterday, looked OK from outside, modern wooden, Gib board, double storey, constructed a few years ago. 7 September 10.41am.
@Alan, Sheila. News that aftershocks could go on for weeks. Blase about aftershocks after 3 days of them, so far... I feel aftershocks when still, but don't feel aftershocks when walking or driving. 7 September 9.58am.
I saw liquefaction damage around Travis Wetland, Bexley by Avon Estuary & Avonside by Avon River. Seabreeze Cl, Bexley: sorrow while people left, household goods trucked, gardens deeply silted, new homes destroyed, Portaloos, excavators waiting. Another aftershock while I write. 8 September 12.42am.
@ Jenny. Reconstructions / repairs going quickly in places, hampered by aftershocks. 8 September 12.48am.
Councillors, engineers, planners, architects, Home Enterprise directors who allowed 150 houses to be built by Bexley Swamp, Avon Estuary, over recent years, at Pacific Park subdivision were criminally negligent. Liquefaction quake hazard is well known. liquefaction at older Avonside & New Brighton suburbs & newer swamp, riverside suburbs pertains: all that quakemire. 9 September 11.10am.
@Grant. I'd heard about liquefaction soon after arrival in Chch 15 years ago. In the shit alright, I came back stinking after trekking Bexley for hours. 11 September 8.22am.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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