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^^ good to hear AF
My brother's sister-in-law and her family are all ok, mum, dad and 2 kids were all at different workplaces and schools, unharmed but their hose if now a 'flatpack' with roof at floor level. Can be replaced.
^Dug - hard to understand their thinking, if they think at all. A month in custody before their next hearing, that's a start.
Christchurch thefts act of 'brainless' people
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Christchurch doesn't need "this extra aggravation from brainless people", a makeshift court was told yesterday.
The accused responded with raised middle-finger salutes.
The two Christchurch men have been charged with stealing emergency generators – essential, even life-saving equipment – in the aftermath of an earthquake. The men were arrested on Thursday night and charged with the joint theft of three emergency generators from the earthquake-shattered central city.
"What would possess someone to do that? ... you know there are people dying around us," Judge Michael Crosbie asked.
The men face a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.
Fisherman Owen Anthony Jackson, 23, and his co-accused, unemployed man Jed Wilson-Calver, 22, raised their middle fingers to the court after Judge Crosbie denied them bail.
SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS CONTINUES
Last updated 05:00 26/02/2011
About 700 urban search and rescue staff continue to work in the city today.
"Everybody believes there are still people who we will find alive,'' Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said this morning, ''somewhere out there someone is alive.''
There was a brief glimmer of hope this morning when 30 specialists raced to a destroyed building after searchers thought they heard voices.
''It turned out it was a cat . . . The cat was last seen heading off at a great rate of knots,'' said Police Superintendent Russell Gibson.
Gibson said the rescue focus had tended to be on the Pyne Gould and CTV buildings until now but there were massive areas of the city covered with rubble.
Rescue teams from seven countries still hold hope of finding survivors.
''Survivors can stay alive quite a time in a collapsed building,'' said Captain Bryan Wells, from the Los Angeles Fire Department, whose team arrived in Christchurch yesterday morning.
''In Haiti, when we responded to that earthquake, we were able to find victims five, six, seven days after the earthquake.''
The Grand Chancellor Hotel, teetering on the brink of collapse on Wednesday, has apparently stabilised and not moved for two days. Rescuers hope to enter the building today.
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Prime Minister John Key visited the tent city at Latimer Square and got a hug from one of the English rescue workers.
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Prime Minister John Key visits the tent city at Latimer Square.
Earthquake toll rises to 145
BREAKING5:33 PM Saturday Feb 26, 2011
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A Chinese recovery team works with members of the New Zealand Urban Search and Rescue to carry a body from the Canterbury TV site.
The official death toll for the Christchurch earthquake has risen to 145 this evening.
"We expect that number to rise," said Superintendent David Cliff.
The number of missing people for whom there are grave concerns remains at more than 200, he said.
"There remains a very real risk of masonry coming off buildings," Mr Cliff said, "as well as windows still smashing with those aftershocks."
A police officer has been assigned to each of the families of those still missing.
Fire Service spokesman Paul Baxter said the search and rescue effort was continuing, but there were no live rescues today and there have not been any since Wednesday afternoon.
Royal Thai Police Forensic team coming to New Zealand today to help search and identify the six Thais who are still missing
Police: Quake victims may never be identified
Last updated 12:43 27/02/2011
The death toll from the Christchurch quake continues to climb as police say some victims may never be identified.
Superintendent Dave Cliff today said 146 people were confirmed dead and more than 200 remained missing following Tuesday's quake.
He said 166 police staff were working to help identify victims, but it was possible not all of the dead people would be identified due to the nature of injuries caused by the quake and fires at some sites.
"Where there is intense fire, like at the CTV [Canterbury Television] site, it presents real difficulties.
"I don't want to pre-empt what will happen, but we need to brace ourselves that that possibility does exist. We are not at that point yet, but it is a risk," Cliff said.
He said DNA would be used wherever possible and police hoped to release at least one more victim's name today.
Cliff repeated calls for overseas tourists visiting New Zealand to call home to tell family they were safe.
Police believed some of the names of foreigners on the missing list were not actually missing.
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Spirits 'will not be crushed'
"So long as there is still a Cantabrian standing you can't take Christchurch away – the buildings may be gone but the spirit of the people remains."
Phil Keoghan, loyal son of Canterbury, was feeling the pain of Christchurch yesterday as he walked through its streets. But he also knows his hometown is not going to let this killer quake beat it.
He is in the city to film a personal reaction to the quake which will screen tomorrow on the prime time news bulletins of US network CBS, the channel which screens his hit show The Amazing Race.
The quake is raw and personal for Keoghan. He attended St Andrew's College and mum and dad John and Beth run a bed and breakfast in Rolleston. Last night they slept on the floor of their garage, not because of damage to their place but because they have given up their bed to other homeless Cantabrians.
Seeing the devastation first-hand brought disbelief.
"It's almost like it's not real. I was here eight months ago filming for Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism. You think these buildings which you know so well, which have stood for 100 years or more, will stand forever. And here they are lying in ruins.
"It's like something out of a movie, but it's real.
"We get so desensitised by disasters in movies, but when you see this well, it hits you.
"You realise everything we build on the earth is temporary and ultimately the most important part of a place is the people.
"You are never going to take the fight out of a Cantabrian – but people here are really scared. This is brutal."
He got inside the cordons in the CBD, ushered in by Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism because of the audience his name commands in the US market.
Alongside the CBS news piece, he is filming appeals which will screen throughout the US asking for donations to the New Zealand Red Cross.
But the vital thing is to get an accurate message to Americans, he says. The US thinks all of New Zealand is a flattened disaster zone.
"The worst thing that can happen is that people stop visiting. No matter what fundraising people do, it's a drop in the bucket compared to tourism."
- Sunday Star Times
Just seen on the Telli that at least half of the city will be bull dosed.
Jeeesuussss.
With over a 1/4 of buildings in the CBD destroyed, and many more in the suburbs, christchurch the city I grew up in and drive around everyday will be changed forever.
Many of our historic icons are in ruins , these buildings are what gave chch it's "englishness".
But on the flip side it is a chance to rebuild chch into a modern cosmopolitian city.
Its no secret that many of our older suburbs were run down and crime ridden.
hopefully chch won't just become a giant parking lot.
Hi all .......
I was one that was there and experienced the quake first hand ..... it was not nice to be in and in fact it was very scary.
I am in the cash transport business and was driving about 1 km from the centre of the CBD.
Everything shook and the road opened and closed b4 me,then waterfalls gushed from the road.
Traffic came to a stand still as the power lines and poles moved backwards and forwards above us and mother nature chucked the armoured truck around as if we where leaves in the wind .....
A child was tossed to the ground to the right of me.Old people had trouble standing.A postie was flung from her bike .... everywhere we were looking something abnormal was happening ....
The centre of the city was instantly covered in a fine dust that looked initially like fog but it was the dust from the cement and bricks that held a once fine city that is now a ruin,together.
I could see it all so clearly and that is now etched into my mind
I knew at once that many would be dead as i could tell the buildings had collapsed.
An earlier quake had already made many unsafe ....... many are dead ( 147 at this time of writing ) ...... there is much sorrow .... many are missing ....... many have lost their homes and everything ........ the streets are a mess and much of the city is cordoned off while the Police and Search and Rescue try and locate survivors under all the rubble ................. its very very sad for all of us especially those whom have lost a loved one.
1/3rd of the city will be demolished and maybe more ....... every day for those who have lost someone its a day of deepening sorrow
Our daily living has been shattered and upset as there is no power for many.No water.No toilet facilities.No food.No jobs for as many as 50000 will have no work to go to.Limited supermarkets avail as most malls were destroyed or badly damaged on the outskirts of the city limits.
We are all doing what we can to help out.
There is not enough space to express my sorrow in what has happened here .....
one of many sad stories
Only child's unknown fate torture for family
5:30 AM Monday Feb 28, 2011
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Teenager Jayden Andrews-Howland was on a bus into town, probably to figure out how he would spend his birthday money.
The 14-year-old was among hundreds of students let out early last Tuesday at Linwood College, which was having a teacher-only afternoon.
It was his birthday the next day and his family believe he had gone into town to look for his present.
The bell rang at 12.30pm and Jayden was seen getting on to the No 3 bus into the Christchurch CBD.
Less than half an hour later, the earthquake struck.
He has not been seen or heard from since.
Yesterday, his grandmother Janet Andrews choked back tears as she spoke of Jayden.
"He was in his school uniform and it was a half-day at school, so that's why he was on the bus," she told the Herald.
"He had his bike stolen a few weeks ago so he often just went into town on the bus before going home. He would have been looking for something to use his birthday money on."
Mrs Andrews said the family had been hoping their boy had been taken in by someone.
However, seeing images of the No 3 bus - crushed by bricks and other fallen debris - had wiped out all hopes.
"We're all very resigned to the idea that he is not coming home alive," Mrs Andrews said. "There's been no communication, and Jayden is that kind of kid - if he could have contacted us, he would have been in touch straight away.
"He's an only child and you can imagine his mother is just cut up about it. You just don't understand it, but he really was her life."
Jayden's family have been distributing flyers and posting messages about him on Facebook asking anyone who may have seen him on Tuesday to come forward.
However, no one has been in touch.
Mrs Andrews said the family were just coping, but his mother was finding it particularly hard.
"Most of the time I'm okay," Mrs Andrews said, "but there's certain triggers that set you off."
She described her grandson as a "good kid" who loved riding his bike.
"He's a quiet child; not very adventurous, but just a good kid. You hear people say that all the time, but it's true. Jayden's a good kid and he would have been in touch with us."
วันอังคาร ที่ 01 มี.ค. 2554
Thai National Police Bureau has not confirm that five Asian bodies found in New Zealand earthquake debris are Thai, await DNA test results on March 4
mcot.net
Searchers to enter cathedral spire
6:23 PM Thursday Mar 3, 2011
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Recovery workers inspect the fallen spire of Christchurch Cathedral yesterday. Photo / AP
Searchers are close to entering the collapsed spire of Christchurch Cathedral, where up to 22 people are believed to have been killed during last week's 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Christchurch.
A Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team was preparing to access the inside of the spire, USAR and the Fire Service said in a statement this afternoon.
"This will then allow the systematic and controlled deconstruction of the debris to ascertain the location and recover of any victims in this area."
The focus search efforts today moved from rescue to recovery, but buildings would still be treated as if there were survivors, said Jim Stuart-Black, the Fire Service's head of the USAR teams.
"It is highly, highly unlikely that we will encounter anybody who is alive, but clearly there is the occasional miracle, so we conduct our operations first of all to allow for that miracle," he told a press conference this afternoon.
USAR teams conducted their operations with care and consideration and when they came across a body "we treat them as one of ours".
Mr Stuart-Black said following today's decision they would consider their planning and resource requirements over the next day or two.
Operations would continue 24/7, he said.
"What we now turn our attention to is to work very carefully with heavy machinery to slowly start clearing debris from all the streets checking as we go."
They would take apart damaged buildings in a controlled and careful manner, Mr Stuart-Black said.
At the Forsyth Barr building, where a 24-hour operation was underway, no stairs were available from the 10th floor to the ground.
In order to continue the search a section of wall needed to be removed to enter the building and remove the collapsed stairwell, which the US team said was a significant job.
New Zealand and British teams expected to complete taking down the concrete floors at the Pyne Gould Corporation building late tomorrow or early Saturday.
Searching at the 26-storey Hotel Grand Chancellor was nearly complete, but parts of the stairwell were blocked by rubble.
Japanese, Chinese and New Zealand teams continued searching at the CTV building, which needed to be done during the day.
Around 100 bodies are thought to be in the building, including more than 60 staff and foreign students from the King's Education English language school.
Civil Defence teams, Fire Service staff and police also continued to visit streets and properties outside the CBD to reassure and support people, and would respond with specialist USAR if required.
Teams from Singapore and Australia were also working as part of the USAR in Christchurch.
- NZPA
Update 5 March 2011
Earlier today superintendent Sam Hoyle said a further 38 bodies had been identified and the victims' families had been told.
The death toll was lifted by two to 165 today, but searchers have concluded that there are no bodies inside the collapsed ChristChurch Cathedral.
Previously it was reported that as many as 22 people may have been trapped in the church. A search of the rubble covered areas surrounding the cathedral would continue today.
Chinese, Japanese and New Zealand search teams expect to finish searching the CTV site tomorrow.
HERITAGE WARNING
Meanwhile, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has warned that an estimated 1000 Christchurch heritage buildings are a danger to people's lives and should mostly be demolished.
Brownlee, at a media briefing held at the Art Gallery this afternoon, said only significant Christchurch heritage building such as the ChristChurch Cathedral, the Catholic Basilica, the Provincial Chambers and the Art Centre should be retained.
"While they are part of our past history, they have no place in our future history. As I've said repeatedly, heritage is both forward and back and from this point on, we decide what the heritage of this city will be.
from this news article re earthquakes in Wellington
Records from GeoNet show there were more earthquakes in the week before February 22 than there have been since.
Wellington had 14 earthquakes in the week before Christchurch's quake, compared with 10 in the past 10 days.
But there has been a slight increase in magnitude since February 22 – in the week before the range was from 2 to 3.8; since the Christchurch quake, the range has been from 2.2 to 4.7.
GNS Science seismologist John Ristau said it was simply a coincidence that Wellington had felt two large jolts since Christchurch's quake.
"Earthquakes like this for the Wellington region are not unusual. You get a few earthquakes of this size and about 30 to 40 kilometres deep each year. It just so happens that there were two fairly sizeable ones in a few days."
Geographically, Wellington is too far away from Christchurch for its tremors to have any impact on the capital's fault lines, he said.
Fears that Wellington was heading towards "the big one" were also unfounded.
There was no doubt Wellington would be struck by a large earthquake one day, because it sits on several faults, including the Wellington fault where the Australian Tectonic Plate meets the Pacific Plate.
These quakes were normal and would not trigger a massive event, Dr Ristau said.
"Wellington is very prone to earthquakes, and there would be a major earthquake in Wellington, we know that, but these earthquakes, they don't suggest that a larger earthquake is imminent."
There were about 15,000 quakes in New Zealand each year – about 280 a week – and only about 250 of those were actually felt.
There was no way of predicting when a big quake would strike, he said.
^
After the 1st & 2nd CC quakes the GNS guys said it increased the likelihood of a major quake in Wellington. Now after two 4.* in Wellington they say it's unrelated.
They don't know WTF they're on about. That Moonman making earthquake predictions based on lunar activity makes more sense.
Large aftershock in Christchurch
UPDATED8:17 PM Saturday Mar 5, 2011
A large aftershock was widely felt in Canterbury this evening.
According to Geonet, the quake struck at 7.34pm. It was a 4.8 magnitude aftershock at a depth of 11km and was centred within 5km of Lyttelton.
It was felt as far away as Timaru.
Herald reporter Isaac Davison was in a restaurant when the quake struck, and said it went on for about 10 seconds.
"A few people were holding each other. The lights were swinging pretty heavily."
Before the details of the quake appeared on the Geonet website, Twitter users in Christchurch were predicting the shock to be at least a magnitude 5 and saying it may have caused more damage since last week's deadly 6.3 quake.
yep that one was a bigin...nothing broken though, we are still expecting a 5. to follow the big one.
I'd say tonights one loosened a few bricks in town.
Sex workers enjoy post-quake boom
IAN STEWARD Last updated 08:47 10/03/2011
An influx of earthquake relief workers has made Christchurch's disaster a bonanza for the city's prostitutes.
Manchester St sex worker Candice, 24, said she has been run off her feet servicing search and rescue staff, builders, and even two New South Wales police officers.
"They took pictures with me to show the boys back home. They were in uniform but they took off their orange singlets because they said it ruined the picture."
Candice said she had made an average of $700 a night since returning two nights after the February 22 quake.
On her best night she had made $1400, charging $100 for sex or $120 for 30 minutes of "everything".
"In three years, I've never made this much before. The foreign ones are the best - they pay the most.
"They are saying they are stressed out and they need to get some stress relief."
Candice said with the usual Manchester St stomping ground inside the cordon, she had moved to the corner of Manchester St and Bealey Ave.
Other prostitutes had spread down the street towards Edgeware Rd, but they were hard to spot.
"They're all off doing jobs," Candice said.
Candice said men were cruising up and down the street and no sooner was a girl dropped off, than she was picked up by another client.
"There's just lots of men here; lots of men without their wives and they're going to be a bit naughty."
Another sex worker, Mary, who lost her house in the quake, said she had also been very busy.
She had been seeing "all sorts of people", not just her regular clients. "It's their way of dealing with it. If they can get some relief, I think there's nothing wrong with that."
With the inner-city brothels closed, many workers had been forced into the suburbs.
Jo Jo's on Worcester St in Linwood is now housing many workers from the Atami Bath House, Stacey's and Tiffany's.
Staff declined to speak, saying they were all still too shaken.
- The Press
'Not possible' to ID some earthquake victims
GILES BROWN Last updated 05:00 31/03/2011
Some Christchurch earthquake victims who cannot be identified might be buried in a mass grave, the chief coroner says.
Police estimate 180 people died in last month's quake, with 169 having been named.
Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean said the remainder were the most difficult to positively identify.
All were believed to have died in the collapsed Canterbury Television building.
Body parts were either so small, or so badly damaged, that DNA and dental records may not identify the victim, he said.
In some cases DNA testing could be used, but not to the necessary level of certainty.
It was likely only a "small number" could be named using these methods.
The coroner will meet family and staff from foreign embassies representing international victims in Christchurch tomorrow.
"We need to tell them what we can do on the assumption we can't find anything we can carry out DVI [disaster victim identification] on," he said.
If forensic evidence did not positively identify victims, an inquest would need to be held, possibly in Christchurch in May.
"We will hear what we call circumstantial evidence, like witnesses or CCTV coverage; all those things where we can get to a stage where we can say although we have not recovered anything identifiable, 'they died on this date and the likely cause of death is this'."
This was to give the families some closure at least, the coroner said.
One option was they would be buried in a mass grave, as was the case in the Erebus disaster in 1979 in which 257 people were killed after a New Zealand plane crashed in Antarctica, the coroner, Judge McLean said.