New Zealand’s Key Says Latest Christchurch Quakes Unlikely to Add to Costs
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said two earthquakes yesterday and a series of aftershocks in Christchurch today probably won’t add significantly to the nation’s rebuilding costs as officials seek to reconnect the city’s water mains and open roads in time for Christmas.
“There will be some additional cost and some additional impact, but we don’t think that will be overly significant in the overall scheme of what has been a very expensive exercise in terms of rebuilding Christchurch,” Key told reporters today, saying most of the damage occurred in areas already affected by prior temblors. A magnitude 5.0 quake struck New Zealand’s second-largest city at about 6:37 a.m. today, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Christchurch, on the nation’s South Island, is recovering from a series of earthquakes that began in September last year, the worst being a magnitude 6.3 temblor that killed 181 people on Feb. 22. Ten months later, many residents still await property repairs while businesses have closed or relocated because of devastation in the city center. Yesterday’s initial quake was magnitude 5.8 and was followed by aftershocks including one of magnitude 5.9, according to the USGS.
“The most significant damage from the earthquakes is really the psychological damage,” Key said. “This has been a really extraordinarily difficult year for them. I can understand why they’re nervous, they might be a little shaken, but they should have absolute confidence that we are going to put Christchurch back together again.”
Christmas Day
New Zealand faces a NZ$20 billion ($15.5 billion) bill to rebuild homes, roads and commercial buildings in Christchurch and surrounding towns after earthquakes in the past 15 months. More than 6,500 homes have been condemned while 900 central city buildings are being demolished.
No fatalities, serious injuries or widespread damage were reported following yesterday’s shocks, New Zealand police said. The first temblor was centered 20 kilometers northeast of the city and 8 kilometers deep, New Zealand’s GeoNet reported. The stronger quake was shallower and closer to the city, it said.
“By the end of the day, it’s our goal to have the water supplies back to normal, to have the repairs on the waste water systems around the city resolved,” Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told reporters today. “Our goal is to get those roads open and do everything we can to enable our people to get what they really deserve, which is a reasonable Christmas day.”
Lyttleton Port Closed
All port services at Lyttleton Port of Christchurch (LPC), New Zealand’s largest coal-exporting hub, are closed until engineers assess buildings, wharves and paving, the company said on its website. Truck receivals and deliveries are suspended until Dec. 26, it said.
Christchurch Cathedral, which is being partially demolished after suffering damage in February, was further affected, Roger Sutton, chief executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, told reporters at a televised news conference yesterday. Other large buildings in the central business district don’t appear to be badly affected, he said.
Christchurch International Airport Ltd. re-opened yesterday with no damage to runways or systems, Chief Executive Officer Jim Boult said in a statement yesterday. Domestic flights to and from Christchurch were operating close to normal schedule last night, according to Air New Zealand Ltd. (AIR)
An office building in the eastern suburb of New Brighton was damaged, and staff were safely evacuated, police said yesterday. Other properties were cordoned off after suffering damage, and a previously damaged house collapsed, police said.
Fewer than 50 customers are without electricity today, Orion New Zealand Ltd. said on its website.
To contact the reporter for this story: Phoebe Sedgman in Melbourne atpsedgman2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim McDonald at jmcdonald8@bloomberg.net
New Zealand: 7.8 Off the North end of the North Island?
July 6, 2011
A powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake has struck in the Pacific Ocean off the Kermadec Islands, northeast of New Zealand, the US Geological Survey reported.
The quake triggered a tsunami warning for New Zealand, the Kermadec Islands and Tonga early on Thursday, the US Pacific Tsunami Center said.
It struck at 7:03 am local time on Thursday (1903 GMT on Wednesday) at the epicenter, 211 km east of Raoul Island, part of the Kermadec archipelago, and was only 48 km deep, the USGS said.
The US Pacific Tsunami Center said it did not yet know whether an actual tsunami had developed but said that if it had, it would hit East Cape in New Zealand within two hours and Auckland within three hours of the quake
NEW ZEALAND; NOT AGAIN!
Emergency teams from around the world are working in Christchurch, New Zealand, in a race to find people buried beneath the rubble after a 6.3-magnitude quake hit the city Tuesday afternoon. Some 75 people have been declared dead and another 200 people are still missing. A New Zealand newspaper reports that 80 percent of the city was still without water and about 40 percent of the city had no power.
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The damage is said to be far worse than after the 7.1-magnitude quake on 4 September, which left two people seriously injured but no fatalities.
The epicentre of that quake, which occurred in the middle of the night, was further away from Christchurch and deeper underground, but it still caused an estimated $3bn (£1.9bn) in damage.
TV pictures of the aftermath of Tuesday's Christchurch disaster showed scores of collapsed buildings in the South Island city of nearly 400,000 people.
Shocked survivors could be seen wandering the rubble-strewn streets, which cracked open as the ground beneath was liquefied by the tremor.
Police said that the dead included people on two buses which were crushed by falling buildings.
Helicopters plucked survivors to safety from rooftops, and dumped water on fires.
Officials said up to 30 people were feared still trapped inside the razed Pyne Gould Guinness building, where screams have been heard from the ruins.
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