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Day six as it happened through tvnz.co.nz's live updates of the events following the 7.1 Canterbury quake last Saturday.
11.50pm In total there were 16 aftershocks today in the Canterbury region ranging in size from 2.5 to 5.3.
10:50pm: There's been another aftershock measuring 4.0, 20 km east of Darfield, at a depth of 5km. It occurred at 10.31pm.
10:30pm: Youth advice service Youthline says
Christchurch young people can still make use of its services,
despite its local centre being closed because of Saturday's
earthquake. Youthline says it is using a national network of
phone and text counsellors.
9.40pm:
The overnight curfew in parts of the Waimakariri
District has been extended until at least Monday. Civil Defence
controller Bruce Thompson says it will remain in place as the
massive clean-up continues over the coming weekend. But he says the
opening of the town centre today has lifted community spirit.
Thompson says there's a long way to go until damaged buildings and
infrastructure are completely repaired, and that could take months,
if not years.
8.45pm: There's been another aftershock measuring
3.4, 10 km south-west of Christchurch, at a depth of 6km. It
occurred at
8.35pm .
7.50pm: The shallow aftershock at
6.50pm won't affect plans to lift cordons in
Christchurch City tomorrow morning.
7:00pm:
Curfew begins, and goes through until 7am in the
CBD.
6:50pm: A shallow 4.0 quake, 10 km south-west of Christchurch at 6.27pm , 5km deep.
6.24pm: Domestic violence is still one of the major issues police are dealing with in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquake. Area Commander Superintendent Dave Cliff says overall crime rates are down, including burglaries in the region. But he says they're receiving on average 15 calls a day regarding domestic violence incidents, which is more than usual.
5.58pm: Aftershock of 4.0 at 5.24pm, 30 km south-east of Darfield, 15km deep.
5.30pm: Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the $10 a tonne levy for quake waste is being waived.
5.20pm: Christchurch domestic and international airports remain open and fully operational. 98% of tourism operators in the Christchurch and Canterbury area are open and fully functional with no significant damage.
4.52pm: The Defence Force says it has been overwhelmed with volunteers for duties in Canterbury.
Currently 370 army, navy, and air force personnel are providing support for civil authorities. An additional 30 soldiers are being rotated in from Nelson and 60 from Dunedin and Defence Force personnel are now putting extra efforts into relief work around Kaiapoi.
4.50pm: Demolition work appears to have broken a gas line or gas cylinder in Riccarton.
The area around Milton Street was cordoned off earlier today while demolition work was carried out on quake weakened buildings. The fire service is at the scene.
4.44pm: Police Commissioner Howard Broad has visited cordons around the CBD, spoken to police staff who have been working since Saturday, and also visited some officers whose homes have been made uninhabitable.
Mr Broad said the response to Saturday's earthquake has been seamless. "From the moment my phone started ringing early on Saturday morning my perception of how Christchurch and Canterbury has coped has been one of an outstanding response," he said.
"There are several generations of engineers, planners and inspectors who have built a city capable of withstanding an earthquake on this scale. They are to be commended, as are those who have kept working through the recent days despite themselves facing difficult circumstances."
4.18pm: Roads update:
- Foundations on SH74, a key route into the Port of
Lyttelton, have been repaired and it will re-open tomorrow night,
except for a section between Bridge Street and Metro Place.
- The Chaney's Road on-ramp on to SH1 north of Christchurch is on
track to re-open by Saturday night.
- SH77 in mid-Canterbury is open with a 2km signposted detour from
Glentunnel to Glenroy, where there is substantial subsidence.
Up to date information at
www.highwayinfo.govt.nz or by
phoning 0800 44 44 49.
4.10pm: The first quake-affected businesses signed up to the Government's wage assistance package will see money in the bank tomorrow morning.
The Canterbury Chamber of Commerce has done the first round of approvals today - which will see small businesses assisted with $350 a week per staff member. Another round of money will go into the banks of more businesses tomorrow night.
4.03pm: A Facebook page has been set up to offer accommodation to people affected by the quake - Homes for Cantabs. Offers include a B&B on the West Coast for up to three nights and a holiday home in central Otago.
3.19pm: The cordon in Christchurch's CBD will
be lifted at 5am tomorrow. Mayor Bob Parker says there
will still be some minor street closures around buildings that need
strengthening.
However Parker says it'll be dependent on there being no more major
aftershocks.
3.10pm: A handful of schools have opened in Canterbury today. They include Akaroa area school, Cust, Little River, Oxford Area and Southbridge Schools. A small number of others are planning to open tomorrow including Belfast School and Kaiapoi High.
However the vast majority of the 165 affected schools are planning to open on Monday. More information is available on the Ministry of Education website.
3:03pm: The NZ Transport Agency says the last
remaining Canterbury highway closed by last Saturdays earthquake is
on track to open tomorrow night. State Highway 74, a key route into
the Port of Lyttelton, has been closed for six days while road
foundations damaged by the quake have been repaired.
North Canterbury area manager Barry Stratton says although the
highway is expected to reopen tomorrow, the section of highway
between Bridge Street and Metro Place will remain closed to allow
the Christchurch City Council to replace a quake damaged water pipe
under the highway that services the citys sewage treatment plant.
It is not known how long this work will take to complete. The
detour route for this section of highway will be via Breezes,
Cuthberts and Maces roads.
Chaneys Road on-ramp on to State Highway 1 north of Christchurch is still on track to re-open by Saturday night.
State Highway 77 in Mid Canterbury is open with a two kilometre signposted detour from Glentunnel to Glenroy, where there is substantial subsidence in the road. This detour will remain in place for some time with permanent repairs to commence next week.
3.00pm Air New Zealand has gifted the Christchurch Mayor's relief fund 1000 free return domestic airfares to use at his discretion, to help earthquake-affected families.
2.40pm: A couple of the post-quake initiatives
being taken by companies:
- The Willowbank Wildlife Reserve is letting
Christchurch children into the park for free until schools go
back.
- Free replacements of prescription glasses or contact lenses
damaged or lost in the earthquake are being offered by OPSM or
Budget Eyewear stores or by calling 0800 696 776.
2.35pm: The University of Canterbury is planning to restart classes a week on Monday. Minister of Tertiary Education Steven Joyce says he will be heading out to the university this afternoon to get the latest update and he is blaming the delay on the additional cleaning-up required at the site.
1.59pm: Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has announced a special $7.5 million fund for social service providers in Canterbury.
It will provide one-off grants of between $5,000 and $10,000 to community-based social services in the region. Funding can be extended outside of normal providers as long as they are earthquake related and focussed on the well-being of the community.
"We are cutting the red tape to get resources on the ground as quickly as possible," said Bennett.
1.57pm: The Government has waived the $10 a tonne waste levy on Canterbury landfills for earthquake waste.
Landfills in Canterbury have been advised of the waiver by the Environment Ministry. The waiver will be applied to all earthquake-generated waste from the beginning of this week until the clean up is complete.
1.53pm: A rural emergency coordinator has been appointed to oversee recovery efforts on quake-damaged farm properties in Canterbury. Allan Baird will work with a newly-established group led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and involving representatives of farming companies and organisations including Fonterra and Federated Farmers.
Baird is a Trustee of the Mid Canterbury Rural Support Trust and has been involved in rural emergency response activities since the 1973 South Canterbury snow storm.
1.18pm: Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says local elections in the area will proceed as planned. It has been reported that Internal Affairs has written to local councils offering a postponment and that this was being considered.
1.12pm: The workload of St John ambulance staff at welfare centres is increasing as the numbers there continue to grow. They are performing first aid and seeing more cases requiring medication management, help for stress and anxiety and other mental health issues.
A total of 41 patients have been treated at Linwood and 250 at Addington.
St John has sent more staff and volunteers from across the country to Christchurch.
12.46pm: The latest aftershocks were a 3.7 at 12.14 pm, centred 10 km south-east of Darfield at a depth of 9km, followed by a 4.2 at 12.38pm centred near Springfield.. A reminder that you can see a visualisation of the hundreds of quakes since Saturday here
12.11pm: Cordons have been put in place at a number of intersections along Riccarton Road in Christchurch due to concerns over the stability of two commercial buildings.
A building at the intersection of Riccarton Road, Straven Road and Clarence Road will be demolished. Another on Riccarton Road, close to the intersection of Rotherham Street, is likely to have to have its facade removed.
The cordons, which are causing congestion, are likely to be in place for most of the afternoon.
12.08pm: Postal deliveries in the region will be suspended on Saturday to allow workers to have a break.
New Zealand Post Group CEO Brian Roche said: "New Zealand Post employees and contractors, despite all being personally affected by the quake, have worked all week and got the job done. However the effects of stress and fatigue can't be ignored and we have decided to give some of our people a well deserved breather."
The temporary suspension of services means there will be no postal, PO Box and rural mail deliveries in Christchurch and related rural areas which have been affected by the quake. PostShops and PostCentres will be open as usual on Saturday, apart from those currently closed due to safety and access issues. For updates go to www.nzpost.co.nz
11:25am There is speculation Christchurch may defer its local body elections because of disruption from the earthquake. Newstalk ZB is reporting the Department of Internal Affairs has written to the Christchurch, Waimakariri and Selywn Councils saying it is on the cards.
10:59am: Transport Minister Steven Joyce has visited the Port of Lyttelton this morning and says the damage is dramatic.
Port chief executive Peter Davie today said the estimated cost of the damage was $50 million.
"For us, the port is about months and years of restoration work, there's no quick fixes for a lot of the work."
10:47am: 3.4 aftershock 10km north-east of Darfield.
10:36am: The lower reaches of the Waimakariri River are contaminated in the wake of the earthquake. Civil Defence says the problem is downstream of McLeans Island. It is advising not to collect or drink the water and not to collect fish or shellfish from the river or river mouth - including whitebait. People also shouldn't use the river for recreational use, including swimming or boating.
10:28am: Has the quake forced you to move? Are you finding it difficult to find a property to rent? ONE News would like to hear from you. Please contact our reporter on 03 961 8593.
10:21am: The Insurance Council says the insurance industry has moved hundreds of additional staff into the Canterbury region.
Staff have been brought in from Australia to assist with the assessment of damage, and in addition to that insurers are bringing in staff from North America and Europe, where required, to cope with the demand from the earthquake.
Insurers are encouraging Cantabrians to make claims to the Earthquake Commission and once these are made, insurance assessors will be made available to visit their properties.
9:51am: New Zealand agencies involved in promoting earthquake safety are concerned that advice from a source discredited overseas is being circulated by email in New Zealand.
Civil Defence, the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering, the Earthquake Commission (EQC) and GNS Science have spoken out against the email, sometimes known as the "triangle of life". They have done so because the email discourages people from taking what is usually the safest option i.e. covering under desks or in doorways.
They say when an earthquake starts, the best advice is still to "drop, cover and hold". Read more advice on what to do in the event of an earthquake (pdf).
9:43am: The Selwyn District Council says the blanket boil water notice has been lifted across Selwyn District, with the exception of Malvern Hills rural water supply. Water from private bores and wells used for drinking should still be boiled until it has been tested and verified safe.
9:06am: 3.2 aftershock 20km south-west of Darfield.
8:51am: Foodstuffs South Island announces New World Kaiapoi will not be re-opening and will need to be re-built. The supermarket currently has 34 full time and 52 part time staff employed who will all be affected.
8:43am: One of Southland's most prominent businesses is rolling up its sleeves to help with earthquake relief in Canterbury. The family owned H & J Smith group is dedicating 10% of of gross sales from tomorrow's trading to the Christchurch mayoral relief fund.
8:27am: An economist says while the estimated $4 billion cost for the Canterbury quake seems daunting, much of it will be covered by insurance.
ASB's chief economist Nick Tuffley said the Earthquake Commission (EQC) is well placed to pick up about $2 billion of the ultimate cost through household cover.
The rest of the $4 billion is likely to be split between private insurers covering house and business properties with a "reasonable chunk" coming from offshore through re-insurance.
And Tuffley said the government has indicated it will pick up lot of rest, footing the bill for infrastructure costs and already signalling packages to help businesses recover.
7:44am: The two welfare centres in
Christchurch have spent their fifth night housing locals. The
Addington Centre looked after 250 residents last night, and Linwood
College 97 people.
Contingency plans are being put in place for the Linwood venue
which will only remain open while the high school is closed.
7:33am: Orion chief executive Roger Sutton is asking Christchurch residents still without power to contact them.
He says as far as they know, the region is down to just 200 customers without power - but there may be people in the dark who Orion doesn't know about.
7:22am: Farmers are being warned to not try to fix silos alone. Federated Farmers says over 50 silos in the Canterbury area are damaged following Saturday's quake.
North Canterbury grain and seeds chairman Murray Rowlands says silos can weigh between 20 and 130 tonnes. He says people should be careful of silos that look sound because the legs may have punctured the walls, which is just enough to weaken them.
6:57am: Christchurch City Council has warned owners of heritage listed buildings not to demolish them without written authorisation by the council.
Many of the city's heritage buildings were severely damaged and face demolition.
But the council said there should be no pre-emptive demolition undertaken by building owners in advance of full structural assessment from a professional engaged by the owner with advice from the council.
6:49am: 4.0 aftershock 10km south of Darfield.
6:40am: Psychologists are warning Canterbury residents to be aware of the type of counselling they are getting to overcome the trauma of the earthquake.
College of Clinical Psychologists spokeswoman Dr Fran Vertue says there is evidence that "debriefing" or getting people to recount or recreate the traumatic event causes more stress. She says it's perfectly normal for people to feel all of the difficult emotional reactions given the circumstances.
6:25am: Bus services in Christchurch City will resume today. Civil Defence says buses will follow the normal weekday timetable. However, two bus routes are still out of action - the 51 New Brighton bus to Tower junction and 480 bus to Kainga.
6:18am: The last remaining highway in Canterbury closed by earthquake damage, is likely to re-open later this week. State Highway 74, one of the main routes into the Port of Lyttelton, has remained closed since Saturday's quake while repairs are carried out on the road foundation.
NZTA's Peter Connors says a decision on re-opening the highway will be made at midday.
6:12am: Inspector Paul Fremaux of southern police communications says police are receiving fewer calls from distressed locals after each aftershock.
5:30am: Christchurch is to remain under a state of emergency until at least Wednesday, after yesterday's 5.1 magnitude shake caused more damage.
Treasury estimated the cost of the damage from Saturday morning's 7.1 quake and subsequent aftershakes to be around $4 billion.
Canterbury has received more than 270 aftershocks of magnitude 3 or above so far since Saturday's quake.
Most schools in the Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri districts to be closed to pupils today, though staff may be back at many, depending on safety clearances.
Tap water has also been given the all-clear in Christchurch city after three days of clear samples. That means Christchurch city residents no longer need to boil their water. People in other parts of Canterbury, such as Waimakariri, still need to boil water for at least three minutes.
3.44am: A magnitude 3.5 aftershock is recorded, centred 20km south-east of Darfield at a depth of six kilometres.
3.13am: A magnitude 3.7 aftershock recorded 10km south-east of Christchurch at a depth of six kilometres.
2.49am: An aftershock measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale is recorded 20km south of Darfield at a depth of eight kilometres.
Read yesterday's live updates.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentmusopete said on 2010-09-10 @ 12:47 NZDT: Report abusive post
Go the Kiwi battler! Hold ya heads high.
Australianne said on 2010-09-10 @ 11:40 NZDT: Report abusive post
2nd that about the light font...it is difficult to read. Just wanted to say I'm so proud of NZers for the way in which they've pulled together in such a uniquely Kiwi way. No other country (even Australia) comes close to that! Well, maybe Australia comes close, but still, Kiwis lead the world in their kind-hearted attitude in the face of disaster.
H said on 2010-09-10 @ 10:24 NZDT: Report abusive post
Would love to comment but the comments are displayed on this website in such a tiny, light coloured font that they're virtually unreadable.
SSAMA said on 2010-09-10 @ 07:38 NZDT: Report abusive post
CD has done a great job in difficult circumstances - difficult to get up to date info to people without power. Website I have found most useful for info is the TVNZ live updates - great that it is updated regularly and the info is generally accurate. Well done TVNZ
Australianne said on 2010-09-09 @ 20:31 NZDT: Report abusive post
Given that TVNZ is probably a world leader in their ability to keep us all informed after the earthquake, CD has done an ok job. But note, that is 'ok', not 'wonderful'. CD should link up with TVNZ and learn how to get that info out in a timely manner! This is more a pat on the back to TVNZ than having a go at CD. I'm sure they have lots of other duties keeping them busy. Keep it up guys. Well done.