Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition eight
new-zealand-labour-party
Mon Mar 21 2011 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition eight
Monday, 21 March 2011, 12:17 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition eight
Labour Party Christchurch electorate MPs, Clayton Cosgrove (Waimakariri), Ruth Dyson (Port Hills), Lianne Dalziel (Christchurch East) and Brendon Burns (Christchurch Central) have started a regular bulletin to keep people in their electorates and media informed about what is happening at grass roots level.
CLAYTON COSGROVE: Everyone agrees that the local authorities in Canterbury need support, including management support, but Cantabrians do not want to be overwhelmed by red tape and bureaucracy. Cantabrians want a well-thought out and planned recovery and rebuild that happens as quickly as possible and that also has a high degree of input from them. They want a decent say in the future of their province and the city I am still waiting for replies from the Christchurch City Council on rent-freeze proposals and from Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Civil Defence Minister John Carter about the concerns of CBD businesses not being able to access resources they need to restart their businesses. I am also planning to raise with Civil Defence controller John Hamilton issues around temporary accommodation (it already feels like winter in Christchurch) and a timetable for land remediation. I am asking Gerry Brownlee for a briefing on the remediation issue too. I am contacting the Insurance Council to raise concerns about people whose houses are deemed uninhabitable and are targeted for demolition, and who may already be facing higher premiums (one person has told me their company is putting up its premiums by one-third).
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LIANNE DALZIEL: There has been talk about a new governance structure to assist the Christchurch recovery effort, but there seem to be a few steps missing in this process. We expect to see engagement with the community to assess the on-going needs of residents and businesses. Consultation and engagement is extremely important for recovery and I think the word itself has been used far too loosely recently. Civil Defence itself describes recovery as: ‘The coordinated efforts and processes to affect the immediate, medium and long term holistic regeneration of a community following a disaster’. Civil Defence describes recovery as a developmental and a remedial process. The whole purpose of the meeting I held last Thursday was to prepare the community for the consultation and recovery phase ahead. The importance of ensuring the wellbeing of individuals and communities cannot be overstated in the context of the economic, social, built and natural environments within which we live, work and play. We need to be able to engage with each other and advocate for each other’s needs in the rebuild. This focus should be paramount in any succession planning. For more information on the process Civil Defence has put in place go to: http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/memwebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/For-the-CDEM-Sector-Recovery-Index?OpenDocument
RUTH DYSON: Further to my enquiries last Thursday I am pleased to say I have heard back from the City Council about urgent repairs for Housing New Zealand tenants. After an initial delay in response I can say that their advice was full and frank. I now have a direct contact for tenants who need priority service. Today I am going through data I have collected on the issues that tenants are facing and will ensure that urgent issues are prioritised. I am also working with Environment Canterbury, in their capacity as the agency responsible for public transport services in Christchurch, to get residents without transport to supermarkets. ECAN have done a wonderful job getting transport up and running but some gaps remain. At the moment my office and a host of local volunteers are targeting areas where we hear people, often elderly, are without transport. We are matching these people with a volunteer and a private car so that they may run their urgent errands. ECAN have established a good base network with mini bus services in place where buses are still unable to operate; for example across the Ferrymead Bridge, but these routes are not directed towards supermarkets. I will continue to work with ECAN to ensure that public transport can step in when volunteers lending their private cars need to return to work.
BRENDON BURNS: I am in Napier today to get a better feel of how Napier rebuilt after its massive earthquake in 1931. Napier’s earthquake was in many ways comparable to Christchurch’s, but it succeeded in rebuilding itself quickly. I am meeting Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott, Art Deco Trust founder Robert McGregor, the Napier Museum and Art Gallery Trust, a local historian who specialises in earthquake history and local media.
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