Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 21
new-zealand-labour-party
Thu Apr 07 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 21
Thursday, 7 April 2011, 12:46 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
7 April 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 21
The Labour Party’s 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: An ironic contrast is developing between suburban Christchurch and the CBD in terms of demolitions. In the suburbs there are a number of examples where everyone --- owners, tenants, insurance companies etc --- has signed off on the need to demolish a house or commercial premise so that life can go on. But often there are delays nevertheless. In the meantime, the opposite has applied in the CBD where buildings have been dropped like ninepins without consent. Christchurch’s Labour MPs have ‘formalised’ their policy in trying to get responses from government ministers to letters written on behalf of Christchurch communities. As we have documented in recent days, we have had no response whatsoever to our letters to Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, Civil Defence Minister John Carter, Prime Minister John Key or the Christchurch City Council on a variety of urgent issues. The oldest letter is at least three weeks old. I am starting to wonder whether Gerry Brownlee ever reads his mail. The process Labour MPs will follow when raising issues on behalf of constituents is: 1. Try to speak to Gerry Brownlee personally; 2. If no action follows, write to him formally; 3. If the issue is of great concern, and there is no response to the letter after a reasonable time (and there hasn’t been any response to date), then we will make the issues public. We are trying to act non-politically, but our first responsibility is to our constituents. Last night I attended the second meeting in the sixth round of EQC briefings I have organised in my electorate. The meeting in Rangiora revealed a level of disquiet about the lack of customer service from private insurers, as well as confusion over the EQC triage system. Rangiora has reportedly up to 5000 ‘refugees’ from Christchurch living there. Those refugees who attended last night’s meeting were clearly distressed at having had to uproot themselves, and having to manage their affairs --- like their house and property, schooling, doctors etc --- on remote control. The final meeting in this series will be held in the Kaiapoi Working Men’s Club at 7pm tonight to cover the remaining parts of my electorate.
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RUTH DYSON: The chill in Christchurch is a reminder that it is going to be a long winter for Cantabrians. The Government needs to focus on the effects quake damaged homes will have on people’s health as winter approaches. This will continue to be high on Labour’s agenda. Yesterday we had our meeting with the DHB, regarding those elderly relocated after the quake. We understand the huge task the DHB has ahead, but we also made clear that putting locals ahead of former locals for beds in rest homes is unacceptable. Our concern was acknowledged, and the fragile situation families have been placed in was recognised. As a result---be it six weeks late—the DHB has announced a modest support package of a travel subsidy for families wishing to visit their loved ones. While this will be appreciated by families it won’t go far enough. So today I am launching a support campaign where I hope to pair families with billets in the cities where their loved ones have been placed so that they may visit without the added financial burden of accommodation costs. I look forward to updating you on this initiative.
LIANNE DALZIEL: I am currently going through the entire EQC assessment process for my home in Bexley. I thought it would be useful for me to use my personal experience to explain the process. On 12 March, I had my preliminary EQC Rapid Assessment. Yesterday, I had the full assessment which indicated that my home was ‘over-cap’; meaning the likely cost for repair is over $100,000. This means that in due course EQC will send a cheque for $113,850, made up as follows: $100,000 (the cap), plus $15,000 in GST; minus an excess of $1,150. At the time of repair/rebuild we will have to front with $115,000 which is how we pay the excess. We now need to notify our insurers that we are ‘over-cap’ as it is the insurers--- not EQC--- who will ultimately determine whether our home can be repaired or whether it needs to be demolished and rebuilt. I have reminded people to check the terms of their insurance policy so they are informed to discuss their available options. The other issue linked to this is of course the integrity of the land our properties stand on. My house has sunk 205mm over 8m, which is quite a drop. Many others will be in similar situations. Given that we are in a ‘flood management area’ any rebuilding decision will have to address the flood risk as well. And then there is the land, but decisions about this are completely out of our hands. I have confidence that the engineers researching the damage in our suburbs are working as fast as they can to enable decision to be made. They are suggesting that government will have that report by mid to late May. The engineers will say what is possible in terms of land remediation for rebuilding – the Government will decide what is affordable. On another issue, I wrote to Gerry Brownlee on 25 March requesting the extension of the Trades Academy programme (involving CPIT & Linwood High) to include Aranui High School. Their exclusion was odd to me considering their purpose-built facility was only opened by the Governor General last year. I also expressed my concern that the dissemination of information by government around the future of our communities is contradictory and often alarmist. I have not received a response as yet. Lastly I want to thank Orion for their proactive efforts in addressing constituent concerns around the routes of new overhead lines and their substation. To access Orion’s useful update go to: http://www.oriongroup.co.nz/Default/new-overhead-lines.aspx
BRENDON BURNS: Advice I previously received from a DHB official stated that everyone in Christchurch would sensibly be offered a free flu jab this winter. In fact, it turns out this will only be provided to under-18s and, as usual, to over 65s. This seems daft. I am pleased to see the media have finally picked up on another issue of the serious damage to our sewerage system. The Bromley Treatment Plant remains fragile and there is a risk of odours spreading across the city if the oxidation ponds fail. The problem is being partially treated at the moment but the process is very dependent on the weather. The problem is that when it rains as it did Monday and Tuesday the tanks become clogged with sand, making it harder for them to process the waste. This is a process that would normally happen at an earlier treatment level. They are gradually clearing the tanks of sand and getting them back online. This process has resulted in raw sewage pouring into the ponds. The ponds are designed to handle some raw material but not a huge amount. They hope to have this fixed as soon as possible. A key problem is 30% of the city’s raw sewage is flowing directly into the estuary and rivers. Of the estimated 1700km of sewerage pipes under Christchurch it is believed up to 600km have been damaged. It is very difficult and expensive to fix, and may take up to five or six years. However, the aim is to have every household in the city flushing toilets within six months.
ENDS
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