Canterbury earthquake: Current priority areas
www.canterburyearthquake.govt.nz

As response to the Canterbury earthquake continues to move to recovery, public safety remains the primary consideration. The current priority areas are:
• the loss of sewerage services in the worst-affected areas
• immediate and longer term welfare and housing needs
• growing demand and ongoing need for psychosocial services
• business impacts and personal finances
• the need for coordinated, regular communication with the affected communities
• establishing recovery structures.

Summary of recovery status

The Christchurch City Council has established a Building Recovery Office on the Ground Floor of the new Council Civil Offices at 53 Hereford Street. The office will provide advice and streamlined consenting/approval process for buildings damaged in the earthquake. There will be a range of building and planning specialists available at the office and an EQC representative will be available to discuss insurance matters. The office will be open from 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday (the office opened today – Monday September 13 at 9:30am). The office will:
• register the need for demolition, major repairs or rebuilds and quickly obtain consents needed to proceed
• provide architectural/engineering advice
• provide access to property records.

A Canterbury Recovery Strategy has been drafted and is under consideration.

Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri Councils have each formed recovery groups to co-ordinate recovery efforts. The Councils’ recovery groups are supported by clusters of agencies that are focussing on recovery plans for their specialist areas. These specialist areas are:
• social
• natural environments
• economic
• rural
• built structures
• infrastructure.

Members include representatives of local authorities, government agencies and business groups. The cluster representing rural interests is now operating from a base in the Selwyn District.

A business recovery website www.recovercanterbury.co.nz has been established as a one stop shop for all business support issues.

Response status

Regional: The Canterbury Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group is the lead agency. Its Emergency Coordination Centre remains activated.

Local: Christchurch City, Selwyn District and Waimakariri District have declared a state of local emergency until midday Wednesday 15 September 2010. The three councils are reviewing that status daily and intend to terminate their declarations at the same time.

National: No declaration of emergency has been made. The Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management is the national lead agency. The National Crisis Management Centre continues to coordinate central government support, including Police, New Zealand Fire Service, New Zealand Defence Force, Ministry of Health and District Health Boards, Ministry of social Development and the National Welfare Coordinating Group, and Ministry of Transport.

People status

Welfare centres are still operating at Cowles Stadium, Addington and in Waimakariri district. The number of people using the welfare centres has diminished.

Welfare Centre queries can be made to (03) 941 8999 or 0800 800 169.

An action plan is being developed to get welfare centre tenants back into their homes or longer term temporary accommodation.

Urban Search and Rescue teams continue to provide support to response and recovery activities under the coordination of the respective local CDEM Controllers.

Operation East (involving the assessment and inspection of buildings and the welfare of residents in the hardest hit areas) has been completed.

The emphasis is now on immediate and longer term welfare requirements and needs (including psychosocial support to affected communities). It is expected that there will be an increase in welfare support requirements as residential housing inspections continue.

A psychosocial support strategy is in place. Implementation of the strategy involves health, education and social development ministries as well as NGOs and local councils.

The Ministry of Health is leading a mass media campaign and the Ministry of Education is ensuring that trauma counsellors for children are in all schools today. The Ministry of Social Development is developing a virtual reception centre registering offers of help from counsellors and forwarding them to Canterbury. The Ministry of Social Development is coordinating the NGO capability network. Resources have been allocated for counselling and support as part of the $7.5 million Community Response Fund.

Calls to Healthline, 0800 611 116, relating to anxiety are decreasing.

The Ministry of Social Development has completed making contact with superannuitants. Focus turned to contacting the most vulnerable invalid benefit recipients over the weekend. They have referred a small number of urgent cases to their Christchurch-based staff to address their immediate needs.

Work and Income is continuing to process emergency payments. The main reasons for assistance continue to be food, clothing and accommodation.

The Canterbury CDEM Group is developing a Welfare Communication Strategy to ensure consistent information is given by all agencies.

Police are maintaining limited restrictions around unsafe buildings in the Christchurch city CBD.

Community infrastructure status

Hospitals and medical centres: The neonatal ICU at Christchurch Women’s Hospital is at capacity. Akaroa, Lincoln Maternity and Burwood Birthing Unit remain closed. All remaining hospitals and services are reporting business as usual and are coping well.

GP practices and pharmacies are operational, and reporting a normal demand for services.

Public health concerns relating to water supply are now declining with water supplies in Christchurch City, Banks Peninsula and Selwyn deemed safe. There are still “boil water” notices in place for Kaiapoi, Kairaki and Pines Beach. Monitoring continues on gastroenteritis outbreaks. No abnormal trends have been detected.

Calls to the Canterbury Healthline continued to decrease yesterday with the greater than usual volumes experienced earlier in the week for calls relating to vomiting/ diarrhoea, anxiety and chest pain declining.

Public health officials visit welfare centres to provide advice and assess public health needs. Public health officials have also been inspecting premises associated with food preparation.

Key information related to health is being issued by the health sector.

Education: Most schools have reopened today. The Ministry of Education is developing a plan to support pupils unable to go to their own schools. It is expected that Christchurch Polytechnic, Lincoln University and Canterbury University will open to students on Wednesday.

Six schools and 13 early childhood centres across the affected area will not open today. The Ministry of Education website contains further information on the opening status of schools.

Property status

Housing: High priority needs are being met (such as finding accommodation for people whose houses are deemed unsafe) and some medium and lower needs are also being progressed. A sub-committee for housing has been established and met yesterday. Agencies are identifying houses available to accommodate displaced people.

EQC continues to receive claims, both on the 0800 DAMAGE phone number and through the EQC website. As at 1200 hours on 12 September, EQC had received 45,957 claims.

Commercial: Christchurch City Council is reminding building owners not to demolish their buildings without consent from the Council.

Transport infrastructure status

A number of road closures are still in place including:
• SH 1 - Kaikoura to Waipara (Peketa) Road is closed due to a significant slip. A detour is available using Inland Road (Route 70) for light vehicles only. Heavy traffic (including buses) should detour through SH 63 Wairau and SH 7 over Lewis Pass.
• SH74 - has partial closures, notably the Heathcote Underpass area due to overhead rock hazard that will take a week to fix.
• SH77 - has a detour in place south of Glentunnel adding approx 2km to journey, while a landslip is still on the move. Repairs are expected to commence early this week.
• Sumner Road - (Lyttelton to Evans Pass) has restricted access only for essential vehicles due to instability of rock over the road. Rock blasting will begin tomorrow to clear dangerous rock.
• Evans Pass Road - (the main alternative route to Lyttelton) has restricted access only for essential vehicles due to instability of rock above the road. Rock blasting will begin to clear dangerous rock tomorrow.

Rail: The slip near Kaikoura has also closed the Main North Line. KiwiRail is working with the New Zealand Transport Agency to get the slip cleared, slope stabilised and road and rail networks reopened by Thursday. In the meantime, KiwiRail is road bridging freight out of Blenheim. Clearance of the debris is progressing, but has been complicated at times due to the risks associated with the instability of the slope.

Lifelines utilities status

Electricity has been restored to virtually all areas. Orion is not aware of any areas without power now. Individual jobs are being dealt with as and when they come up.

Telecommunication services are being restored to normal. Free payphones, broadband hotspots and call diverts for residents of Christchurch have been provided by Telecom.

Water: As of last night, seven streets remain without water in Christchurch City, however, a number of individual properties also remain without water. Christchurch City water supply is expected to be completely restored by the end the weekend. There are still “boil water” notices in place for Kaiapoi, Kairaki and Pines Beach.

In Waimakariri District almost all water services have been restored, except some isolated instances in Kaiapoi.

Sewerage continues to be an issue for Kaiapoi and parts of Christchurch City. Three pumping stations in Christchurch City require reconstruction. There is also significant damage to sewer mains with an estimated 10 per cent of the city affected.

The Rolleston Waste Water Treatment Plant is operational to the point where there are no longer any restrictions on waste water usage. This means residents no longer need to limit the use of toilets, showers, dishwashers or washing machines.

Rural status

The 0800 FARMING (0800 327 646) phone line is open 8:30am to 5:00pm each day. Callers to the line after these hours may leave a message. Additional information is available at www.fedfarm.org.nz.

Federated Farmers Grain and Seeds is concerned about poor advice circulated about how to empty damaged grain silos. Structurally damaged silos must be inspected by an engineer and emptied under engineer and/or a silo supplier representative supervision.

People can find practical information about what they can do to help themselves prepare for an emergency on the Ministry’s “Get Ready Get Thru” website www.getthru.govt.nz

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