Kaikoura Update 20 November, 2016

Rural community
Working to get people out to rural properties in the coming week to check on their welfare and needs. In the meantime Federated Farmers have set up a support line 0800 327 646
The Clarence irrigation scheme is well on the way to being repaired and is expected to be running again soon.
Second Army Convoy
An Army convoy of 6 trucks and two army vehicles arrived off the inland road today at about 1pm at New World Supermarket. Five of the trucks in the convoy are carrying food water and other supplies for the supermarket; one truck is carrying diesel, petrol and LPG. The inland road remains closed to all but Army vehicles because of the danger of rockfalls and further subsidence. The road is therefore closed to the public until further notice.
Other supplies
It is likely HMNZS Canterbury will return with another load of supplies on Tuesday.
All evacuations are now complete. The airport is open for commercial flights if anyone else wants to leave town.
Last night at the marae
Takahanga Marae will no longer be serving meals to the public - tonight is the last communal meal. The marae has been feeding visitors, locals and earthquake response workers as well as whanau. With most of the visitors now evacuated. locals can now get their own supplies at the supermarket, which has been restocked and is open; cash is now available from Westpac.

From tomorrow the Marae will be able to focus on their whanau. If anyone else still needs assistance with meals please call the Government helpline, 0800 799 997.

Communal Showers
The NZ Defence Force has set up a mobile shower unit in Kaikoura. Up to 120 residents a day who are without water at home can freshen up in the communal shower. To register, phone 319 5026. Men and women will shower at different times up to eight at a time in a shared cubicle within the unit. BYO towels, soap and shampoo. As long as there is enough water, showers will be available from 4-6pm daily

Building inspections
Building inspections continued today, visiting local homes and businesses. Today, 10 building inspectors and 5 engineers plus geotech engineers will be carrying out further inspections. This will include inspections in outlying areas where damage is likely to be more significant.

By end of today 50% of buildings in Kaikoura township are expected to have been inspected. Urban Search and Rescue building specialists are carrying out emergency repairs and shoring up walls where necessary.

554 buildings have been inspected; 27 have been red stickered (four of them commercial, the rest residential); 66 yellow; and the rest (461) white. A further update on these figures will be available mid-morning Monday. Businesses that have been white stickered can reopen as soon as they are ready. They can order goods from their usual suppliers, boxed and sent to Christchurch, where the Army will ensure it gets through to Kaikoura. Business wishing to take up this offer need to let council reception know.

Toilets and sewage
900 chemical toilets were delivered off HMNZS Canterbury for Kaikoura.All households in the township should now have a chemical toilet and if anyone in the countryside doesn't have a usable toilet, can they please contact us or come into the Council to pick one up. In the last few days there have been 38 Portaloos in various locations around the town and we will assess the need for where these should be now that households have a chemical toilet. Tanks for discharging chemical toilets will arrive on the net shipment on HMNZS Canterbury.

Businesses and the schools will be serviced by Portaloos as chemical toilets are only suitable for household use. The school already has four Portaloos which will provide for the needs of exam-sitting students on Monday, and more Portaloos will be delivered to the school today or tomorrow.

Telecommunications
All cell sites in area are up and running, including Hundalee, Waiau, Kaikoura Reservoir, Weld Cone and Clarence. Weld Cone tower is on a big lean and signal is limited.

While most land-lines and internet services have been restored there are still some localised outages, including 88 broadband customers in Kaikoura and Clarence, related to a damaged cabinet, and 241 land-line numbers, related to a damaged bearer between cabinets. The land line numbers are all 03-319-xxxx. Please note these are Spark customers only, there may be more customers of other providers impacted by same issue. A fix is urgently being worked on by Chorus.

Water
Water supply to 95% of the township has been restored although it is intermittent. Residents need to turn on the valve at the street to ensure supply reaches the home. If any leaks appear, they should turn it off again immediately. The valve to the toilet must be turned off. Water is still in limited supply, so residents need to conserve water use.

Fuel
There is 5-6 days of petrol, 8-9 days of diesel available for the town. More arrived on the convoy today. Civil Defence is working on an allocation plan to ensure those in most need receive it first. A community group has set up a carpooling scheme so people can get to the supermarket, medical centre etc without everyone making a single trip.

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