crazyscot

Here in NZ, if you want to build a building, you need (amongst other things) Building Consent. It's pretty similar to the system of building regulations and building control surveyors in the UK - just that we have a more stringent Building Code owing to the, ah, more lively nature of the ground here. Like in the UK, they are administered at a local government level. The consent-issuing bodies are audited and accredited by International Auditing NZ, which provides a compliance and conformance oversight.

Here in Chch, there has been a storm brewing since a few weeks ago, when it emerged that the city council here were at risk of having their accreditation to issue building consents revoked. ( Local politics )

There hadn't been much seismic activity here really since January, but over the past few weeks there had been a handful of noticeable shakes. Then, this afternoon, the building shook for 15 or 20 seconds. 5.2. Quite sporting, really. There was no damage that I was aware of; frankly, anything that's not screwed down or hasn't already fallen down in this town isn't exactly going to budge for a "mere" 5.2!

We went to the grave site for the victims of the February 2011 earthquake.

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I had been contemplating writing something up to mark the anniversary (this Wednesday) of the big quake that took out half the CBD. The other day the Press (our regional newspaper, Christchurch and South Island) solicited people's memories of that day. To my pleasant surprise, they found mine interesting enough to publish!

• Special feature section (mine's under The Future - scroll down)
  
• My article itself

( This is what I submitted, for posterity. They very lightly copy-edited it for publication. )

We were cycling round the University of Canterbury campus this weekend, when we came across this marvelous piece of what I presume must be academic eccentricity.



That's a coal pit behind the fence; it's adjacent to what I presume is the (a?) main campus boiler. Won't someone please think of the ducklings?

It sounds like a set of scores from an Olympic event.

Sadly, those are the magnitudes of the earthquakes we have had this afternoon.

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CERA have opened up a temporary walkway between Cathedral Square and the temporary container mall on Cashel Street for a couple of weekends.

We had been there in February, in what were happier times for Canterbury. We had just arrived on South Island that morning, checked into our motel and had gone for a walk into town. We sat in the shade and looked over to the tram stop and where the cycling brass band had played that (Sunday) afternoon. We stared up sadly at what's left of the now-deconsecrated cathedral which is to be pulled down. We looked to the north and realised that we were looking at the row of buildings behind those on the north side of the square, which are no more.

I'm not religious, but seeing the Cathedral - a powerful symbol of the city whichever way you look at it - in its half-collapsed state was a wrench. Construction work to get the CBD back on its, ah, foundations is progressing, but if you ask me it can't happen quickly enough.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyscot/sets/72157628257981455/detail/

Apropos yesterday's post it seems I may have, ah, spoken too soon.

Picture the scene. It's about half past eight and you're just about to serve up dinner. Suddenly you become aware of a relatively loud rumbling - it's pervasive, apparently coming from all directions and none in particular, and getting louder. You and your partner look at each other. The lights start swaying quite seriously and as you both dive for the cover of the dining room table you hear the crockery in the cupboards rattle.

So now you're both sat under the table and it's Still. Going. On. The rumbling is continuing and the (solid) floor seems to be rolling gently. You exchange unprintable exclamations.

Finally, after what could have been 15 or 30 seconds, it all dies down. You both take a deep breath, get up, dust yourselves down, dance the Earthquake Dance (well, you've got to have some pre-arranged way to relieve the nervous tension, otherwise you'd cry) and go serve up dinner. A toast, to the seismic levels going down, not up.

That was the strongest quake we've felt to date. Geonet call it as Mw 5.5. Nothing seems to have broken, but I'm starting to understand why people - particularly young families - have left and are continuing to leave town.

I'm not a rap fan, but this music video is captivating. A Christchurch-born rapper has recut one of his tracks as a pro bono, filmed on location in and around the CBD including the off-limits parts.

http://youtu.be/XRcCzdHzZUg

Nothing too exciting here, but just to show that it really is that wintry. When I went out this morning it was generally about 4 inches deep.

By the way, the first pic is our house.