earthquake

Whilst I appreciate that an earthquake wrecked the whole city and the upheaval that has occurred since, I must say I am getting really very tired of people from Christchurch refusing to do anything other than hold their hand out for everyone else to pay for the rebuild.

I am not talking about the vast majority of hard-working and struggling Cantabrians either, and I have a few mates down there. But it is really getting beyond the pale when billions have been poured into Christchurch, with billions more planned and the locals are refusing to contribute while the rest of New Zealand funds their re-build.

I doubt Cantabrians would have the same patience if it was a re-build in Auckland we were talking about. Refusing to even contemplate partial asset sales of council owned assets just signals to the rest of New Zealand that they want to bludge off us to fill their $600 million budget hole in council finances.  Read more »

Fox reports

Credit: Hugh Gentry/Reuters

A tsunami alert was issued Wednesday for several South Pacific island nations after a strong earthquake struck near the Solomon Islands.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said sea level readings indicated a tsunami was generated that may be destructive near the epicenter.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8.0-magnitude quake struck Wednesday 50 miles west of Lata, in the Solomon Islands, at a depth of 3.6 miles.

There were no immediate reports of damage. Josephine Mae, a police official in the Solomon’s capital city of Honiara, said she had not felt any shaking and said police had received no reports of a tsunami being witnessed there.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the tsunami warning is in effect for the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Kosrae, Fiji, Kiribati, Wallis and Futuna. A tsunami watch is in effect for American Samoa, Australia, New Zealand and eastern Indonesia.

This post will be updated as more information comes to hand.    Read more »

I suffer from depression, I am open about it, I have blogged about it, I help people understand how depression affects them…but one thing is consistent in everything I have written about it and everything I have explained to people and that is that depression is not an excuse..it simply is what is happening to you.

I have never used it for an excuse. Look at this scumbag and pathetic excuse:

Depression triggered by his teenage son’s death in the Christchurch earthquake was behind a man’s descent into the world of child pornography, a court has heard.

John Andrew Howland, 38, moved to the West Coast soon after the earthquake and now lives in Greymouth, where a police raid on September 25 revealed he had thousands of images of children, some just toddlers, engaged in sexual acts with adults, stored on his computer.  Read more »

I was on Larry Williams show last night doing The Huddle. With me was David Farrar who took the left wing point of view.

• We covered the phone prank gone wrong.
• The announcement that Telecom are going to thieve from us less when we travel.
• And the biggie is really the royal commission report on the building collapses in Christchurch. Basically the CTV building should have never been green stickered after the September quake – but was badly built as well.

UPDATE: Watch the HawaiiNewsNow.Com Livestream

Warning sirens are sounding across Hawaii as a tsunami, measuring between one and two metres, is expected to hit the islands following a 7.7 earthquake off Canada’s Pacific coast.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake hit the Queen Charlotte Islands at 8.05pm on Saturday local time (4.05pm Sunday, NZT) and was centred 155km  south of Masset, British Columbia.

Gerard Fryer, senior geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, told CNN that Hawaii could expect waves between one to two metres high. “We are recommending coastal evacuation,” he said.

The centre said the first tsunami could hit the islands by about 10.30pm local time (9.30pm Sunday NZT).

Fryer told CNN the waves would not be as significant as those generated by the devastating earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011, leaving thousands dead.

Hawaii news website staradvertiser.com said tsunami warning sirens have sounded across Hawaii and officials have told people in inundation zones to  evacuate immediately.

“A tsunami has been generated that could cause damage along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii,” the centre said in a statement. “Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property.”

The centre originally said there was no threat to the islands, but a warning was later issued and remains in effect until 7pm Sunday (6pm Monday, NZT). A small craft advisory is in effect until Sunday morning.

New Zealand Civil Defence spokesperson Ian Maclean said there was no tsunami threat to New Zealand following the earthquake.

Tsunami Warning in Effect: (Google Public Alerts)

A tsunami Warning is now in effect which includes the coastal areas of British Columbia and Alaska from the north tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia to Cape Decision, Alaska (85 miles SE of Sitka). – Event details: Preliminary magnitude 7.1 (Mwp) earthquake / Lat: 52.863, Lon: -131.942 at 2012-10-28T03:04:11Z Tsunami warnings mean that a tsunami with significant widespread inundation is expected, or occurring. Warnings indicate that widespread dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents is possible and may continue for several hours after the initial wave arrival.

Earthquake Details: (Google Public Alerts)

Location: 126 miles (202 km) SSW of Prince Rupert, BC, Canada; 164 miles (263 km) S of Metlakatla, AK; 172 miles (277 km) SSE of Hydaburg, AK; 452 miles (727 km) NW of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Source: U.S. Geological Survey

ᔥ NZ Herald

They should auction the rights to push the button. I might go down just to watch.

A multi-storey office block will be blown up in quake-hit Christchurch’s first controlled demolition next month.

The 14-storey Radio Network House building in Worcester St, which housed Newstalk ZB, will be razed with an explosive implosion.

The controlled demolition, which has been approved by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera), will be the first of its kind in the city since authorities began the massive task of bringing down the hundreds of quake-damaged buildings.

Flash floods in Auckland

Earthquake in Opunake

Ewan MacDonald found not guilty

Man, 78, dies in Waikato house fire

Could all these be linked? Is fracking involved?

I await the press release from the Greens calling for a wide-ranging independent inquiry into event of the past 24 hours.

It won’t be from Gareth Hughes though, he is busy massively extending his carbon footprint.

Kendyll Mitchell gives evidence at the Royal Commission into the collapse of the CTV building in Christchurch.

ᔥ Stuff.co.nz

Jim Anderton and various other busy bodies have had a rally to tell the Anglican Church what they think should be done with a rooted cathedral. They conveniently ignore that they don’t own it, the Church does.

The rally came on the day an opinion poll showed the fate of the Anglican cathedral has divided the region, with 54 per cent of those polled favouring demolition and 42 per cent calling for it to be saved.

Former MP Jim Anderton told the crowd that 100 engineers had confirmed the Cathedral could be saved and restoration should go ahead regardless of the cost. If the city could afford to spend money on a new rugby stadium it could afford to restore the city’s most iconic building.

Long-time heritage campaigner and former city councillor Anna Crighton said the Anglican Church should take heed of both the New Zealand Historic Places Trust’s and the Christchurch City Council’s call for a pause to demolition work.

“Pause, consult the experts and let the public … have a say about their Cathedral,” Crighton said.

Jim Anderton wants to spend council money on a private building and Anna Crighton thinks the whole of Christchurch owns the cathedral…newsflash folks….it ain’t yours to decide.

ᔥ Stuff.co.nz

Charlie has his minions getting all uppity about bulldozing some dangerous buildings in Christchurch because they are old.

Dittmar expressed concerns over the fate of Christchurch heritage buildings in March last year.

“In the aftermath of the disaster, there can be a natural tendency to move forward quickly and a danger that the character of a place can be lost in the ensuing reconstruction,” he wrote.

Luckily the Prince and future King of New Zealand has a lot of spare change so he can pay for protecting some seriously ugly buildings.