Canterbury Aftershocks Decreasing

www.canterburyearthquake.govt.nz

Civil Defence Director John Hamilton says the frequency and magnitude of aftershocks in the Canterbury region is continuing to decrease.

Only two aftershocks of more than magnitude 4 have occurred since 0600 this morning.

Meanwhile welfare centres are continuing to provide immediate care and accommodation for displaced people in the affected area but authorities are working hard to find more permanent accommodation for those whose properties are uninhabitable he said

There were 260 people accommodated at the two Christchurch welfare centres this morning and a welfare centre has been opened at Cowles Stadium on Pages Road to replace the Linwood College welfare centre as the college prepares to reopen.

The general number of people using the welfare centres has stabilised, with a high turnover of people being accommodated overnight.

A Canterbury Recovery Strategy has been completed by the Canterbury Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group. Implementation of the strategy will focus on social initiatives, the built environment infrastructure and natural environmental issues.

The majority of public services across the region are now operating at normal or near normal levels.

By this morning the 0800 Government helpline (0800 779 997) had received more than 10,000 calls. These have continuing to focus on damage to property, employment subsidies and food grants.

Local State of Emergency declarations remain in place in Christchurch City, Selwyn District and Waimakiriri District, with Christchurch City and Waimakariri District declarations extended to midday Wednesday 15 September 2010. The Selwyn District declaration has been extended for another 7 days but this will be reviewed daily from Monday 13 September.

The Ministry of Social Development’s campaign to call superannuitants living alone has been completed. MSD has contacted 16,233 NZ superannuitants by phone and a further 706 through home visits.

As of this morning Work and Income had processed 2,333 emergency payments, mainly for food, clothing and accommodation.

Community Infrastructure

Public health concerns relating to water supply are now declining with water supplies in Christchurch City, Banks Peninsular and Selwyn deemed safe. A “boil water” notice continues in parts of Waimakariri District.

Calls to the Canterbury Healthline continued to decrease yesterday. Public health officials are continuing to visit welfare centres to provide advice and assess public health needs.

The Ministry of Education is preparing for most schools to open on Monday and is working on a plan to support pupils unable to go to their own schools.

Property Status

Building inspections. Operation East has drawn to a close. It has involved assessing and inspecting buildings and the welfare of residents in the hardest hit areas and has been underway since Thursday 9 September. By last night the Christchurch City Council had inspected 5639 residential and commercial buildings.

Earthquake Commission continues to receive claims. By yesterday, EQC had received 45,472 claims.

Transport Infrastructure All main urban arterial roads in Christchurch are open.

SH1 between Kaikoura and Waipara is closed due to a significant slip that is expected to take several days to fix.

Evans Pass Road (main alternative route to Lyttleton) has restricted access only for essentialvehicles. This is due to instability of rock above the road.

Local roads are being surveyed. Bridges and roads are being repaired throughout the area. An accurate picture of costs is expected in coming weeks.

Christchurch International Airport is fully operational, with terminal buildings are certified completely safe.

Lyttleton Port is fully operational.

Railways – the slip near Kaikoura also affected rail on the main North line. Fixing the line will take about 2 days.

Infrastructure/Utilities

Electricity – power has been restored to virtually all areas. From Monday Orion plans to move into the recovery phase with the focus shifting to making temporary repairs permanent.

Telecommunications – all customer services are operating normally

Water – Christchurch water is expected to be completely restored by the end of the weekend, by last night seven streets remained without water in Christchurch City. A “boil water” notice remains for parts of Waimakiriri District.

Waste water – sewerage continues to be a problem for Waimakiriri and parts of Christchurch city.

Environmental

Significant changes due to ground displacement and shaking have resulted including changes to water courses.

Environment Canterbury has crews inspecting industrial areas for contaminants.

Rural Status

A Rural Recovery Group for the Canterbury region has been established and a rural recovery coordinator Alan Baird has been appointed as the main liaison for the sub groups for Communication, Coordination, Water, and People.

Helpline for farmers. A Federated Farmers help line: 0800 FARMING (0800 327 646) is operating daily 8.30am-5.00pm. Additional information is available at www.fedfarm.org.nz

There are growing concerns about effluent management and infrastructure damage. Federated Farmers also have staff in the field visiting affected farmers. There are estimated to be 71 badly affected farms. There are growing concerns about effluent management and farm infrastructure damage

Water – there are some issues with water including wells with excessive volumes of silt locking up pumps and blocking filters.

Grain silos – 53 silos have fallen over or are damaged. Storage for affected grain is a potential issue.

Summary

On Thursday, the Government appointed a rural emergency coordinator to oversee the range of organisations involved in recovery efforts in the Canterbury rural sector.

From Monday morning, the Christchurch City Council will have a building recovery office on the ground floor of the new Council offices at 53 Hereford Street. This office will include representatives of the Earthquake Commission, building inspectors, and engineers and will be able to provide advice for residential and business owners needing to reoccupy their buildings, arrange demolition, major repairs or rebuilds. For financial assistance from the EQC and the Mayoral Relief Fund

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

Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri Councils have each formed recovery groups soon after the earthquake to plan and coordinate recovery efforts. The councils are meeting today (Saturday) to extend a recovery strategy developed by Christchurch City to cover the three districts.

Hazards – Waimakiriri River is contaminated in its lower reaches. The public are advised to avoid contact with river and seawater and not collect or consume any fish and shellfish.

Weather – no major adverse weather events forecast for the next two days.

Useful websites:

www.civildefence.govt.nz

www.getthru.govt.nz

www.canterburyearthquake.govt.nz

ENDS

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