h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I’m sure that for those of you outside NZ, the aftermath of the Chchch earthquake has dropped far from the news. But for us it is, and will remain, the main event affecting our lives for a long time to come.

I am fortunate to live 30km north of the city and my town has suffered relatively little. I thank my lucky stars when I return home each day to a sanctuary of potable water, a flushing loo and a sound, warm house. But each day I go into work at the Emergency Operations Centre and am reminded just how enormous is this disaster and I am overwhelmed by the thought of how long it will be before Chchch can be regarded as a normal city again.

Water is a huge issue in Chchch for a variety of reasons. The city is built on a huge floodplain, so liquefaction was the first and most obvious problem, with flooding over extensive areas of the eastern suburbs in particular. The liquefaction also resulted in silt everywhere: to date over 300,000 tonnes have been removed (that’s 1115 truck and trailer loads).

For a while after the quake, there were many parts of the city without a domestic water supply. The pipes had ruptured and burst on 22nd February. There were 45 temporary water tanks, mobile tankers and other arrangements set up across Chchch, from which people filled containers on a daily basis.

A couple of weeks ago, every household was once more able to access mains water, but until now (over six weeks since the quake) all residents were advised to boil it: we could not be sure that the water in the tap was safe to drink. Then chlorination units were put in place and thorough water sampling has been going on, giving clean samples for the last 11 days. So at 3pm Friday the boil water order was lifted.

This doesn’t mean however, that the residents of Chchch can now use water willy-nilly. Far from it. The waste water system is creaking under the strain of extensive damage and enormous volumes of silt and sand in the pipes and treatments works as a result of the liquefaction.

At the city’s waste water treatment works at Bromley, not only are they struggling to cope with all the silt and sand being washed into the treatment tanks (cleaning them sequentially, so that three out of the seven are working at a time) but the stop banks around the treatment ponds appear to have cracked. This means that heavy rainfall increasing the volume of fluid in the ponds could burst a bank.

Whilst 94% of the city’s houses have ‘sewer access’ i.e. their drains go into a sewer on the street, only 65% of the waste in the sewers is reaching the treatment plant. Given the parlous state of the plant, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

There is an estimated 30% of domestic waste water going directly into the surface water system (streams, rivers, estuary and lakes) and a mysterious 5% is presumably simply sinking into the soil.

Each day I cycle alongside the River Avon in Hagley Park and I can attest to it being a temporary waste water route. It has a blue-grey tinge and an associated odour, which the ducks seem to thrive on.

At the EOC the Royal Flush Portaloo wagon (seriously) has gone and we are using the regular indoor toilets. However, nobody is sure where the effluent goes to after it has left the building: probably straight into the River Avon which is just 50m away. Accordingly, I try not to go to the loo too often. And to assuage my guilt further, I'm adopting the approach of 'if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down'.

I shall indulge those of you who enjoy facts and figures:
· The Council has 92 trucks flushing sand and silt out of waste pipes;
· 11 crews are putting cameras down mains to survey the damage;
· 6%, or 96 km, of Christchurch's sewerage mains are not working, with a further 27%, or 474km, working only slowly;
· About 40 million litres a day of Christchurch's sewage is leaking out of broken pipes;
· The Council has had to release large volumes of untreated water into the 230ha Bromley oxidation ponds and there is a 50% chance that the oxygen level will drop below functional levels, turning the lakes into a vast cesspit;
· Once the tipping point is reached it will be difficult to reverse and the smell could linger for months;
· It will be months rather than weeks before rivers and beaches are safe;
· 2,800 portaloos are in use across the city;
· 37,000 chemical toilets will have been delivered to households by the end of this weekend.

Amazingly, there have only been 226 notifications of gastrointestinal illness for Canterbury since 22nd February, compared to 197 notifications for the same period in past 3 years. But we are on alert for an outbreak...

To add to the water woes it appears that the east and north-east of the city has actually sunk ('settled' is the official term) by up to 1m following the 22nd February quake and the subsequent aftershocks.

This means that the areas around Marshland (so-called for bleedin' obvious reasons) are a metre closer to the water table. Roads are close to going under and waterways are at their upper limits without any additional rain going into them. Flooding is going to become a serious issue as we head into the wetter part of the year.

Interestingly it is thought that the Port Hills have risen by 0.5m. But don’t think that that area gets away from its own special set of watery problems.

The hills have suffered tension cracks from the quakes. When water infiltrates the cracks in the loess soil, the slopes can fail. Indeed monitoring at one landslide location on the Port Hills (with 40 houses beneath) is revealing daily movements of about 5mm. A ‘glue’ of clay and special expanding mineral granules is being put into the cracks to prevent them widening. I hope it works.

More – non-watery - facts and figures for you:
· 59 roads are still entirely or partially closed;
· 9 bridges have restricted use;
· 71,000 buildings have been assessed by Civil Defence and just under 3000 have red stickers on them (deemed dangerous);
· 184 buildings are to be demolished in the CBD (a figure likely to more than double eventually);
· There are cordons, Red Zones, No-Go Zones and Drop Zones in the central city;
· The Picton-Chchch train has been suspended until 15th August, due to reduced numbers of tourists;
· $181m has been paid in employer support subsidy to Chchch workers who have no place of work;
· 350 campervans have been placed at the Canterbury Agricultural Park to house displaced residents;
· Over 9000 Chchch school children have enrolled in schools outside the city since 22nd February;
· 172 fatalities have been confirmed, with a further 10 as yet unidentified;
· There have been 5234 earthquakes in the area since 4th September.

Enough.

Frenchbean - living another kind of reality.

the media might forget, but! we don't

Indeed, Prof. Fb you and your kins-people are still in my thoughts and prayers, not much solace for what you are suffering I know, but you definitely aren't forgotten

Same here Fb, always in our thoughts. It is good you give us all some background to what is happening. It really brings it home. It is a pity the media don't give it space, people need to know, to understand.

Websailor

Thanks folks It's lovely that people aren't forgetting.

Book of Job comes to mind. But you're staying around, seeing it out.

Yes, I feel committed to staying put, Recumbentman.

I don't know the Book of Job... what's the story?

Fb

Best book in the bible, most readers agree

God, chatting with his mate Satan, boasts how good a chap Job is: perfect and upright, godfearing and evil-eschewing, rich and blessed with successful children who get on terrifically with each other

Satan tempts the Lord: 'Undo Job's advantages and then see how he curses you'

OK says the Lord, do what you want to him . . .

So Job loses everything he has, bit by bit, but remains stoical: 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord'

How's that, says God next time he meets Satan. Satan persuades him to let him give him some physical ailments to go with his poverty, so he does

Job eloquently curses the day that he was born, but still will not curse God

His friends ('Job's comforters') come and rub metaphorical salt in his wounds, and from chapters 4 to 37 they discuss just what Job must be guilty of, to have earned such a downfall

Finally in Chapter2 38 to 41 the Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind, asking him what does he, Job, or anyone else, suppose they know about theology

Job answers humbly, and repents in dust and ashes for having given an opinion on what he had hitherto only heard about, but now he sees

God tells the false comforters to offer a sacrifice (seven bullocks and seven rams) and they will be spared his wrath if the righteous Job prays for them

Then the Lord gives Job twice as much as he had before and they all live happily until Job dies, being old and full of days

No, sorry, Job doesn't lose everything bit by bit, but all at once: oxen, asses and camels stolen, sheep, servants, sons and daughters killed, all in a day.

Good story Except for the bit about not being allowed to have an opinion

We had another big shake yesterday evening: a 5.3. Everything shook and rattled. All okay at home, but more damage in Chchch - rockfalls, water mains burst, power off etc. Many friends heading north for lunch

to help bring a little cheer to you down there3rd March I became a granddad for the 1st timehe was 6 week early and just over 4lb(nosey little bugger, scared of missing something)last week he was 5lb13.5oz, today he's 6lb2oz

Congrats to the Prof!

Fb -- you are surely being put through the mangle there. Sympathies.

Re Job -- surprising isn't it? As Penn Jillette says, everybody but the seriously ill is an agnostic. That's the proper attitude for both believers and non.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTWlQaZ0DWo (annoying manner, but persist).

thank you my friend

Fantastic news, Prof

off to look at YouTube clip.....

I'm a Yorkshireman FB, it means finding another birthday/xmas presents

Typical Prof, now why does that ring bells

Websailor

Well we meet again my dear frenchbean....!

I can hardly see now so have decided that this marvellous forum is quite the best way of keeping in touch.


With affecdtion

Alsoran80

Thursday 21st April, 2011 7.30 BST

Dear Websailor

I know that you are a busy lady but is there anything you can do to get me back easily onto my personal space.

I realise that I am having lots of little strokes which makes instant recall of events of just a few minutes ago difficult to remember.!! But ask me about events from 1932 onwards and my memory is excell ent. !!

i still have not managed to get my personal page and have absolutely no idea how to get it. You have my phone number so if you could give me a ring and ask them to contact me so that I can accept the charges to me you might be able to help,
I really feel so much better, and was really missing h2g2 this morning.

With much affection.

AlsoRan80
aka AR80

Thursday 21st April 2011 13.09 BsT

Your Personal Space is here Christiane, I have had no trouble getting it. Strange.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/U12340544


Websailor