90 seconds at 9 am with BNZ: Warning of new big Christchurch quake may slow rebuild; NZ$ off its high after new Greek fears; Australian GDP to contract

But what are the beaches like? ;)

hamrod : Show some respect ! ..... Bernard doesn't need a bunch of scientists , to belittle him every night  for a  week on Campbell Live  ...... He's got his own Muppet  show here , and a  loyal circus of bloggers  to do that , 24 / 7 , every week !

Bernard, it sounds like someone is hoping for another quake so they can continue to make excuses as to why they have seriously stuffed up the rebuilding and recovery.

The reality is that most conventional buildings can easily be constructed to suffer no more than superficial damage in a magnitude 7+ quake.  Land is not quite so easy to fix however.

The real question has to be why after September were houses allowed to be built in locations which were susceptible to major land damage (but no damage occured in Sept) such as the Brooker Ave subdivision in Burwood with no additional requirements for foundations? 

We also learned that the bracing code is insufficient in February and that sheet braces are considerable more effective than diagonal let-in metal braces, yet nothing has occured to change the rules.  We also found that current rules for 3+ storey timber framed structures do not provide anywhere near enough bracing on the lower floors, yet rules haven't changed.  We also found that concrete block structures even reinforced with tie beams and columns were almost as inadequate as unreinforced masonry.

It all seems to be business as usual, without any sensible decisions being made.

If NZ is relying on a ChCh rebuild to restore growth, then the recession will be longer and harder than anyone imagines.

Simple decisions such as whether it is simple to just abandon some suburbs have not even been taken.  It's been 9 months since Bexley was ravaged yet homeowners are still in the dark as to what will happen.  The reality is that in low land value areas such as Bexley that there is no way roads AND land could be fixed for less than the current land value in the area.  It would probably be cheaper for EQC and insurers to offer property owners 10% above market value than even think about rebuilding.

So why not just get on with it.  Start discussions with property and land owners, and see what outcome they would want.

Instead we are having namby pamby discussions between "business leaders" about blue-sky ideas that will never happen to try to make it better for their in some cases hardly affected businesses.

It's all a hopeless go nowhere situation where money is being wasted by Govt and insurers on poorly considered decisions.

Consider the $50m spent on temporary relocatable houses.  Firstly why spend millions to establish these houses on parks when thousands of habitable homes lie vacant and thousands more houses with minor EQC repairs also lie vacant.  It is all just money being burned to establish a pretense of action being taken.

Unless something changes drastically and soon ChCh is over and out.

It's a shame that the only hopes of officials is for them to wait (and hope?) for another M7 event to make it look like they have done the right thing by sitting about..

Well, on that account,  if there was any expectation that there might have been large aftershocks close to ChCh (which there was since Boxing Day when an M4.8 did so much damage in the CBD) why were buildings that had suffered considerable damage allowed to be opened to the public with out any repair or strengthening work being undertaken?

I was appalled to hear that 4 people died on the corner of Mollett and Colombo Sts.  The two building both lost 2 storey side walls in September (on the Mollett side - a 5m wide service lane).  The Colombo facades were intact, no major work to even stabilise the facades had been done last time I saw them yet the footpath below was open without even the verandahs being propped up last time I saw it.

Even today there are accidents waiting to happen on buildings that are in "safe" zones, and managed to have no major damage so far.  These are  buildings of the same construction as those that failed and without even the most temporary of strengthening work being done.

It's all so appalling that it's hardly worth thinking about.  And I haven't even started on the insurance debacles....

Report on tv tonight stated some refinement to the information being quoted here, 6% for ChCh metropolitan area.   

"Have you got the report that says that NZ - is - an eq zone" - When was the last time Northland had a quake or even a tremor? Not ALL of NZ is quake prone. (And no active or dormant volcanoes up north either.)

LOL. you really don't get it do you, hint hint read the "other" party of the report not highlighted by the media :-) Agree not the even of the world but a real problem for many.

Nicholas, I think that the catalyst is already there: Nobody except for the FED has been buying the bonds that finance the USA's growth so actually nobody is financing the USA... the bicycle is broken and eventually it is bound to stop. When that happens look for shelter because the Chinese have been shopping around the world with those trillions in US debt that bothered them so much.

Thanks for that link . I followed it , and instead , watched Consuelo Mack's  interview with Prof. Niall Ferguson . Best 26 minutes of Youtube around !

All of them are saying that....and the UK's growth has just been downgraded....so it isnt a happening thing...

All thats happening to NZ really is we are not so bad and are lagged in time, so our pollies are saying to us what the other countries pollies said to their voters 1 to 2 years ago....and it isnt working.....so will the mugs who are our voters fall for it? yes I bet they will.....mostly because there is no alternative.

regards