Demolition crews make assault on red zone

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee watches demolition work in Christchurch. Photo / Martin Hunter

Two months ago, there was an eerie quiet in the central Christchurch streets that make up the "red zone".

The absence of pedestrians and vehicles, and noise that usually accompanies them, was an unnerving result of the city's earthquakes.

Now, travelling through these cordoned-off streets is an assault on the senses.

The rumble of heavy trucks and shrieking of large machines tearing into bricks and masonry is all around you.

The level of destruction remains obvious from the quakes that have struck this city since last September, but there is also progress in clearing away quake-damaged buildings to make way for the new Christchurch CBD.

"It is the largest work site in New Zealand at the moment. It's a hive of activity compared to what it was before,"' says Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) demolitions manager Warwick Isaacs.

Media were yesterday taken on a tour through the red zone - the first since mid-May when the devastation of the killer February 22 quake was still so evident.

Since that May tour, the area has been hit again by the two large quakes of June 13. The extra damage piled on was massive, Mr Isaacs says.

About 40 damaged buildings needed urgent demolition.

"So by comparison now, we have got a lot more certainty about a lot more buildings. There's a lot more buildings to come down and there's a lot more [demolition] contracts that have been entered into."

As the tour began yesterday, engineer and safety adviser Neville Higgs warned the area was even less safe to enter than in May.

The danger of bricks and masonry falling from buildings was still there, but now there was also the risk from trucks and heavy machinery.

The trucks are carrying away piles of twisted metal, bricks, masonry and glass as diggers and cranes pull down the buildings. The streets are lined with shipping containers and rubbish skips to try to cope with the huge volumes of debris. Workers in fluorescent vests and hard hats are everywhere.

Mr Higgs was in the red zone - outside the city's bus exchange - when the magnitude 6.3 quake hit on June 13. Bricks starting falling down from buildings on both sides of the street.

"Fortunately I was in the middle of the street. And I managed to get back up to my car ... as I was coming up there was about three storeys' high of scaffolding that was peeling off a building and landed about half a metre away from my car."

In Cashel Mall - central Christchurch's retail hub - the pedestrian walkway that used to be bustling with shoppers is an uneven strip of mud and puddles of dirty water.

Some shops, like the prominent Whitcoulls building, are being torn down. Others are already gone.

Those that remain have crumbling and broken facades and are behind temporary fencing or barriers made of freight containers.

The plan is to have this mall, and the adjoining Oxford Terrace "Strip", reopened by October 29 in time for Canterbury's anniversary party week in November. But, given the state of the mall now, it's hard to see it happening.

"It's a very tall order," admits Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee.

"I'm hopeful we are going to meet that deadline. We are going to see a lot of different and innovative ways to create retail space."