Kaiapoi to close roads to 'macabre' earthquake tourists

Damage to houses in Kaiapoi have drawn in tourists wanting a shot of the devastation. Photo / Greg Bowker

Waimakariri District Mayor Ron Keating says Kaiapoi may close off its roads this weekend, to stop "macabre" tourists descending on the ruined community.

People were exhausted and could not cope with tourists driving around taking photos of their condemned homes, he said.

Nearly 400 Kaiapoi, Pines Beach and Kairaki homes are categorised unsafe. The town is also losing one of its two supermarkets, its iconic department store Blackwells, the museum and its 104-year-old Post Office, as demolition begins today.

"The rubber-neckers are just driving everyone crazy. They just drive out of Christchurch. They just came off the motorway and last Sunday they were chocka. It's macabre, and they were bumper to bumper and unfortunately we weren't ready for it," Mr Keating told NZPA.

This weekend, the police and army may have to control all four entries into the town, "just to let people get on with their lives".

"They walk up the drive and take photos of the damage on the houses, just mindless things. No sensitivity to the feelings of the people who can see their house is badly damaged, (and) may have to be demolished.

Everyone was tired and worried and the rubberneckers were making them feel "dispirited", he said.

"Normally I'm pretty laid back, but there's moments when I've come close to losing my cool."

Nevertheless, Kaiapoi residents were "staggeringly" resilient in the small community of 12,000, Mr Keating said.

They had also been buoyed by the arrival of "several hundred" students and boy racers, offering to help the clean up this week.

"They came out in old cars... they had wheelbarrows and shovels and it's lifted the spirits -- not only because they're there, but they've cleaned up the streets.... the place is already looking tidier.

The township of 12,000 had been hit hard in the past by the closure of the freezing works and the famous Kaiapoi woollen mills, he said.

"They were huge employers and yet the town survived."

The town had been in a "growth phase", with plans to revitalise the centre and promote it as a tourist destination as it was one of the few settlements with a river running through it.

"Little did we know, a large part of our town centre would be devastated."

While today's demolition was heartbreaking, Mr Keating said it was also an opportunity.

"We now have, despite the tragedy of the whole thing, a new opportunity for us to redevelop the town in probably a way we could never have done."

Engineers believe that a new subdivision badly damaged in the quake may be entirely demolished and rebuilt with new foundations and stabilised land, which was good news, he said.

More good news was that engineers may be able to erect temporary sewerage pipes above the ground, which could be built in a matter of weeks -- rather than waiting for a year as he had earlier been told.

"It will require some pump stations and some clever engineering solutions, but we believe that we will get the sewerage (system) back on."

Kaiapoi's water system was almost restored.

"Kaiapoi has this ability to look after itself and support each other. The town will come again, just as it has done in the past, against the odds."

Meanwhile, the Waimakariri District Council estimates the cost of repairs to the Waimakariri region could range from $67 million to $120 million, to replace community buildings, utilities, road and footpath repairs.

Chief executive Jim Palmer said repairing parks and buildings alone, including the library, was likely to cost about $7.6m, to be met by insurers, the council and Government funding. It was not clear how the bill would be split.

Repair of roads -- which cannot be insured -- could cost from $25m to $35m but the Government had signalled it would meet up to 90 per cent of that.

- NZPA