high as a kite said...
Hey BP, Was the New Brighton area effected?
Sadly yes. This is what my work colleagues wrote after yesterdays assessment......
Bexley is basically New Brighton.
The final inspection of the day was of the suburb of Bexley, east of Christchurch’s city
centre. Bexley is home to what has been dubbed, “Christchurch’s worst hit street” (New Zealand Herald), and indeed there was some terrible damage there. Bexley is located near the Estuary of the Avon and Heathcote Rivers, and has significant adjacent wetlands. The level of liquefaction that was observed in Bexley, and particularly in Seabreeze Close, was not comparable to any area we have seen to date. Two days after the quake the amount of silt that sits in many people’s yard is up to (about) 50 cm deep (Figure 8). The yards in Seabreeze close are almost completely covered, except for driveways that have been shovelled clean,
reminiscent of snow cleared driveways.
The damage observed in Bexley was the most extensive that we’ve seen and can clearly be attributed to soil failure and liquefaction. It appears that somebody got something wrong when these homes were built!
