Vol. 77/No. 25      July 1, 2013

BY PATRICK BROWN
AND BASKARAN APPU

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — More than two years after the Feb. 22, 2011, earthquake that took 185 lives and devastated much of the city, thousands of working people here are still living in damaged housing and waiting for insurance companies to settle their claims. The central city remains largely a wasteland.

The February 2011 quake, 6.3 in magnitude, was preceded by another destructive earthquake six months earlier and was followed by major aftershocks. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand estimated 150,000 homes —around three-quarters of Christchurch’s housing stock — were damaged. Local newspaper The Press reported Feb. 20 that of the 18,500 homes with damage in excess of $100,000, only one-third had received an insurance settlement and just 400 had been repaired or rebuilt.

“There are still some people without running water. Their communities haven’t been fixed properly,” said caregiver Ngaire Hira to Militant reporters May 18.

“Everyone naturally responded,” Hira said, recalling the solidarity organized by residents of the working-class suburb of Shirley in the immediate aftermath. “We organized premises that provided shelter and running water. We took groups of elderly and disabled people to use the local rugby league club showers.”

“It’s worst in the east,” which includes heavily working-class areas such as Aranui, New Brighton and Shirley,” said Hira.

A Press survey published May 11 noted that people in the west “were more likely to have had their repair work completed than eastern residents.”

Government buyout offers made to home owners in the east frequently value properties well below replacement costs, said Brent and Shirley Cairns of the Wider Earthquake Communities Action Network in a May 19 interview.

Landlords have ratcheted up rents by an average of 31 percent in greater Christchurch over the last two years, reported the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment in March.

“I know a lot of people struggling to cope as prices of rentals, fuel, food and power go up,” said Mary Scarrott, a former worker at a now-closed sewing factory who does homework for various garment manufacturers.

“It’s a basic problem of supply and demand,” Laura Garter of the Tenants Protection Association told the Militant May 19. “There are huge increases in people suffering hardship — people with rent increases, people looking for housing.”

The government announced plans May 29 to close 10 primary and intermediate city schools by next year. Three will be merged into other schools and seven will be closed outright.
 
 
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