New Zealand: Quake death buildings had been cleared as being safe

Published on Monday 28 February 2011 15:16

Two buildings where scores of people died in last week's earthquake in the New Zealand city of Christchurch had been cleared as safe after a quake last year, a government official said yesterday.

The statement came as funerals began for the victims.

Separately, prime minister John Key said the overall cost of the 22 February and the 4 September, 2010 quakes combined would be about 9.2 billion - with the second, more destructive, earthquake costing about three-quarters of the total.

Concern had been raised about the condition of the 25-year-old Canterbury Television Building, which housed a language school and was where nearly half the confirmed dead were killed. The death toll from last Tuesday's 6.3 magnitude quake is 148, but authorities expect it to rise to near 200.

A 7.1 magnitude quake rocked Christchurch in September last year, and questions had been raised about whether buildings such as the CTV and Pyne Gould building had been destabilised, but an official said yesterday both had been inspected and cleared as safe.

"What Mother Nature did to us last Tuesday was to deliver an earthquake that exceeded design standards. And it exceeded them by 50 per cent," Christchurch City Council building manager Steve McCarthy told a media briefing.

"The unique thing about this earthquake is that it lifted the ground and the buildings and then dumped it at two times the force of gravity," Mr McCarthy said.

• Scottish GP missing in aftermath of New Zealand earthquake

The bodies of dozens of students from Japan, China, the Philippines and Taiwan are still in the ruins of the six-storey CTV building, whose floors pancaked on top of each other.

The first funeral of a victim, a five-month-old boy, took place yesterday. Only eight bodies have been released because of the need to accurately identify the dead. Police and rescue officials were in tears at the funeral of Baxtor Gowland in Christchurch, as the boy's family thanked the community for rallying around in support.

"We have come with very heavy hearts today to remember with love and say goodbye to baby Baxtor … a treasured baby son," the boy's great-aunt said.

The condition of the CTV building had been raised the day after the quake by a student from India, who spoke while awaiting news of a friend trapped inside.

"How was this allowed to happen? When they inspected the building after the last earthquake, why didn't they realise?" asked the student named Jeewan.Christchurch mayor Bob Parker said the unique nature of the earthquake and the force it exerted was something authorities across the world would need to look at.

"This is an international issue and the learning that will come out of this will potentially change earthquake (building] codes internationally," Mr Parker said.

Rescuers said hope of finding survivors was running out.

"Realistically, it would be a miracle," said fire rescue chief Jim Stuart Black.

Aftershocks of up to magnitude 4.3 were rattling the area and forced more people from their homes in hillside and seaside suburbs as fears grew that a large number of houses and car-sized boulders would tumble on to houses below.

No survivors have been found since mid-afternoon last Wednesday.

Prime minister Key unveiled a temporary assistance package for employers and employees, which he estimated would apply to about 42,000 people and cost up to 61.5m.

Life was slowly returning to normal in some parts of the city yesterday, with buses back on the streets and some coffee shops, corner stores, offices and restaurants reopening.