Three years on from 7.8M earthquake, is Kaikōura just as vulnerable?

Wednesday, 13 November 2019

Kaikōura was picked as a perfect 'case study' four months before a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit.

Rebuilt and resilient, but, three years on, is Kaikōura any better equipped to deal with another massive earthquake? Alice Angeloni reports.

In mid 2016, a team of researchers set about looking for a 'case study', to explore how a remote community would or could respond in a natural disaster.

Kaikōura was perfect, they thought. They were right.

The coastal town had a small population, was reliant on tourism and agriculture, had a 'lifeline highway', and was set in a 'dynamic, multi-hazard' landscape.

By November 14, 2016, about four months after the research began, they no longer had a case study, they had a case in point.

Supervisor Lukis Fuller adds a length of casing to a rock between Blue Duck Valley Road and Iron Gate Bridge.

**READ MORE:

* Surviving 7.8: Caught on the coast

* Kaikōura building strength and spirit two years on from earthquake

* Earthquake anniversary a good time to pause says All Right? campaigner**

The first freight train following the earthquake arrived in Kaikōura in September 2017.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck near Kaikōura at 12.02am, tearing the 'lifeline highway' to pieces, twisting the train tracks and lifting the seabed by metres.

The town was instantly cut off from the rest of New Zealand.

Navy ships from New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the United States came to Kaikōura's aid bringing expertise and supplies. The New Zealand Defence Force sent in a convoy of 32 trucks.

Three years on, the road has been rebuilt. So, too, has the railway and the harbour.

Business is back to normal but some locals say the coastal town has been rebuilt much the same, and if another disaster was to hit, they would be cut off again.

The earthquake severed road and rail connections in and out of Kaikōura.

'I don't think Kaikōura would be any better off, we would be cut off for months again,' shop owner Mark Fissenden said.

He had 'mixed emotions' three years on from the earthquake. There were certainly opportunities and potential in the near future, like the $30 million development of a Sudima Hotel, he said.

But he didn't think Kaikōura was any more resilient. They were still reliant on tourism and the road was still their lifeline, he said.

'We're not any more self-sufficient, we're not a community that can shut the door at either end and survive.'

That being said, Fissenden didn't think Kaikōura was able to be self-sufficient, or in any case, he didn't know how it could be realised.

Paper Plus owner Mark Fissenden thinks Kaikōura would be cut off again in the event of another natural disaster.

The research project, called Resilience to Nature's Challenges, is one of 11 National Science Challenges funded by the Government. The National Science Challenges aim to tackle the biggest science-based issues and opportunities facing New Zealand.

After the earthquake, the researchers took a step back to let the town and its people recover. But then they got back to work.

One of their papers, now looking at Kaikōura in a 'post-disaster context', quoted locals as saying the earthquake 'opened our eyes … we can't be reliant on tourism'.

Community members strongly expressed concerns that 'spatial characteristics', such as road closures, alternative routing and delays, had direct financial implications for businesses.

Work continues on the corner between Blue Duck Valley Road and Iron Gate Bridge after it developed a large tension crack in the earthquake.

Jason Hill, who owns Coopers Catch and the Jailhouse, took part in the Hospo Project, a collaboration between 22 local hospitality businesses to feed the hundreds of rebuild workers who moved to the district.

The project kept the business alive, and meant they could keep some staff employed, he said.

But food security going forward became apparent in the days following the earthquake, research showed. Local residents recognised the irony of living in an agricultural district with plenty of livestock but with no means to access the meat.

A helicopter crew sluice the Ohau Point landslide off the northern Kaikoura coast.

At the same time, the 24 dairy farms in the district were forced to dump thousands of litres of milk each day for three weeks because tankers could not access their farms. And much of the region's seafood was off limits due to the uplift of the seabed.

One of the report authors said there was real local desire to come up with initiatives to improve the food situation, though these had been 'a little slow to get off the ground'.

Hill was concerned they still faced the same vulnerabilities as three years ago, and despite the rebuild, they would be cut off again.

'If it happened again, it would be the same story,' Hill said.

Takahanga Marae kaumātua elders Angela Timms and Karen Starkey said many members of the whānau had left town in the years following the earthquake, but they were trickling back home.

They said the marae was always a 'steady, stable' place. It opened its doors on the day of the quake, acting as a relief centre and catering for more than 1000 tourists in the days following the earthquake.

Three years on from the Kaikōura earthquake, business is back to normal, locals say.

It had been mentioned by some experts that another natural disaster was a possibility, but in that case they would know exactly what to do, Timms said.

They probably wouldn't do anything differently, except make sure they kept a closer eye on the ones looking after everyone else, she said.

The marae had already begun the process of becoming self-sustainable by installing water tanks and generators. They had plans for a water filtration system and were looking at solar panels.

Takahanga Marae kaumātua elders, from left, Major Timms, Angela Timms and Karen Starkey, say the marae is a stable place.

Whale Watch Kaikōura general manager Kauahi Ngapora said they had rebuilt the business to be ahead of pre-earthquake numbers, and the restored harbour was 'humming along'.

The new tender jetty had been successful for visiting cruise ships and they were looking forward to seeing that market grow, he said.

The scenery was still pristine in the months after the earthquake.

However, restoration works had focused on restoring functionality, and any growth beyond what was currently planned would be difficult to achieve, Ngapora said.

They were looking forward to seeing the road work completed, 'it has the potential to be an experience in its own right'.

'I'm no engineer but the efforts and funds gone into restoring many aspects of Kaikōura's critical infrastructure are sure to set the town up better for the future and provide a degree of resilience should anything like this happen in the very distant future.'

A New Zealand Transport Agency spokeswoman said recovery work, like adding retaining walls, rockfall protection and the thousands of rock anchors designed to strengthen slip sites, were all intended to make the roads more resilient.

They had also developed rail tunnel extensions, debris flow bridges and the highway had been moved further out from the cliff face in many places, she said.

Kaikōura Youth Council co-chairs, Owen Thornton, 17, and Petra Jellyman, 16, say there's much to look forward to in the district.

'The scale and complexity of the damage to State Highway 1, the Main North Line railway and the Kaikōura marina was unprecedented.'

The Inland Road, or Route 70, which became a diversion route for State Highway 1 to provide access to Kaikōura, was getting $10 million worth of improvements, the spokeswoman said.

Researcher Dr Nick Cradock-Henry said any sort of 'radical change' could go one of two ways.

'Either things fall back to the way they were beforehand, you restore functionality and build everything back, or disasters can create a space to think differently about the future, to consider new opportunities …'

Based on their research, Cradock-Henry said Kaikōura fell into the latter.

Te Ha o Matauranga community hub co-ordinator Sarah Beardmore said three years on adrenaline had dwindled and people were getting tired. They needed direction now more than ever, she said.

Latest financial figures show the Kaikoura District Council is 'at risk of implosion', with Clarence residents campaigning to join their northern neighbours, the Marlborough District Council.

The quake was estimated to cost the district between $3 billion and $8b and residents were looking at a 50 per cent hike in rates compared to pre-quake levels in the next three years to meet Kaikōura council's costs.

Kaikōura Youth Council co-chairs Owen Thornton, 17, and Petra Jellyman, 16, along with Kaikōura High School head boy Noah Bentley, 16, said they were off school for six weeks after the earthquake.

Owen said three years on it felt like life was back to normal, and they were back to where they left off before the earthquake.

Noah said the earthquake was an 'awesome time'. With no internet and social media, they were getting out there and living in the moment.

They didn't have the structure of school, so instead they cycled around, jumped in swimming pools, built bikes at the dump, all the while surrounded by navy, army and emergency response units.

'We didn't see it as a negative. I remember being in the earthquake like 'we're in history right here',' Owen said.

But Petra said they could still be easily isolated, 'even with these new roads being built'. Noah thought they were more prepared to deal with it though.

'It brought a lot of people closer,' he said.