Is anyone actually learning from their mistakes?

Kia Ora,

Posts are been a bit sparse as have been working on a security task within Christchurch's CBD 'red zone' & at this stage looks like will be for a while yet.

It has been quick checks of emails & bit of banter over criticism & how it doesn't help the recovery. Actually I see it the other way. It is better to get the criticism out there for those in power otherwise if they are not reacting as I have said in previous posts since the September earthquake then the anger & frustration builds & result in large increases in crime & violence even riots. That is going on recent similar disasters. Just seems that here people are not learning the lessons from offshore or after the September earthquake.

The seeds for that type of reaciton has been sown in the poor response to some areas in the Eastern Suburbs.

Some people are still not livng in the real world trying to keep things as normal. It is not!

The government at least seems to have woken up & it will be interesting to see if their words are backed by action.

But of course there are others who are against any action.

Like the owners of the Hotel Grand Chancellor who made the statement that the Minister for the earthquake recovery, one Gerry Brownlee, can not make the decision to bring the Hotel down. Actually I am sure he can with the new powers given to him post the September earthquake as can Civil Defence. It was a point made in parliament at the time of enacting the new powers. They are very broad cutting through normal processes.

One of the issues for the recovery of the earthquake is getting the economy working again. If you can provide jobs then people can feed their families therefore less stress & less likelyhood for violence, crime or frustration leading the likes of riots. Therefore anything that can speed up that recovery process should be welcome.

But you can see where the systems are not working. Overall it is my old friends at Civil Defence who are co ordinating the effort & again it is not been well done.

Examples are the information of recovery of vehicles from within the CBD. There is talk of a system that is in process but when you do a search you can't find it. It is only today that I learned there is a process but it oculd take weeks.

So whilst working in the CBD see this tow truck & ask them the process. $60 & sign this permission form & we will get it to our yard. Quick efficient & done legally.

In the same vein is the not well communicated information that you were supposed to ring Red Cross to report that your vehicle was in the CBD but you were OK. Did this on learning that fact, but seems the left is not telling the right so more police resources were wasted when today I was rung as I was on the missing list still as vehicle had been noted in the car park. The idea of ringing Red Cross I was assured was to ensure you cleared names so the police could focus elsewhere.

Then there is the likes of a young woman who along with some friends did everything they could to help provide a service for the people of Christchurch. It went great & they felt they were doing something worthwhile until they featured on the TV news for helping out. In stepped someone from the authorities to say they are not authorized to help & closed them down. Funny thing even the military had been helping get their service into Christchurch to make a difference. From the attitude & the way it was described to me it would appear it was Civil Defence as they had expressed the same attitude to other people wanting to help.

Civil Defence have not only been poor in all areas originally they have forgot that in a disaster it is the ability to use the resources that arrive to provide the best outcome. The fact that the intrepid Bernie & I fell outside Civil Defence doing anti looting was reason we got so much information that was able to be used.

Then there is the opening of the cordon so we now have green zones & a red zone. Now the police, military & securtiy on the perimeter seem to have it all sorted except for one little issue. No one was manning the fences on the red zone(that will have changed with the change of cordons today) & so each morning tradesmen & others were opening up those fences, even though there was one check point to enter that area, so we had people trying to short cut through on push bikes or walking into very dangerous areas.

But as a police officer said the fences were not really a cordon as the police, military & security were only supplying the manpower, Civil defence were in overall charge & dictating how the manning went.

They also, as I have encountered before in emergency situations when Civil Defence have been in charge, have said these areas like the red zone are no go but then let people live in it which has also caused issues. Like the resident who decided to take his dog for a walk after tea. Or the other resident sneaking around in the dark to allegedly find a way out for his wife in the morning. They refused initially to accept that at the time she would be going to work there was only one way out.

It is a very dangerous area with bits dropping off buildings from time to time.

If we go back to the government, the Prime Minister has said up to 10,000 residences may have to be relocated. In fact what we have seen on in the Eastern suburbs that actually might be a bit light but at least it shows that just maybe someone some where is starting to see the reality.

Though in saying that I haven't meet anyone yet, especially in the red zone, who thinks Christchurch will be able to hold the Rugby World Cup games it was scheduled too. The general feeling is that resources have to be put into getting the city set back up.

But the politicians are treading carefully thinking that most people are still wanting the games to go ahead. I seriously doubt that many Christchurch residents will want to be sitting high up in the stands for a while. It you suddenly have a lot of effort & expense going into the Rugby World Cup, but people are still struggling with basics you would likely find a severe reaction to the games from certain areas.

Probably the biggest issue is going to be the day of memorial for the quake. The Walk through the CBD is a major issue. I can understand the reasoning to have people walk through & see some of the destruction. Even people I spoke today who were here for the quake but in the suburbs & have a wall about to fall down on their house still can't quite relate that to the damage & death this earthquake caused.

I know that Police rotating through from out of town have found it surreal to see the city centre as it is(compared to watching it on TV or reading it in the paper), although many still don't seem to appreciate the power when a big one hits by some of their actions.

But having so many people walking through as expected & another shock hits will just cause chaos. We just got hit by another aftershock about 30 minutes ago that was quite good. As you saw on the day people often wouldn't follow instructions initially until an aftershock hit then there were people running in panic.

It might not happen but like the New Years night in the Square it seems people are not learning the lessons. It is not in the book so it won't happen. There are times to follow the book & there are times to undertand that procedures are only ever a guide line.

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