Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House (Closed) Further Christchurch Earthquake

Bit of a repeat of previous stories, but with a bit more detail:

Keeper braved cordon to save fish | Stuff.co.nz

For almost a week after the Christchurch earthquake, a fish keeper ventured into the city cordon every six hours to save hundreds of animals from a quake-hit aquarium.

The Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House employee returned to the Cathedral Square tourist attraction to help the fish and animals, including geckos and tuatara, trapped after the quake.

For six days he kept the backup generator fuelled to keep tanks and other equipment operating, said Lynn Anderson, chief executive of the Orana Wildlife Trust which owns the aquarium.

The man, who has declined to be named, progressively evacuated about 500 animals.

The "brave staff member continued to go back in there every six hours and feed the backup generators and on every trip he got more out", Anderson said.

"We are incredibly proud of what was achieved but I must admit we were extremely worried. The end result is absolutely outstanding, but I still could not condone it with the risk".

Anderson said 53 of the 700 animals, including seahorses whose tank was knocked over, were killed as a direct result of the quake.

The combination of a failing generator, Civil Defence preventing access and unclean water in the tanks meant another 150 animals - including stingrays - had to be put down.

The loss of the aquarium and some of its animals was still a sensitive issue for staff.

"Many of those large creatures in the marine tank had been there for years. They had names. They were cared about ... so it's very sad."

No visitors or staff were injured when the quake hit. Staff evacuated the aquarium and transferred them to Orana Wildlife Park that afternoon.

Other animals have been released around Canterbury. The giant eels were put into the Waimakariri River, the Canterbury mudfish into the Travis Wetland, the porcupine fish off the Canterbury coast, and the octopus to Lyttelton.

Since the quake, the seven staff employed at the aquarium have been made redundant, while 10 employees have also left Orana Wildlife Park.

They have either resigned, been made redundant or have not been replaced, Anderson said.
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Bit surprised about the Orana redundancies, as the collection has not got any smaller, although they might not have been keepers. I imagine that Orana, like all Christchurch attractions, has been hit very hard by the downturn in visitors.
 
all the tourist outfits in Christchurch have suffered immensely. Orana and Willowbank have lost/made redundant a number of full- and part-time staff, the Antarctic Centre did away with around two-thirds of its staff, the Visitor Information Centre is on skeleton staff....there are just no tourists in the city. Orana is getting a pitiful number of visitors per day, all locals; the visitor centre is only getting a couple of people through per day. Its going to take a long time for the zoos to recover, and they are going to be relying on emergency funds to see them through I should imagine.

As for the above article, I have no idea why it was even released as it is so long after the fact and not even new information. (I won't comment on the accuracy of it.....)
 
just thought I'd throw this in here: as of yesterday there have been 7350 earthquakes and counting in Christchurch since the initial September one!!!
 
No wonder Tasmania is looking good. Better pack your bags quick smart before the tremors reach Wellington!

PS: Turn out the lights when you leave - most of your countrymen are here already.
 
it does seem rather odd leaving Christchurch for Wellington on account of earthquakes! I've also been to Napier while I've been up here. And I'm off to Indonesia for a couple of months soon. Just looking for trouble I am.
 
relating to post #82 above, the following is an extract from this article from yesterday Future of Natureland again in doubt - nelson-mail | Stuff.co.nz (also posted in full on this thread http://www.zoochat.com/17/natureland-zoo-closing-14439/index2.html)
Ms Anderson said the trust's operation of Orana Park [....] had been propped up by a major cost-cutting exercise, including the loss of 10 fulltime equivalent jobs through resignation and redundancy, and cuts to various operations.

Orana Park's annual $2.5 million operating cost has been cut by $600,000 to cope with 20 to 40 per cent fewer numbers through the gate.

"We are down by thousands. In January, we might see 18,000 through the gate, and May about 5000, but that's 20 per cent down this year."

Ms Anderson said typically 45 per cent of the park's visitors were people from elsewhere around New Zealand and overseas, but Christchurch is "not an attractive place to visit" right now and there is a serious accommodation shortage.
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well the Southern Encounter Aquarium is now completely gone -- demolition of the building and all its contents began the other day (Sunday 10 July to be precise).

(And the earthquake score is now totalling over 7400-- that's 50 new ones since post #83 just three weeks ago)
 
Chlidonias said:
well the Southern Encounter Aquarium is now completely gone -- demolition of the building and all its contents began the other day (Sunday 10 July to be precise).
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What was the name of the building the aquarium was in Chlidonias? Is it the something theatre? I was trying to figure out what was happening to that building from the building demolition lists but hadn't succeeded.
 
its the Regent Theatre building. On the damaged buildings list it says something like "to be restored" because its heritage-listed, but that apparently changed (I was checking the internet on Sunday after I was informed it was being knocked down, but I couldn't find an updated list that said it was to be demolished). A big problem of course is that every time there's another large quake the damaged buildings sustain more damage, so a lot of the ones listed as scheduled for restoration have been re-categorised as to be demolished.
 
Very sad to see all these old buildings being demolished, but understandable. Cathedral Square will be a very different place in the future. Do you know if the information centre (old post office?) next door to the aquarium is to be restored (as per quake map building info) or demolished, Chlidonias?

The owner of the Regent Theatre says demolition of the building may be complete by the end of this week, and that he would like to rebuild on the site, with a cinema a possibility.

Three-screen cinema planned for city's south | Stuff.co.nz
 
zooboy28 said:
Do you know if the information centre (old post office?) next door to the aquarium is to be restored (as per quake map building info) or demolished, Chlidonias?
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no idea sorry

EDIT: this article from a couple of days ago says "Because of the building’s heritage status, the Post Office would probably still be repaired"
http://www.chcheqjournal.com/2011/cost-insure-leads-loss-history/

doesn't mean much in the current state of events though
 
Sorry to drag this thread up again, but just thought I would post this video, which includes some footage of the building which housed the Southern Encounter Aquarium being demolished, as well as showing much other damage in the CBD.

The building is straight ahead at 3.30, and visible again on the right at about 4.25.

 
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Is this part of the city still closed? Or did they record this early in the morning when nobody is around?

Hix
 
Hix said:
Is this part of the city still closed? Or did they record this early in the morning when nobody is around?

Hix
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This part of Christchurch, called the 'Red Zone', but essentially the CBD, with probably thousands of businesses inside it, has been closed since February 22. It is slowly being opened up as demolitions are completed and areas become safe. Only contractors are allowed in. I don't know when it will all be open, but some parts will not open this year, for example the Grand Chancellor Hotel (I think its the tall building visible in the background at 5.45) is expected to take 10 months to demolish, and didnt start until June/July I think.

There is a map here showing the size of the 'Red Zone': CBD Red Zone Cordon Map | Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority
 
I can't really watch the video here (Flores) because of internet speeds so I just skipped to the times mentioned by Mr. Zooboy. The big dome sort of thing sitting on the ground next to the car at 3.30 used to be on top of the Aquarium building. The building visible in the distance at 5.45 is indeed the Grand Chancellor (you can't tell - its only visible from certain angles - but it is on a bit of a lean where one side has partly collapsed).
 
Yes, that fisheye lens put all the buildings at a bit of a lean. Bit distracting.

Hix
 
some big shakes but nothing too bad damage-wise, apart for some serious effects from liquifaction in the east, and a couple of empty buildings collapsing. I had forgotten what the big ones felt like.....

Tourism was starting to pick up again in Christchurch but this is going to set it right back again.

(Just to keep specifically on topic, a couple of weeks back I saw the site where the Aquarium used to stand -- it's just an empty square of in-fill now. So sad)
 
Chlidonias said:
some big shakes but nothing too bad damage-wise, apart for some serious effects from liquifaction in the east, and a couple of empty buildings collapsing. I had forgotten what the big ones felt like.....

Tourism was starting to pick up again in Christchurch but this is going to set it right back again.

(Just to keep specifically on topic, a couple of weeks back I saw the site where the Aquarium used to stand -- it's just an empty square of in-fill now. So sad)
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Glad to know that you're OK, Chlidonias. Hope that you, your family and friends don't suffer too much financially.
 
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