One of the things I have discovered since being in Christchurch
this time... Is that if people's lives were not deconstructed
by the earthquakes... Then they are being severely deconstructed
by the Government, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority
(Cera), the Council and various earthquake insurance companies.
These organisations collectively are causing more
angst, stress and heartbreak for some people
that the actual earthquakes did.
I thought you might like to read about some of these people.
This is Richard Clark and Rachel Sturge and their son Jack.
They live in Dallington.
Their property was 'red' zoned.
This means that according to the people
who assessed properties and put them into
one zone or another... their property is beyond repair.
If owners get an engineers report that assesses land or property as
sound, stable, repairable or re-buildable...
Then it is possible to rebuild but not always possible to
get insurance for the new building.
Richard and Rachel's 'property' was a vacant site which they were saving to build on.
Before the quakes it was not possible to get insurance for their land...
And now, they say, they are being punished for that.
The Crown, or Government, offered them compensation of
50% of the Rateable Value of their land.
They have a mortgage on their land...
If they took the Crown offer they also took the risk of the
bank calling in the rest of their loan... They would
have to have found $100,000 from... Somewhere...
Not accepting the Crown offer was physically and
mentally very stressful.
What would you have done?
this time... Is that if people's lives were not deconstructed
by the earthquakes... Then they are being severely deconstructed
by the Government, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority
(Cera), the Council and various earthquake insurance companies.
These organisations collectively are causing more
angst, stress and heartbreak for some people
that the actual earthquakes did.
I thought you might like to read about some of these people.
This is Richard Clark and Rachel Sturge and their son Jack.
They live in Dallington.
Their property was 'red' zoned.
This means that according to the people
who assessed properties and put them into
one zone or another... their property is beyond repair.
If owners get an engineers report that assesses land or property as
sound, stable, repairable or re-buildable...
Then it is possible to rebuild but not always possible to
get insurance for the new building.
Richard and Rachel's 'property' was a vacant site which they were saving to build on.
Before the quakes it was not possible to get insurance for their land...
And now, they say, they are being punished for that.
The Crown, or Government, offered them compensation of
50% of the Rateable Value of their land.
They have a mortgage on their land...
If they took the Crown offer they also took the risk of the
bank calling in the rest of their loan... They would
have to have found $100,000 from... Somewhere...
Not accepting the Crown offer was physically and
mentally very stressful.
What would you have done?
There must be hundreds of people in this terrible situation. The governments role in any country is to care for its people. Not punish them and to make their lives hell on earth...
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