Christchurch earthquake is New Zealand's Hurricane Katrina...

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Christchurch earthquake is New Zealand's Hurricane Katrina...





ANALYSIS: First published at Fortitude



by peter petterson



You might say that the Christchurch, New Zealand, earthquake, of 7.1 on the Richter Scale, that occurred at 4-35am last Sunday morning, Pacific time, is the Kiwi Hurricane Katrina. Why do I say that, you might ask? It is not the devastation, because the Christchurch earthquake is confined to an area within the city and its environs, and obviously does not compare to the widespread and intensive damage caused by the American hurricane.



Christchurch City could be a bombsite because of the comparative damage to homes, buildings and infastructure. Probably 80% of these have been affected to some degree. The earthquake is not yet over because of the continuing after-shocks; they total close to 200 already and could continue for days or even weeks. A number have been recorded in the range of up to 5.4 on the Richter Scale Christchurch residents are stressed out and becoming traumatised, especially the young and elderly.



Residents cannot assess the real damage to their propertiess because of the continuing after-shocks which are still affecting the damage. But neighbours, families and friemds have assisted each other, especially the elderly and those living alone.



It is the comparative damage within the confines of this city of 400,000 and its surrounding districts, that draws my comparison. Over a hundred unstable buildings are believed to be in danger of being condemned; two protected buildings were condemned today and will be demolished — one traces its origins back to about 1877. A majority of homes in the suburb of Bexley, for instance, are in danger of being condemned because of the nature of the ground they are built on. The suburb is a drained swamp and perhaps its origins have come back to haunt the burghers of Christchurch.



Many brick chimneys and concrete facades have already been knocked down in many parts of the city. Buiding inspections have been carried out, as have inspections of schools in area. Schools will not reopen this week. Power has been restored to about 80% of residents. Water and sewerage has progressively been restored as well.



The northern township of Kaiapoi, about twenty minutes by road, was particularly devastated with broken sewer mains and water pipes. Many expensive homes in this area will have to be demolished. Many streets and roads in Christchurch City and the Canterbury region have also been severley damaged. Other infastructure has been severly damaged as well.



There have been no deaths caused by injury, though two middle aged men in their fifties are in hospital because of injuries received in the initial earthquake — one being hit on the head by a falling chimney and still on the critical list in ICU, the other severely cut by glass is in a comfortable condition. One person died of a heart attack during the earthquake. There are many minor injuries that have not yet been collated.



The government moved very quickly on Sunday supporting the Civil Defence, Christchurch City Council and the police on Sunday — the prime minister and some of his ministers arrived very early to assess the situation. Welfare centres were set up for the homeless and those who didn't wish to return to their homes. Police secured the CBD on Sunday and were relieved by eighty soldiers from the nearby Burnham Army camp on Monday morning.



As there are so many damaged business premises, many people are unable to go to work this week and earn a living — the Government will pay a subsidy of NZ$350.00 per worker in immediate assistance for the first four weeks to businesses employing less than twenty employees.



Damage to historic buildings, including the historic and iconic Christchurch Cathedral, are of great concern. Christchurch may never be the same again.



As I wrote above, the after shocks continue and more damage is expected in coming days. Some of that damage may be hard to bear and accept. Que sera sera!



The faultline that was responsible for this earthquake had lain idle for 16,000 years and nobody knew about it. At least the cause is now known.



Earthquake Christchurch is indeed the kiwi equivalent of Hurricane Katrina, but there is a lot more to write about in coming days, months and years as New Zealand's second largest city is repaired and rebuilt. This is but an early chapter in the book of Christchurch's future. Cantabrians are like the rest of New Zealanders, tough, resilient and caring to a fault at times.



That indomitable spirit so evident in Canterbury sporting teams over many decades is so very evident in city and country township communities right now. The future looks bright amid the gloom of the present.







































Published on Fortitude September 08, 2010

Copyright 2010 peter petterson

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Facing the schizophrenic demons as a family...

Facing the schizophrenic demons as a family...





ARTICLE: First published at Fortitude.



by peter petterson



To follow the ongoing story of my grandson's journey with schizophrenia in the latter months of 2009, I would suggest you read my earlier article, "The demons of schizophrenia unleashed"(link below). To help you identify with my grandson it would be easier to know his name. So for the next little while, lets just call him 'Billie'.



You will have read in the previous article that his nurse took some poetic licence in ensuring Billie could be admitted into the psychiatric system. Her comments caused some reaction from the law who descended on our home in force convinced that Billie was determined to do himself some physical harm; actually in fact he had no intention to inflict more than a breath on his person. But the invading posse which included a sergeant armed with a holstered Glock were determined that this young eighteen year old would not be allowed to self mutilate himself. There were at least six policemen that day who entered or were immediately outside his bedroom.



He was taken into custody meekly and quietly, despite his deterioating psychiatric state of affairs. Billie had never resisted police on any occasion he was involved with them. He was met there by his psychiatrist who accompanied him to the mental health unit at Hutt Hospital in central Lower Hutt city. With the necessary paperwork completed Billie was admitted into hospital, something we had been attempting for a number of months. Previously the 'Arm' of the Mental Health Act: Was he a danger to himself or anybody else — had prevented him being admitted. But despite the fact he didn't fit that category, the poor young man badly needed psychiatric treatment regardless.



Now that he had been admitted and would be examined by one of the resident psychiatrists in the unit, we, his grandparents and caregivers, could get some badly needed rest and leave our grandson in the care of the health professionals for a few days. It is the family members and caregivers who are often ignored and disregarded, despite the fact they care for their relations and charges, 24/7, and know by instinct just what is necessary.



Over the next few days he was observed by doctors and nurses, and had his basic medication changed...this time to Clozapine, the gold standard medication which was once the basis of a Time magazine leading article. Clozapine was reserved for patients who resisted all other anti-psychotic medication. But there were strings attached to using this medication — because of the danger of deterioation of his white cells,and also potential dangers of getting infections through colds, flu, cuts and abrasions etc, he would have to have weekly blood tests to monitor his white cells, firstly for eighteen weeks, and then monthly for the rest of the time he would be treated by Clozapine — perhaps for the rest of his life! Clozapine was not actually a new medication, but the earlier dangers of the medication had not been known at the time, and a number of patients had died. As a consequence the drug had been banned by the American FDA for many years. In recent years safety precautions had been developed to monitor the drug, as previously explained, and the drug was now administered widely around the western world. It was now the gold standard of anti-psychotic medications.



After a few days Billie was allowed some home leave for a a few hours at a time. We were then able to take him home on extended leave. But we had not been warned of the potential side affects of this new drug which, along with his existing medication, caused him to become deeply sedated and lose control of his bladder for some considerable time. We would continue to have problems with his medication, for a number of weeks to come, but that is another story for our grandson Billie and we as a family.

























Published on Fortitude August 25, 2010

Copyright 2010 peter petterson

All Rights Reserved

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Times were a changing then - back to the nostalgic fifties...

 


Times were a changing - back to the nostalgic fifties...



ARTICLE: First  published at Fortitude



by peter petterson



As the years I've been on this planet actually begin to increase, time begins to peel back and thoughts turn to a different era. A different, less stressful and more peaceful time — back to those nostalgic innocent days of my childhood, down in the South Island of my homeland — New Zealand way down in the South Pacific.



Back to the 1950's when the population was half of what it is now, when New Zealand was Britain's farm, when inflation was something done to a football bladder,cars were a mixture of English and American; and Toyotas and Nissans were some unknown names along with karate back in Tokyo, and my hometown of Christchurch had as many bicycles as they do now. Peak hours would see hundreds of these push bikes streaming down the main street,(including mine on occasions), Colombo Street — about five and a half miles long with the title of longest street in New Zealand for decades.



Weekends were taken up with sport: mainly rugby union in the winter, and rugby league, soccer, and hockey having their followers, and outdoor basketball(as netball was called then). In summer there was mainly cricket, athletics and swimming. Softball would arrive very soon once the American influence began to infiltrate the former British colony a couple of thousands of miles off-shore from the West island — Australia. New Zealand was closed on the weekends then, no weekend shopping apart from a couple of areas in Christchurch's beach suburb of New Brighton, and up on Wellington's west coast in Paraparaumu.



In the summer the beaches attracted Kiwis by the thousands, and the tens of thousands on the other side of the Tasman Sea at beaches such as Bondi which would begin to attract New Zealanders too, in just a few years.



But out on the Canterbury plains Kiwis had almost an obsession with rivers on Sundays — picnicking up by the riverbeds, thermettes boiling away on the river banks with pristine water from the river. Firewood a plenty — and a .22 rifle packed in the trunk of the car for the inevitable pot shot at the pests of the plains — the damned wild rabbits. Those trunks have now been anglicised and are known as boots. Many a trip back home with the trunks filled with pine cones from the many plantations in the Canterbury area. No television in New Zealand in the fifties — no coca cola, pepsi or hamburgers either; but they were well on the way when the fifties turned to the sixties. Changes were on the horizon. The strongest thing most teens those days were some cold flagons of draught beer, or a bottle of Scotch if you could afford it — or scrounge it from your elders.



For me a couple of times a year, was a couple of weeks during the school holidays on one of the mixed farms — 30 minutes from town — dairy, sheep, pigs, poultry, crops and the annual haymaking. Could there be anything more healthy for a city boy with most of the food grown on site apart from a few staples — and fresh warm unpasterised milk straight from the cow? Great times as long as you watched your footing around the yards and cow bails. And yes, don't tease and antagonise that big black bull way out in his paddock.



New Zealand's foreign policy was British foreign policy — but change was on the horizon. Britain would join the European Common Market, and New Zealand would have to seek new markets for its primary produce, and that American Rock and Roll music would soon see Americans in person down Christchurch way as the American Deep Freeze program down south in the Antarctic in the New Zealand summer was based out by Christchurch Airport, and the American icebreakers berthed at Lyttleton Harbour, just over the Port Hills from Christchurch City.



Change was a coming, so was the coca cola, pepsi, hamburgers and American cream freeze ice-cream. Also in the New Zealand psyche just a few years in the future was a foreign southeast asian country named South Vietnam. The happy city boy would grow up and witness some real and significant social changes in New Zealand.



New Zealand would become a major mens softball world power in a few years too. Elvis would be joined later by names that would become world pop music icons — the Beatles and the Rolling Stones — and Vietnam would become a dirty word, and New Zealand's volunteer returned soldiers would have to be whisked in during the hours of darkness. Times were really changing!

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