What a wicked waste in Christchurch

Great diggers smashing houses down. Demolishing houses with perfectly good material. Here we have a nation with unemployment rates on the rise and all this expensive material which could have been used rebuilding. It seems the public should have been given the opportunity to save as much as possible before the digger smashed the lot. I watched on tv in horror as a digger smashed up a perfectly good house frame which might have been taken down denailed then reused in some form or other. Aluminium Joinery, doors, etc, what a wicked waste. Macdunk

I guess speed is the issue. How long does it take to tear down a house vs recycle it? I imagine quite a lot longer. But if these are houses on land which isn't going to be rebuilt upon then I can see your point.

But then there are issues with tying up contractors recycling. That would also delay thing. I can't see them sending in unskilled, untrained people into already unsafe earthquake damaged houses.

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Originally Posted by duncan macgregor

Great diggers smashing houses down. Demolishing houses with perfectly good material. Here we have a nation with unemployment rates on the rise and all this expensive material which could have been used rebuilding. It seems the public should have been given the opportunity to save as much as possible before the digger smashed the lot. I watched on tv in horror as a digger smashed up a perfectly good house frame which might have been taken down denailed then reused in some form or other. Aluminium Joinery, doors, etc, what a wicked waste. Macdunk

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MAcdunk, there are 5,000 homes in the Redzone which will get demolished and owners have been advised not to strip the properties before the demolition crews come in. Presumably because those crews will endeavor to recover what they can. Then there are 10,000 homes which may or may not be demolished. And there are 100,000 which need repair. Thats not counting the homes already pulled down. Add to that the 2,000 buildings that are coming down.

Perhaps you might like to tell us how many man hours are involved in stripping out a house, where the labour will come from and how long you expect people in the Christchurch area to live in a war zone so your sense of horror can be lessened.

Why the hurry to tear them down? when.... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=10734757
So when the aftershocks slow down... I wonder how long that piece of string is

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Originally Posted by CAM

Why the hurry to tear them down?

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Unless you see it you don't really get a sense of the damage and the conditions people are living in. People need to move out as their is no point spending money on trying to get the sewers working again. Its money down the drain every time a shake comes through as electricity is cut again, water is out and roads buckle all over again. The moment the houses become empty they become targets - some morons take pleasure in burning porta loos. Can you imagine the pleasure they'll have if 5,000 houses are left lying around

Good point... I had forgotten the moron factor. I havn't seen it first hand yet and my friends are in either green or orange zones. I will be down there in a months time for work so may see some of it. But I won't be going out site seeing..... dosn't seem right going to look at other peoples misfortune for the sake of it