You simply cannot compare NZ and Japan. A friend of mine lived in the damaged part and there is a huuuuge difference.....there is NO insurance there for this kind of thing so people have lost their homes and businesses and have no need for "zones" as they wont be getting any help...

We should be grateful for the country we live in that we are prepared for this kind of disaster and our lives are not rruined because of it - yes, we are suffering and yes some peoples lives have been turned upside down, but it is extremely wrong and arrognat to compare the two countries when ours is leaving us so much better off.

'Ground-truthing' - what idiot coined that hashed-together word.

Why not say that "we are going to check for loose rocks", and make your house safe if we can.

Let us all hope that the hyphenated flotsam is a'going to vanish from "The Press" lexicon, really soon.

A simple pair of lines of high-strength netting, one below the other, will catch most rockfalls.

Meanwhile, I would never live under those cliffs, knowing that the rock is poorly attached, weaker and weaker as you move eastwards, because of how it solidified...

Kind regards.

Anony Mouse

I relate to Ms Cynical #5 as we are in exactly the same boat (probably with filled with more people than we will ever know). Ground-truthing - give me a break. Does CERA buy into this? This shouldn't stop the remaining white and orange zone decisions. Along with a lot of people commenting - I have to add that all CERA seem to have done in a year (apart from bus tours) is colour code us all - and now they want to ground truth some - how about actually DOING SOMETHING.

Guess Peter Mitchell is having an epic fail managing the Bob and Tony version of "democracy".

Try holding another council election and you'll find out about democracy Peter.

I'll give them ground truthing. I got an email from the Port Hills team on Friday telling me that I have to stay away from my home (red stickered) while this 'ground truthing' continues and I still can't believe it as they say that ".... it's complicated....", but "we will give you counselling". COUNSELLING - how absolutely arrogant is that. We are not simply a bunch of cows who can be herded out of one paddock while repairs are carried out in another. We have mortgages to pay just like the rest of you.

For goodness sake, it would take one engineer driving around the cliffs of Redcliffs, Sumner, Mount Pleasant and a large number of homes could be turned from white to red. Stop this nonsense now and get people's lives on track.

What about those left in the orange and white zones? It is time for answers CERA. Where is Roger?

'Ground truthing' - sounds like some engineers are making a lot of money. I'll give them a 'truth'. This is a 'yes' or 'no' answer. If a house has a large boulder sitting above it, the question is - can the boulder be destroyed or diverted? If the answer is "No", the house below should be zoned red and paid out. It's that simple.

#2

its amazing how the japs just get on with it, cleaning up and rebuilding... whereas here we just sit back, fill in our EQC forms, and complain bout our sticker colours.

so much red tape its easier to just whine to our councils and their fat salaries

Does anyone at Democracy Services think of the dislocated people in the orange and white zones? They are going to be the last ones to have a home again. If we are lucky and get zoned in the next couple of months, it will take a minimum 3 years from the 1st quake to get a home again. If we are lucky. In the meantime 3 years of paying mortgage for nothing, rent and 2 rates and relocation costs multiple times, from 1 salary. By now we want to leave but not before we can close the last 30 years of our life here. Mr Mitchell, let us have some closure - ASAP. We are both on anti-anxiety medication now (never before in our life), not from the quakes but from the impossibility of being able to move forward. Did I mention insurance struggles?