Civil Defence meets angry business owners

Irate Christchurch business owners met Civil Defence bosses today in a bid to get more information and ease frustrations after some of them broke through the central city cordon yesterday.

A strict cordon has been in place since the February 22 6.3-magnitude quake and frustrated business owners say they have had little information from Civil Defence on the state of their property inside.

Those who own businesses inside the central city cordon have staged protests to air their frustrations. At least 100 people marched through town yesterday with some breaking through the cordoned-off central business district.

A smaller group of about 30 today were ushered into Civil Defence headquarters for a meeting.

Concerns voiced at the meeting today ranged from the need to secure business premises to gaining greater access to businesses and property, spokesman for the Canterbury Business Recovery Group Richard Brewer said.

"To their credit they (the business owners) seized the opportunity with both hands and there was great debate. They (the business people) were very reserved considering the pressure they are under," Mr Brewer told NZPA.

The recovery group has been acting as a link between Civil Defence and business owners and set up today's meeting.

"Waving placards at this stage is not effective whereas the conversation we had today was," Mr brewer said.

Gaining access to the red zone would be more difficult than the outer zones of the central city cordon but a solution was being worked on. Solid timelines were not possible because no one could predict that accurately, Mr Brewer said.

A moratorium on demolishing buildings in the CBD has been extended until Friday.

Property owner Anthony Gough told NZPA he and other business owners were frustrated as they could not get access to their premises even though foreign dignitaries could walk through the cordon whenever they liked.

"Take a risk where that risk is minimal, but to say that there is no entry full stop, well we may as well level the whole city. If you were lying on the street gasping for breath, would you be told to wait? These businesses are now gasping for breath."

It would be the businesses that would rebuild the city and they should be helped not hindered, Mr Gough said.

Civil Defence National Controller John Hamilton acknowledged that there was still significant distress for affected residents, business owners and their staff.

"We anticipate it will be several more weeks before we can restore safe access and movement around the city to acceptable levels given the damage that has occurred. We are looking forward to a time in the near future where the powers and authorities available through the declaration of emergency are no longer needed."

Meanwhile, the Government today launched a $6.85 million package for businesses, which includes money for business recovery coordinators, international visits for exporters, a trust fund for those in need following the quakes, and more money for workshops and business training.

A one-off donation of $2.5m had been earmarked for the Canterbury Business Recovery Trust Fund, a private-sector initiative to facilitate business-to-business donations, a $2m fund through New Zealand Trade and Enterprise would support visits to international markets by earthquake-affected export businesses, and a further $650,000 would also be made available for businesses to access training, workshops and business coaching.

Police have now named 148 of the estimated 182 people killed on February 22. Two more people were named today: Pamela (Pam) Maree Brien from Christchurch, a member of the police force, and Tamara Lia Harca, 59, from Romania, resident in Christchurch.


 

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