Houses Riding Land Slip

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31676, 11 May 1968, Page 1

Houses Riding Land Slip

(N.Z. Preee Aeeodationj

DUNEDIN, May 10. A number of houses In Brockrille, a west Dunedin notarb, was riding on top of a very large earth movement, the secretary of the Earthquake and War Damage Commission (Mr J. L. Gill) said in Dunedin today.

Mr Gill, with Dr B. H. Falconer, of the Auckland University civil engineering department, is inspecting properties on which claims were made after the March and April storms. He said that many of the houses were not damaged yet, but part of the hillside between Wray and Cockerell Streets was unstable or moving. He could not foresee

what the consequences would be- more movement could take place at any time, or the area could remain (table for 10 or 20 years. Many of the properties he inspected with Dr Falconer would not be eligible for claims on the commission because the damage had been caused by land slips, which were outside the commission’s jurisdiction, Mr Gill said. “We have had relatively few claims from Dunedin, compared with the country as a whole, but the types of claims here are causing the commission great concern This is because most of the damage has been caused by slips or earth movement” Mr Gill said that the regulations defined disaster damage as caused by the direct results of storm, flood, or volcanic eruption, but excluding

land Stipe or erosion damage The commission ran a voluntary land slip cover, he said, “but very few people have taken advantage of it: six in Dunedin (who were not affected by skips) and 223 for the whole of New Zealand.”

Before the commission rei fused any claims it must be i satisfied that the damage was i outside its jurisdiction. “Another reason we are in Dunedin,'* he said, “is be- , cause the commission has received many requests for the 1 voluntary lend slip insurance ■ and we are assessing those requests as well as damage i claims.” Slips were a more serious problem in New Zealand than in many overseas places be cause this was a young country geologically, and much of it had been formed by this type of land movement.