4 minute read
STORAGE KING FERRYMEAD, NZ
CHRISTCHURCH NINE YEARS ON
by Geoff Adams Storage King, Ferrymead.
It might seem like only yesterday. Still, it was nine years ago in February 2011 that the fastest accelerating natural disaster the world has ever seen happened in Christchurch, New Zealand.
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch.
The quake was centred 10km south-east of the city at a depth of 5km. One hundred eighty-five people died, 164 people were seriously injured, and there was significant, widespread damage.
SSAA Member, Storage King Ferrymead was in the middle of the quake, as the suburb of Ferrymead sits very close to the epicentre of where it struck. The epicentre was just a few kilometres away as the crow flies, so as a result, the facility was “a bit banged up”. The main damage was that some of the walls and floors had separated at the construction joints, which is what they are designed to do in an earthquake. However, they needed to be fixed, which required a new ring foundation to pull the buildings back into line.
Now nine years later and approximately $2.5m spent on the facility, it is now safer than it has ever been, with several kilometres of reinforcing bars and many tons of concrete. The Ferrymead Branch is now possibly the strongest, purpose-built, storage facility in the country.
The last jobs to do were the alarms, drains and driveways. This was probably the most challenging task, as you may see from the images. It was hugely disruptive to staff and customers, and the facility was closed for six weeks while this happened. Luckily the customers understood, and 90% of them stayed away while the works
were undertaken. Only one gentleman needed ‘persuasion’ to leave the premises, which was an excellent result for a facility that has over 500 customers.
The facility needed to test alarm sensors, due to the buildings moving apart and there was the possibility that some of the wiring had stretched to the point of rupture. The customers were once again very supportive, and the testing found very little actual damage. Some of the customers live overseas, and it was difficult to get repairs done, but once again, the client base stood behind the team while the works were carried out. Customers who were not in Christchurch allowed their locks to be cut to gain access and fix problems which was required under the claim, and there were upwards of 300 locks cut, and the testing took around 30 seconds for each unit, sometimes longer if a fault was found.
It would be fair to say that we all think ‘that will never happen to me’, natural disasters are something that only occurs in far off countries. As an industry, we all know better, just recently Australia’s unbelievable fires, the crippling drought and even the rest of the world are seeing things never seen before, like Venice with record high water levels, etc. A lesson to take away from Christchurch, is to plan and practice all of the evacuation drills, fire drills so that everyone knows what to do when disaster strikes. Drills and dry runs may be considered an interruption to the day, but be assured by the 450,000 Christchurch residents, that it is a necessity and a sad reality. Another thing to stay on top of is First Aid training, ensure every staff member is trained in First Aid as you never know, it might be your boss’s life that you save or vice versa.
The residents of Christchurch and the team at Storage King Ferrymead are now as prepared as possible, by stocking some stored food, water and an up to date First Aid kit.
You may wish to spare a thought for some Christchurch people who are still battling with their insurers to agree on repair or write-off strategies for their damaged homes and buildings.
Storage King Ferrymead still have, and will have for the foreseeable future, displaced families storing their belongings due to this incredible event. There was certainly a spike in enquiry levels over the last few years which created unprecedented demand and occupancy levels. They are still helping the local community where possible and it is nice for everyone who works there to finally be able to take a breath and reflect on the huge amount of work that they had to do to keep SK Ferrymead open for business during the last 9 years. l
Geoff Adams is the South Island Area Manager for Storage King New Zealand.
