Thursday 24 February 2011

Nothing more certain than death and taxes, especially in Queensland

There's $7 billion in the New Zealand Earthquake Commission fund. No need for a levy like Anna and Julia's flood tax.

10 comments:

MG said...

and how do you think they got the money in the first place......by having a levy


Australia should have a national disaster levy that covers flood cyclone bush fire and anything else that qualifies

Unknown said...

Actually MG, a quick Google actually explains what the Earthquake Commission Fund is. It's essentially a part of everyone's insurance that is then set aside in a separate fund. It's not a levy imposed on all tax payers. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_Commission

Bryan Outlaw said...

Someone should be asking hard questions about why a moderate (6.3) earthquake has caused the catastrophic failure of relatively new, modern buildings like CTV and the 20 story hotel. Kiwi land is a known earthquake Hotspot, like Los Angeles or Tokyo. The 6.7 Northridge quake in LA had only 30 killed, in a densely populated urban area. Something is gone completely pear-shaped - do you people not have any standards, or are they just un-enforced "building suggestions"?

Michael P Moore said...

There's way more to a richer scale number than a just the number that measures, as to how much damage can be effected Mr "Outlaw".

This last quake was located and attributed to yet another unknown fault line, unlike the September 7.1 quake.

Also, this latest one had only a 5km depth, and the geology of where it was centred, near the seaside port village of Lyttelton, is just a few kilometers from the city. The movement of the plates was also different than the previous quake, effecting more damage to buildings.

The liquefaction has had considerable effect on damage and destabilising massive areas of structures below the surface.

"Outlaw" I won't be passing your name on to the Geology Department anytime soon.

Unknown said...

"Bryan Outlaw said...
Something is gone completely pear-shaped - do you people not have any standards"

Compassionate and humane as usual. Outlaw you are an incredibly miserable, cranky and mean-spirited excuse for a human being.

Syd Walker said...

I'm pleased to find common ground with Nick :-)

Unknown said...

I'm glad we can agree on something, Syd.

Off-topic :

I am reading up on Gilad Atzmon. He seems like a very interesting person.

I have always been an admirer of Mordechai Vanunu and agree that his treatment has been and still is abominable.

MG said...

I second that

Unknown said...

Apart from the fact that I agree with the previous assessments of "Outlaw's" morality, or lack thereof, perhaps he should take a look at the "Standards".

He says "Something is gone completely pear-shaped - do you people not have any standards"".

ABSOLUTELY we/they do...and have done so since the 1950s. In fact they are JOINT Australian /New Zealand Standards ie..AS/NZS...

They are the SAME standards that were applied to structures in Brisbane that floated down the river, to the other towns and areas in the SE corner that were obliterated by floodwaters of unforseen magnitude, and to the buildings at Thredbo swept away in avalanches.

And if you’re looking for a recent comparison of distance vs damage for natural events look no further than the damage caused to Cairns by LARRY (Cat 4) @ 90Kms, and YASI (Cat 5) @ 170kms

Alternatively Outlaw, I will set up an experiment where I will stand you on a flat area of ground and set off an explosive charge proportionately equivalent to the force of a 7.1 Richter earthquake (10%) @ 3000 metres at a depth of 10 metres (the Sept quake).

Once you have cleared your brain of the shock from that, then I will set off an explosive charge proportionate to 6.3 Richter (10%) @ 9 metres at a depth of 5 metres (the latest quake).

Then the QAS can take what’s left of you to the local funeral director.

Quien Sabe

Via Jude

KitchenSlut said...

Interesting website graphics of Christchurch earthquakes.

http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

The recent months in Christchurch have clearly seen an extraordinary geologcal confluence.