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A Christchurch man used to helping others deal with trauma is struggling with his own post-earthquake battle.
Clinical psychologist Scott Percy lost his home and marriage after the quakes and says the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) is refusing to let him move on.
Percy, who owns a damaged house in Heathcote Valley with his former wife, is one of 31 white-zone property owners awaiting their fate.
Cera is considering installing bunds and rockfall fences to protect the affected properties, he said, meaning the house may be zoned green.
Homeowners would then be allowed back on their properties to rebuild or repair - a solution Percy sees as "completely ridiculous".
"In our little area, we have major land damage including fissures running the length of multiple properties and fissures under our house. What's become obvious to me is that Cera is only concerned with mitigating earthquake risk and they think that's OK."
More concerning to Percy are the psychological effects the earthquakes and the prolonged decision-making process are having on white- zoned residents.
As a consultant to police and fire service personnel after the earthquakes, Percy knows how post-traumatic stress can affect people.
"There's a wealth of international post-disaster psychology research looking at increases in depression, increases in anxiety disorders, increases in [suicide], increases in drug and alcohol abuse," he said.
"A lot of these effects are mediated by people under chronic stress . . . which will certainly apply to some of us.
"I . . . am starting to think that the bureaucratic decisions that don't take these well-established factors into play will actually be worsening the human impact of the disaster."
At the time of the earthquake, Percy was in hospital caring for his 6-year-old son, who had a life-threatening auto-immune disease.
He says earthquake-related stress later led to the breakdown of his marriage. He now shares custody of his son with his ex-wife.
He is forced to pay rent on his residence in Lyttelton and the mortgage on his broken home without any financial support, as his wife receives the $330 accommodation benefit available through the Canterbury Temporary Accommodation Service.
Percy had to cut back on his working hours to adjust to the change and to care for his son, and said he now faces bankruptcy.
"They're not even considering these factors. They're not even assessing where we're at before they make their zoning decisions.
"We're the last 31 houses in the city left waiting for a zoning decision and they're asking us to wait longer."
Cera spokesman John Scott said bunds and rockfall fences were being considered for Heathcote Valley due to the properties' "cost-benefit ratio".
While the time to install protection would vary, it was likely to take about two years for the process to be completed due to the complex nature of work, Scott said.
A final zoning decision is due to be released on Friday.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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So sorry Scott - the agency that should be in charge of the recovery of PEOPLE has elected to concentrate on the rebuild of the CBD.
The root cause of all this ongoing trauma for us all in post quake chch is that the govt completely stuffed up the insurance scheme that was designed to lessen the impact of such an event.
In 2008 the Nat govt was advised by the board of EQC that EQCs settings were way out of date...they had not been adjusted since 1993 and urgently needed to be increased(at least doubled). Property prices had increased in the preceding 4 years by 108% (NZ Treasury figures) doubling the more normal property cost inflation of the preceding 19 years and leaving EQC 200-250% under insured.
But Bill English ignored the advice, and so ever since we are undergoing an ongoing circus of covering up that massive blunder, buck passing, obfuscation and double speak B.S. from the govt and their civil servants, and the human suffering has been multiplied many times over.
The damage from the quakes was enough, but the 'collateral damage' resulting from this cynical, face saving, corporate style 'loss adjustment exercise' under the key corporatocracy is even greater.
When shall we demand this govt fess up and take responsibility for this ?
Only then will we be able to begin to 'move on'.
It beggers belief at the callous response that we as victims have gotten from our Council and from Cera. I watch as the cities people are little by little broken down further and further. We don't want new sports venues or ne business in central Christchurch or bug fancy buildings, we simply want a home with four walls and a roof that is safe and warm. What don't they get about basic human need, perhaps a revisit to Maslow's hierachy of needs Cera and Mayor! we need our homes before anything else!!!
Yes Scott , my thoughts are with you . I was a counsellor in private practice for fifteen years . Post earthquakes , I have had to give up work , lost our house and quite. Bit more , wrestling wih th bureaucracies in my experience re activates any previous anxiety , PTSD issues .
Scott, you're not alone. I was in NYC during 9/11, and was part of the disaster mental health response and program evaluation research in the aftermath. I am a Clinical Psychologist here in Christchurch. I also lost my home in the quakes, and lost quite a bit more, still caught in the morass of bureaucracy between CERA, the Christchurch City Council, EQC and my insurance company with no end in sight. No hope for a settlement, no hope to be able to move on in the foreseeable future. It is not difficult to see that so many are clearly exhibiting full-blown symptoms of PTSD from the aftermath and the powers that be are not considering the health and well-being of the people in their “cost-benefit ratio.”