Christchurch: Houses left stinking, owners caught in limbo

Bill Wissink says he is sick and tired of waiting for a decision on his Bexley home. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Bill Wissink's home is surrounded by sludge, floodwater and sewage. But he can't leave and he won't.

He is like many of the residents in the quake-ravaged suburb of Bexley living in limbo until a decision is made on whether the area can be rebuilt.

It is one of several suburbs the Government is assessing before it decides whether it is safe for people to rebuild on the land or not.

But after a series of major quakes people like Mr Wissink are desperate for an answer and are sick and tired of waiting.

"Every time there is a major earthquake it floods. We get it sorted, and then it happens again," he said.

"You can see the sewage around the house. You can tell by the colour of it."

Mr Wissink has lived in Waitaki St in Bexley for about five years and although his house is damaged, it has been deemed livable. But he said the street was far from that.

"After a few months of living in here, you're dicing with death. Why should we live like this?

"No one tells us anything. If we knew what to do about this, we'd do it. But we just sit here and sit here and we're sick and tired of it. We want to be told exactly what's happening, hell, we don't want to be waiting here while they're making up their minds."

Mr Wissink was prepared to move if Bexley was deemed unliveable, but not until then as he had a mortgage to pay and he did not want to pay rent on top of that.

"If we can't live here, I'll get out of the place and start anew. But I can't wait years and years for people to make their minds up.

"You can take it for so long, but on and on and on? Somebody's going to go absolutely berserk."

While he was happy to relocate he would not leave Christchurch.

"I've lived here for 40-odd years. We still think we can fix our place, but they [the Government] need to sort it out, get their heads together and get it done, it has to be done.

"People can't do anything, their lives are on hold. They are in limbo."

Just two blocks away, Michelle Watson and her partner Dan Vann also feel they are in limbo.

They bought their Bexley Rd house in 2009 and had planned to rent it while they travelled overseas next year.

But after three major quakes, the house has shifted forward and there is a gap in the foundations. Cracks run through the walls and ceilings and the kitchen has slumped into the ground.

They have been approved for $100,000 from EQC, but all plans are on hold until a decision has been made about Bexley.

The couple are still living in their home, parts of which are held together by blue tarpaulin and wooden bracing, and getting on with life with the help of some DIY plumbing and a camp stove.

"There's nothing you can do about it," Ms Watson said. "When the quake hit on Monday I thought 'screw this'. But then it settles down and you realise the house is screwed but the roof is still there and we don't have walls falling down - so we're lucky."

Around the corner in Birch St, Cindy Adcock is about to jump from her literally sinking house.

It was written off after damage in the September and February quakes - but as no decision has been made on her land, she is stuck with it.

"My insurance company told me to stay put. All my contents are broken and the back of the house has sunk. We just want to get on with our lives but we can't," she said.

"We've got nothing left. Everything was broken, it's really horrible. Quite often we have no power, then no water. It smells and there is always sewage everywhere. It's disgusting."

Yesterday she was considering moving, but would not leave the city.

Mrs Adcock said she was constantly ringing AMI and the EQC demanding answers, but got none.

"We're all stressed out, you freak out when an earthquake hits. They're really bad here, one part of the house shakes this way, the other part shakes that way. It feels like it's twisting. And now it smells horrific."