DOWNTOWN Christchurch will be demolished once the search for earthquake victims is completed, raising doubts about the city's ability to host Rugby World Cup games this year.
Authorities confirmed yesterday the bulldozers and wrecking balls will move in to clear the CBD, with a quarter of buildings already condemned - and structural engineers predicting this figure will rise to half.
As the death toll from Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude quake rose to 146, with 200 still missing, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said there were no plans to ease the safety cordon around the CBD because most older buildings were unsafe.
"Those buildings will have to be sorted out fairly swiftly - they don't have a future,' Mr Brownlee said. Once bodies had been recovered there would be "a very big demolition effort across the CBD area". "Sites will have to be cleared so that people can have confidence it's safe to come back into the CBD," he said. Some buildings might be able to be repaired but a number of services operating in the CBD would have to move for months.
There were doubts whether the city would recover in time for the seven World Cup games scheduled there in October. "To lose the Rugby World Cup from Christchurch would be a massive blow. I don't want to see it happen but we've got to be realistic about the prospect. We're too far ahead of ourselves talking about it today," Mr Brownlee said. In the suburbs, one in six of the 5441 homes and businesses checked by Civil Defence so far have been "red-stickered", meaning they have to be evacuated immediately because they are so dangerous.
A further 500 have been given only limited access for owners to retrieve vital possessions.
Christchurch mayor Bob Parker yesterday acknowledged there had been "a slight shift in mood" in the city as the scale of the disaster and the reality of the task ahead sank in.
"The adrenalin is beginning to fade and it's real tough hard work." But he vowed there would be no let-up in the search and rescue effort.
The operation to restore vital services as quickly as possible would also a remain a priority, with thousands of people without power, water or sewerage for five days now.
Water is back on to about half the city's homes but people living in eastern suburbs, where thick black slime has been pushed up out of the ground, have been told not to use water even if they have it.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/up-to-half-of-cbd-to-be-pulled-down/story-e6frfkyi-1226012624685#ixzz1FCfV1PBl
