EQC online and SPAM

I have been noticing a number of emails arriving in my mailbox purporting to be from the EQC, but when you hover your mouse over the blue underlined links, the link address as displayed in the status bar is bogus. e.g. www.platformdirect.com.au. At the top of the email it says "To make sure your New Zealand Earthquake Commission emails are delivered direct to your inbox, follow these simple steps." but if you click on the link it takes you to a direct marketing site.

This is spam or worse! (Some of these sites may even off-load viruses etc onto your computer and are best avoided.)

The only true EQC site is www.eqc.govt.nz as listed in the brochures delivered to your house's mailbox. This is quite a helpful site and lists amongst other things, how to make a claim, and dates when claims need to be in by for particular events e.g. 22 Feb quake closes on 23 May.

Good luck!

Helpful advice from the street

And those thoughts from Margaret have been echoed by the news media and by our neighbours. Here are some further useful tips from Michael Hilliard:

Having lived through similar circumstances, the policy for toilet use needs to be:
"If it's brown, flush it down. If it's yellow, let it mellow."

Also, wherever possible waste water, such as from cooking etc, should be allowed to cool then poured into your garden (not the storm water drain). 

Not pleasant but what will be REALLY unpleasant will be standing on the street behind your neighbours on a winter morning waiting to use the portaloo.   

We really don't want that do we ...

Back here at 121 I have stuck little FLUSH ONLY IF YOU HAVE TO! notices on our toilet cisterns, covering up the flush handle, to stop inadvertent flushes in the middle of the night. Not a popular move with my other half, but as they say, desperate measures for desperate times!

Barb Maclean asks:

I have also been told that the waste products from using the insinkerator goes directly into the sewer. Apparently we should be putting all waste food in the green bins. Maybe someone can confirm this?

Yes, Barb, this is true. Your bath, shower, sinks, dishwasher and washing machine all drain into a sump that connects to the sewer. So taking a shower instead of a bath is preferable, and it's even better if you have one of those water-conserving shower heads. And do put any compostable kitchen waste into your green bin.

Time for an update

Most of us have been talking to each other and helping each other out there in the street, which is really great. As you can tell by the infrequent posts, I have been a little distracted by the 22/2 earthquake and its aftermath, and possibly even a bit lazy! However, this blog may reach some in the street who may be otherwise feel they are in the dark about what is happening so I will try to keep putting up any news that comes my way. (Send anything you hear to me at mhurrell@xtra.co.nz)

Margaret has passed on the following:

Hello,

I hope that this finds you all well.

You probably noticed the trucks in the street today doing a sewer inspection for the CCC. Dave and I had a chat to the two contractors doing the work. They were very approachable and keen to let us know what they found.

The long and short of it is that the sewer is cracked and silted up at the Windermere Street end of St James Avenue. Windermere Street's sewer is apparently a mess.

They suggested that if we want to avoid the street having to use portaloos that we should use the sewers very cautiously keeping the flushing of loos to a minimum. This also applies to grey water use as well.

Hoping for a more official update but would assume that any work here will be after the hard hit Eastern Suburbs have been helped.

Cheers

Margaret