The Tangiwai Rail Disaster: Dec 24th 1953

 On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, 1953, the Wellington-to-Auckland train

left the station with 258 people on board.

At 8:00 PM, at the top of Mt Ruapehu, the crater lake wall broke and

approximately two million cubic metres of water, ice, mud and rocks (a

lahar) flowed down the mountain and became a six-metre tidal wave in

the Whangaehu River. It reached the Tangiwai railway bridge about 10:15

PM, breaking one of its concrete pylons.

The Wellington train, with one engine, nine carriages, and two vans, was

travelling at 65 kilometres per hour towards the bridge. It reached the

weakened bridge at 10:21 PM and the engine and five carriages went

straight into the river with very few on board surviving.

The next carriage swung for a few minutes and then dropped into the river

and rolled onto the bank. All but one of these passengers survived. The

engine driver had applied the emergency brakes 200 metres before the

bridge because he saw a man waving a torch to warn him to stop. This

action saved the last three carriages.

Soldiers from Waiouru and other volunteers

spent the night rescuing who they could and

Queen Elizabeth gave four medals to

volunteers for their bravery. 134 people

survived but 151 died in New Zealand's fifth

worst disaster.

An early warning system upstream on the

Whangaehu River was subsequently installed

and in 2007 a moderate lahar caused little

damage and no injury.

How many people were on board the train?

Answers:

- 258 people on board.

- The lahar began at the top of MT Ruapehu.

- The Tanagiwai Railway disaster happened on December 24th 1953 at 10.21PM.

- The driver knew to put on emergency brakes because he saw a man waving a torch.

- The queen gave out medals to 4 volunteers for their bravery.

- An early warning system about the Whangahau River was installed.

Golf Champs.

 Hello...

Today we will be talking about Lydia Ko.

Lydia Ko was playing in Tokyo Japan.

She played for golf for her grandmother that recently passed away.

Lydia Ko was a new zealand golfer.

She won a bronze medal finished 16 under par one shot behind gold medal winner American Nelly Korda. Ko finished 6 under par for the day tied with Japan's Mone Inami.

                                                       

she achieved the top ranking on 2 February 2015 at 17 years, 9 months and 9 days of age, making her the youngest player of either gender to be ranked No. 1 in professional golf.

Making Ginger Beer

Aim: To find out how to make Ginger Beer.

Research: 

#1

#2

#3

Method:  Equipment We Need Was...

1 - Cup

2 - Water

3 - Sugar

4 - Yeast

5 - Lemon 

6 - Ginger

Instructions:

First you need to put water....

Then you put sugar...

Then you put Yeast....

Then Put Lemon Juice....

Then put Ginger Powder...

Then leave it overnight for it to activate....

Then drink it...

Results: 

Taste: It Tasted Like Ginger Beer But A Lot Of Small Parts Of Yeast Went In My Mouth...

Smell: It Smelt Like Ginger Beer...

The Ballantynes Fire Nov 18th 1947

 Why was Ballantyne’s an ‘exclusive’ store?

Answer: For rich people

Where was the Ballantyne’s department store

located?

Answer: Christchurch city

When did the Ballantyne’s fire occur?

Answer: November 18th 1947 at 3:46 PM

Why were the upstairs workers not told that there

was a fire?

Answer:  Because people down stairs did not tell them cause it did not seem like a problem

How many people died in the fire?

Answer: 41 employees died

What safety changes have been made as a result

of the Ballantyne’s fire?

Answer: We have safety plan. smoke alarms, and sprinklers

1 - 26 persons missing, 34 dead at noon the next day.

2 - the fire started at 4 in the afternoon in the furniture department.

3 - most of the people that died were employees working on the 2nd and 3rd floors right above where the fire started.

4 - Christchurch fire mean , army and air force fire firemen help put out the fire.

In 1947 more than 300 people were employed in the department store of J. Ballantyne & Co, situated on the corner of Colombo Street and Cashel Street in the centre of Christchurch. Most of the upper floors were staff work areas, including the dress-making department, and the credit and accounting department.

At 3:31pm on 18 November, 1947, one of the salesmen employed in the store was told by a woman employee that smoke was coming up the stairs. The smoke was coming from the cellar of Congreve’s Building which was beneath the furnishing department, but there were no flames and no sound of burning. He told the woman to call the fire brigade and tell the owners.

When some minutes later the fire brigade had still not arrived, the salesman began to get concerned. He worked with other members of the staff to place fire extinguishers at the bottom of the stairs.

Upstairs the owners, Kenneth and Roger Ballantyne, had been told about the fire, but there was some uncertainty whether the call to the fire brigade had been made. Another call was made to be certain. This call was received at the fire station at 3:46pm. 

About 250 customers and the retail staff on the ground floor were moved outside, but there was no move to clear the upper floors of the staff who had just returned to work after their tea break. By now the flames had broken through to the furnishing department.

At 3:47 pm fire engines arrived. At first the firemen thought it was just a cellar fire. They did not realise that people were trapped on the upper floors of the building. The fire brigade at the time was understaffed, and the two most senior officers were not on duty. The decision was made not to bring a turntable ladder to the scene of the fire as a cellar fire was not usually regarded as serious.

the building just as the centre of the department store exploded in flames, blowing out two large windows.

 

This was the first sign from outside the shop that something was happening, but within minutes the building was aflame.

The fire officer in charge soon realised the severity of the fire and sent a fireman to make a brigade call that would bring out all the fire appliances in Christchurch, but the call was delayed by overloaded telephone lines. In the meantime it took a further 10 minutes for the firefighters to find the source of the fire.

Some heads of departments made the decision themselves to evacuate their staff from the upper floors of the building.

In the credit department the office workers waited to shut up the office equipment, then tried to leave by the fire escape, but could not use it because of the smoke and heat. The group moved to another area but were driven back by the smoke. Two women decided to try the fire escape again, but could not get to it because the roof of the office began to fall in. The women climbed out the window and jumped, landing on a first-floor veranda. From there they were rescued by firemen. The women who had stayed in the office died in the fire. Another woman jumped from a third floor window, hitting the veranda and then landing on the road. She died soon after from her injuries.

The staff in the dress-making section on the second floor escaped after taking the stairs and leaving the building just as the upper parts of the store began to collapse.

The eight women in the millinery department had delayed leaving, not realising the danger. Only the supervisor and one of the department staff made it safely to the fire escape and down. The other seven died after they collapsed from smoke inhalation.

Outside the firemen struggled to fight the flames in vain. They were able to rescue Kenneth Ballantyne when he broke a window and climbed out onto the parapet of the building. Hoses were used to wet him down until ladders could be moved into position. Just as he reached ground, power lines burned out and sheets of blue flame swept along the face of the store. His was the last rescue.

By now over 200 firefighters using 20 appliances were fighting the blaze, but they were unable to make any headway against the fire.

By 6:00pm firemen, policemen and volunteers were able to begin the search for bodies lying in the charred ruins. The fires finally burnt out completely by 8:00pm.

The last bodies were not carried out of the building until 21 November. 41 people had died in the blaze.

 Funny chilli video: 

Science:

experiment: 

Equipment: 

1. Get all of your equipment.

2. Dip the toothpick in the hot sauce.

3. Suck the hot sauce off the toothpick.

4. Start timing.

5. Stop timing when it stops burning.

Disaster Vocabulary

 Shaheen's work

Natural Disaster. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, tornadoes.
The town was covered in water because of the tsunami.
The ground started shaking and everyone evacuated because there was an earthquake.

Wreckage

To wreck something is to break something.
The houses were wrecked.

Brave - Don’t be afraid of anything.
You should be brave when you turn the lights off in your house because there is not going to be a demon following you.

Aftershock - A smaller earthquake following a big earthquake.
‘There was a big earthquake and then there were a few tiny aftershocks after it.

Disaster - a sudden accident or a natural catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life.

Damage - after the earthquake there was a lot of damage.

Destruction - A Lot of the stuff was ruined and destroyed.

Hero - I got hurt and then a hero saved me.

Debris - There was a lot of rubbish and remains.

i see the lahar going down the hill bubbling and boiling.

i was heroism by saving an ant from a large bubble of water.

i got an aftershock after jumping of a roof for a cool stunt

i looked on the Richter Scale and i seen that there was a bad earthquake.

there was a Disaster when the boy fell over.

a boy walks down the street and had him save a big accident what a Casualty.

i caused a Destruction by knocking over all the legos.

i did a lot of Damage in my game today after school.

there is a Debris of boons every were.

The Napier Earthquake

                                                               The Napier Earthquake 

In 1931, New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake devastated the cities of Napier

and Hastings. It occurred at 10:47 AM on the 3rd of February. Centred 15

kilometres north of Napier, it lasted for two and a half minutes and had a

magnitude of 7.8. There were 525 aftershocks recorded in the next fortnight.

The official death toll was 256: 161 in Napier, 93 in Hastings, and two in

Wairoa. Many thousands more required medical treatment. Napier’s nurses’

home collapsed and off-duty nurses died. 15 men died at a rest home near

Taradale, but they rescued a 91-year-old man three days later!

Fire broke out in Napier’s business district shortly after the earthquake, and

gutted almost 11 blocks of central Napier.

The navy ship berthed in Napier’s harbour was hit by the rising sea bottom

and was suddenly sitting on ground. The sailors on board helped volunteers

rescue people trapped in wrecked buildings. Sadly, many rescuers were

killed as buildings collapsed in aftershocks.

Doctors set up makeshift surgeries at the botanical gardens and at

racecourses, and the army set up a tent camp for 2,500 people. Women and

children were sent all over New Zealand, but men had to stay to help with

demolition and clean-up work.

There were some positive benefits of the earthquake such as the lagoon

filling up and creating land for farms, housing and the airport. The new

houses were built in the art deco style, making

Napier a tourist attraction.

ANSWERS:

- 1931 at 10:47 AM on Feb 3rd, 

- The official death tall was 256. 161 in Napier , 93 Hastings and 2 in wairoa 

- In the botanical gardens and the racecourse in the Napier .

- They were able to rebuild the houses in art deco style, making it a tourist attractions.

- 2 and a half minutes.

- Children were sent around NZ because there were no schools for them to go to and no houses for them to live in. also , it wasn't safe with all the aftershocks.

Today its been 90 years since the Hawks Bays Disaster...

- It killed 256 people.

- The veronica bell rings for 2 and half minutes , the length of the quake.

- 99 years ago Nola manly was 9 when the quake strict - one boy got hit with a brick off a chimney.

- house chimneys fell down , people had to live in tents. 

- Eric Baggit was 2 he doesn't remember the quake but has seen the city rebuild.

- The HMS Veronica helped the people in the city.

- Cracks in the road and railroad twisted. - after the quake , Napier was rebuilt in an art deco style.

- Napier is on the east coast above wellington.

- There was a quake followed by a fire only 12 buildings didn't need to be demolished 

- HMS Veronica was able to help

- Cruisers from Auckland had doctors on board to help.

- Fire started in 2 pharmacies.

- A temporary hospital was made. 

- 1% of population died.

- 6% of the population were taken out of the city , most women and children were sent south.

- People lived in tents because they didn't feel safe in homes.

- the water stopped an hour after the quake. 

- took weeks for the sewage to be going again.

- the high way was built on a mud flat and so the road was destroyed.

- the railways to wellington were going 2 days after.

- the navy helped clean up after demolished buildings, supplied food and water

- the nurse home collapsed and many night nurses were killed.