Mayor’s secret Japan apology
Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel has made a secret trip to Japan to meet families who lost relatives in the February 22 Canterbury earthquake.
It comes after she formally apologised on Sunday – a day after a memorial service marking the ninth anniversary of the disaster – for the city council's failings around dangerous buildings.
The local authority was criticised during investigations following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, with then-mayor Bob Parker apologising for its role in signing off the faulty CTV building in which 115 people died, many of them Japanese language students.
It is understood Dalziel is now making a formal apology to their relatives.
But the council has been tight-lipped about both the nature of the apologies and her visit to Japan, refusing to discuss the former or give any details about the latter, beyond it taking place, until Dalziel has met family members.
The council confirmed yesterday that she has already travelled to Japan but declined to say where she would be going or how long she is there for, and would not comment on the nature of any apology or when exactly it might happen.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has provided financial support for the mayor's travel, though the extent of what it is paying for is unclear.
Twenty-eight Japanese people were killed in the 2011 earthquake, including 12 students from the Toyama College of Foreign Languages who had arrived four days earlier and were on the third floor of the CTV building when it collapsed.
A representative of the college in Toyama, 250km north-west of Tokyo, told The Press Dalziel will be visiting but that the trip would be closed to media, saying the school had been asked to direct inquiries to the New Zealand embassy.
Embassy officials refused to answer questions about Dalziel's itinerary,
asking them to be directed back to the Christchurch City Council.
A council spokeswoman said yesterday: ‘‘The mayor is in Japan meeting with bereaved families of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
‘‘[The] mayor and council [are] not making any further comment until she has engaged with all bereaved family members.’’
The council was similarly circumspect about the apology Dalziel made on Sunday at Christchurch’s Arts Centre, which came 24 hours after a memorial service on the banks of the Avon River to remember the 185 people who lost their lives.
Councillors were asked not to speak about it following an agreement between the authority and Dalziel, the council repeatedly refusing to answer questions from the media beyond saying that events around the earthquake commemorations were ‘‘private’’.
Requests by The Press for a copy of Sunday’s apology – made to those who lost loved ones and people who were seriously injured by collapsing buildings or falling masonry – have so far been declined.
Sunday’s apology was warmly welcomed by some of those who lost loved ones – though others said they were still fighting for closure.
Speaking after the event, David Selway, who lost his sister Susan Selway in the CTV building collapse, said Dalziel was ‘‘very empathetic’’ and supportive of the families.
Bruce McEachen, whose son Matti McEachen was killed by falling masonry on Colombo St, said the apology would help ‘‘in time’’ after it had sunk in.
He felt Dalziel’s apology had been a ‘‘big ask’’ after so much time but said she did a ‘‘very, very good job’’.