Colour in the Cliffs

ColourLovers.com say "Since prehistoric times the naturally occurring colors of ochre, sienna, & umber have been brightening up the world around us, and caveman paintings done in sienna still survive today. Ochres occur in various shades and colors, generally ranging from yellow to red to brown"

It's the Ochre Colour Challenge today, so I tried to find some colour in the earth that would represent it. The Clifton Hill cliffs show the region's volcanic origins, having these extraordinary bands of solid red magma. I've included some containers in the image too, plus the other extraordinary sight of a house still halfway over the edge of the cliff.

It's very timely to show this house, as a report commissioned by the City Council was released in Christchurch yesterday, the first of four reports from the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, showing the location of 700 Port Hills houses, in areas that may be life threatening in the future, if there's more rockfall or land movement due to earthquakes. I'm relieved (and lucky) that my house isn't in this area, although my next door neighbour's house is - but his is Grade 2, not the more serious Grade 1. So, we've now got 3 statuses on the Port Hills. Some properties are red-zoned, meaning that they're dangerous, some houses are red stickered, and shouldn't be lived in (some people do, especially when their insurance money has run out). Now there are some others; Classes 1 (134 houses at risk of catastrophic land damage), 2 and 3, where possible future danger is identified. I'm very thankful that they're finally releasing this information -it's been obvious for a long time that information has been being withheld.