BLACK SWAN strikes twice on Hotel Grand Central

This is what I called a BLACK SWAN event... never be complacent...

Hotel Grand Central NZ asset in jeopardy

HOTEL Grand Chancellor Christchurch, owned by Singapore firm Hotel Grand Central, is in danger of collapsing. The group announced yesterday that in a worst case scenario, the building in New Zealand's Christchurch is unstable and may possibly collapse. Hotel Grand Chancellor is the city's tallest building. It is said that a collapse may spark off a domino effect on other unstable buildings in the city central. The hotel had weathered two earthquakes within six months - a 7.1-magnitude temblor last September and a 6.3-magnitude one on Tuesday - but the latter proved more devastating to the building, which suffered severe structural damage this time.
The hotel, which is not financed by any bank borrowings, ceased operations on Tuesday and transferred all administrative and operational functions to another branch in Wellington. All guests and staff members were also evacuated on Tuesday and there were no reported fatalities. Currently, the group is said to be providing assistance and counselling services for affected employees.
Full assessments have yet to be completed on the building. It is said that the company is fully insured for material damage exceeding the book value of the hotel of NZ$39 million and is also covered for business interruption for a period of up to 36 months.
This is not the first hotel of the group to be affected by natural calamities. Earlier this year, Hotel Grand Central's Brisbane hotel had to cope with disrupted food and bed linen supplies despite not being directly affected by the floods that hit the city.