The Royal Commission into the Canterbury earthquakes has been told illegal building techniques are being used in the Christchurch rebuild because the engineering profession is in crisis.
A structural engineer has broken down at the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission after admitting he contributed to a woman's death in the February the twenty second earthquake.
Victorian Authorities are warning residents of significant aftershocks following on from the magnitude 5.8 earthquake which shook Melbourne around 9am yesterday, causing significant structural damage across the city. The University of Melbourne's Dr Mark Quigley is a professor of tectonics, who became a familiar voice and face through the Christchurch quakes. Our producer Matthew Theunissen asked him how yesterday's quake compared to those he experienced in Christchurch.
Auckland structural engineer John Scarry is concerned that the series of investigations into earthquake related collapses of Christchurch buildings won't result in the changes needed to make the city safer.
With Adrian Regnault, the General Manager of Building Systems Performance at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Stefano Pampanin, an Associate Professor in Structural Engineering at Canterbury University and the President of the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering and John Finnegan - structural engineer, Aurecon.
Canterbury earthquakes is recommending toughening the standards for concrete buildings and structural steel.
An overseas expert has defended the structural engineer who declared the Canterbury Television building sound after the September 2010 earthquake.
A structural engineer has told the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission that illegal building techniques are being used in the Christchurch rebuild because the engineering profession is in crisis.
The president of the Structural Engineers' Society, John Hare, says since the Christchurch earthquakes, engineers have been too conservative in evaulations for fear of liability.
The head of the structural engineering firm that supervised the design of the Canterbury Television building appeared yesterday at the Royal Commission into the Canterbury Earthquakes.
A structural engineer has denied he rushed the inspection of earthquake repairs to a Christchurch bar so it could re-open in time for New Years Eve.
The director of the structural engineering company that designed the CTV building came under fire yesterday over documents missing from evidence his firm submitted to the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.
A structural engineer who ordered a building green stickered though he'd failed to do another thorough check on it has defended his inspections at the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.
The Royal Commission investigating the Canterbury earthquakes has heard that the premises where a man was killed by a falling concrete wall was not inspected by structural engineers between the September and February quakes.
The Canterbury Earthquake Royal Commission has heard that a breakdown in communication between structural engineers, a property manager and owner led the tenants of a building to wrongly assume their shop was safe.
Building plans signed off by the Christchurch City Council show one of its own structural engineers was involved in the design of a new multistorey building that is unstable. The eight-storey office building at 230 High Street is off-limits as it is too weak and might 'rupture' in an earthquake. But the council insists the planning documents are wrong and its engineer had only a minor role. Phil Pennington reports.
Mention the words "earthquake" in the same brief as "remediation" and it's enough to strike fear in the hearts of all New Zealanders, particularly those in Christchurch and other earthquake prone areas of the country. Now we find the chances of the ground shaking more violently in a quake is much higher than previously thought for large parts of the country. In some places it has doubled or even trebled. What are the ramifications of this new found knowledge? Joining the show to discuss is Michelle Grant, President of the Structural Engineering Society New Zealand, and Matt Gerstenberger, Principal Scientist and Seismologist at GNS Science
A review of the week's main news: sex offender slips through net to teach in a number of New Zealand schools, government says it's not to blame for spreading industrial unrest, Turangi teen sentenced to 10 years jail for raping five year old, Rena captain and navigational officer plead guilty to altering ship's documents, government targets sole parents, unemployed teens, widows and women alone in welfare reforms, Otago Rugby Union fights to stave off liquidation, government promising clampdown on mistreatment and underpayment of foreign crews working on fishing boats chartered to New Zealand companies, structural engineer breaks down at Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission and Bret McKenzie earns an Oscar for a Muppet of a song.