Following the September 2010 earthquake and the closure of a number of campus libraries, library staff at the University of Canterbury was forced to rethink how they connected with their users. The established virtual reference service now meant library staff could be contacted regardless of their physical location. After the February earthquake, with University library closures ranging from 3 weeks to indefinite, this service came into its own as a vital communication tool. It facilitated contact between the library and both students and academics, as well as proving invaluable as a means for library staff to locate and communicate with each other. Transcripts from our post-earthquake interactions with users were analyzed using NVivo and will be presented in poster format showing the increase in usage of the service following the earthquakes, who used the service most, and the numbers and types of questions received. Our virtual reference tool was well used in the difficult post-earthquake periods and we can see this usage continuing as university life returns to normal.
During the 2010 - 2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence, extensive liquefaction was observed in many areas of Christchurch city and its surroundings, causing widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure. While existing simplified methods were found to work well in some areas of the city, there were also large areas where these methods did not perform satisfactorily. In some of these cases, researchers have proposed that layers of fine grained material within the soil profile may be responsible for preventing the manifestation of liquefaction. This paper presents preliminary findings on the mechanisms at play when pressure differentials exist across a clay layer. It is found that if the clay layer is unable to distort, then pore fluid is unable to break-through the layer even with relatively high pressures, resulting in dissipation of excess pore pressures by seepage. If the layers are however able to distort, then it is possible for the pore fluid to break through the clay layer, potentially resulting in adverse effects in terms of the severity of liquefaction.
Earthquake-triggered soil liquefaction caused extensive damage and heavy economic losses in Christchurch during the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. The most severe manifestations of liquefaction were associated with the presence of natural deposits of clean sands and silty sands of fluvial origin. However, liquefaction resistance of fines-containing sands is commonly inferred from empirical relationships based on clean sands (i.e. sands with less than 5% fines). Hence, existing evaluation methods have poor accuracy when applied to silty sands. The liquefaction behaviour of Christchurch fines-containing (silty) sands is investigated through a series of Direct Simple Shear (DSS) tests. This type of test better resembles earthquake loading conditions in soil deposits compared to cyclic triaxial tests. Soil specimens are reconstituted in the laboratory with the water sedimentation technique. This preparation method yields soil fabrics similar to those encountered in fluvial soil deposits, which are common in the Christchurch area. Test results provide preliminary indications on how void ratio, relative density, preparation method and fines content influence the cyclic liquefaction behaviour of sand-silt mixtures depending on the properties of host sand and silt.
This paper provides a summary of the ground motions observed in the recent Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake sequence. The sequence occurred in a region of relatively moderate seismicity, 130km to the east of the Alpine Fault, the major plate-boundary in the region. From an engineering perspective, the sequence has been primarily comprised of the initial 04/09/2010 Darfield earthquake (Mw7.1) followed by the 22/02/2011 Christchurch earthquake (Mw6.3), and two aftershocks on 13/06/ 2011 (Mw5.3 and 6.0, respectively). The dense spacing of strong motions in the region, and their close proximity to the respective causative faults, has resulted in strong ground motions far exceeding the previous catalogue of strong motion observed in New Zealand. The observed ground motions have exhibited clear evidence of: (i) near-source directivity; (ii) sedimentary basin focusing, amplification and basin effect refraction; (iii) non-linear site response; (iv) cyclic mobility postliquefaction; and (v) extreme vertical ground motions exceeding 2g, among others.
This presentation summarizes the development of high-resolution surficial soil velocity models in the Canterbury, New Zealand basin. Shallow (<30m) shear wave velocities were primarily computed based on a combination of a large database of over 15,000 cone penetration test (CPT) logs in and around Christchurch, and a recently-developed Christchurch-specific empirical correlation between soil shear wave velocity and CPT. Large active-source testing at 22 locations and ambient-wavefield surface wave and H/V testing at over 80 locations were utilized in combination with 1700 water well logs to constrain the inter-bedded stratigraphy and velocity of Quaternary sediments up to depths of several hundred meters. Finally, seismic reflection profiles and the ambient-wavefield surface wave data provide constraint on velocities from several hundred meters to several kilometres. At all depths, the high resolution data illustrates the complexity of the soil conditions in the region, and the developed 3D models are presently being used in broadband ground motion simulations to further interpret the observed strong ground motions in the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence.
The earthquake sequence has resulted in significant physical and reputational damage to the Canterbury tourism industry. Eighteen months after the earthquakes inbound tourism data is still below pre-earthquake levels, with Canterbury operators reporting that the industry has not bounced back to where it was before September 2010. Outcomes of the earthquakes on business performance highlight there were winners and losers in the aftermath. Recovery of inbound tourism markets is closely tied to the timeframe to rebuild the CBD of Christchurch. Reinstating critical tourism infrastructure will drive future tourism investment, and allow tourism businesses to regenerate and thrive into the future. A blueprint for rebuilding the CBD of Christchurch was released by the Christchurch City Council in July 2012, and has been well received by tourism stakeholders in the region. The challenge now is for city officials to fund the development projects outlined in the blueprint, and to rebuild the CBD as quickly as possible in order to help regenerate the tourism industry in Christchurch, Canterbury and the rest of the South Island
Decision making on the reinstatement of the Christchurch sewer system after the Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquake sequence in 2010–2011 relied strongly on damage data, in particular closed circuit television (CCTV). This paper documents that process and considers how data can influence decision making. Data are analyzed on 33,000 pipes and 13,000 repairs and renewals. The primary findings are that (1) there should be a threshold of damage per pipe set to make efficient use of CCTV; (2) for those who are estimating potential damage, care must be taken in direct use of repair data without an understanding of the actual damage modes; and (3) a strong correlation was found between the ratio of faults to repairs per pipe and the estimated peak ground velocity. Taken together, the results provide evidence of the extra benefit that damage data can provide over repair data for wastewater networks and may help guide others in the development of appropriate strategies for data collection and wastewater pipe decisions after disasters.
Research following the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes investigated the minimum vertical reinforcement required in RC walls to generate well distributed cracking in the plastic hinge region. However, the influence of the loading sequence and rate has not been fully addressed. The new minimum vertical reinforcement limits in NZS 3101:2006 (Amendment 3) include consideration of the material strengths under dynamic load rates, but these provisions have not been validated at a member or system level. A series of tests were conducted on RC prisms to investigate the effect of loading rate and sequence on the local behaviour of RC members. Fifteen axially loaded RC prisms with the designs representing the end region of RC walls were tested under various loading rates to cover the range of pseudo-static and earthquake loading scenarios. These tests will provide substantial data for understanding the local behaviour of RC members, including hysteretic load-deformation behaviour, crack patterns, failure mode, steel strain, strain rate and ductility. Recommendations will be made regarding the effect of loading rate and reinforcement content on the cracking behaviour and ductility of RC members.
Earthquake-triggered soil liquefaction caused extensive damage and heavy economic losses in Christchurch during the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. The most severe manifestations of liquefaction were associated with the presence of natural deposits of clean sands and silty sands of fluvial origin. However, liquefaction resistance of fines-containing sands is commonly inferred from empirical relationships based on clean sands (i.e. sands with less than 5% fines). Hence, existing evaluation methods have poor accuracy when applied to silty sands. Also, existing methods do not quantify appropriately the influence on liquefaction resistance of soil fabric and structure, which are unique to a specific depositional environment. This study looks at the influence of fines content, soil fabric (i.e. arrangement of soil particles) and structure (e.g. layering, segregation) on the undrained cyclic behaviour and liquefaction resistance of fines-containing sandy soils from Christchurch using Direct Simple Shear (DSS) tests on soil specimens reconstituted in the laboratory with the water sedimentation technique. The poster describes experimental procedures and presents early test results on two sands retrieved at two different sites in Christchurch.
In 2016, the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 was introduced to address the issue of seismic vulnerability amongst existing buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand. This Act introduced a mandatory scheme to remediate buildings deemed particularly vulnerable to seismic hazard, as recommended by the 2012 Royal Commission into the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010–2011. This Earthquake-prone Building (EPB) framework is unusual internationally for the mandatory obligations that it introduces. This article explores and critiques the operation of the scheme in practice through an examination of its implementation provisions and the experiences of more recent seismic events (confirmed by engineering research). This analysis leads to the conclusion that the operation of the current scheme and particularly the application of the concept of EPB vulnerability excludes large numbers of (primarily urban) buildings which pose a significant risk in the event of a significant (but expected) seismic event. As a result, the EPB scheme fails to achieve its goals and instead may create a false impression that it does so
This paper explores the responses by a group of children to an art project that was undertaken by a small school in New Zealand after the September 2010 and February 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. Undertaken over a period of two years, the project aimed to find a suitable form of memorialising this significant event in a way that was appropriate and meaningful to the community. Alongside images that related directly to the event of the earthquakes, the art form of a mosaic was chosen, and consisted of images and symbols that clearly drew on the hopes and dreams of a school community who were refusing to be defined by the disaster. The paper 'writes' the mosaic by placing fragments of speech spoken by the children involved in relation to ideas about memory, affect, and the 'sublime', through the work of Jean-Francois Lyotard. The paper explores the mosaic as constituted by the literal and metaphorical 'broken pieces' of the city of Christchurch in ways that confer pedagogic value inscribed through the creation of a public art space by children. AM - Accepted Manuscript
Churches are an important part of New Zealand's historical and architectural heritage. Various earthquakes around the world have highlighted the significant seismic vulnerability of religious buildings, with the extensive damage that occurred to stone and clay-brick unreinforced masonry churches after the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes emphasising the necessity to better understand this structural type. Consequently, a country-wide inventory of unreinforced masonry churches is here identified. After a bibliographic and archival investigation, and a 10 000 km field trip, it is estimated that currently 297 unreinforced masonry churches are present throughout New Zealand, excluding 12 churches demolished in Christchurch because of heavy damage sustained during the Canterbury earthquake sequence. The compiled database includes general information about the buildings, their architectural features and structural characteristics, and any architectural and structural transformations that have occurred in the past. Statistics about the occurrence of each feature are provided and preliminary interpretations of their role on seismic vulnerability are discussed. The list of identified churches is reported in annexes, supporting their identification and providing their address.
This report provides an understanding of the nature of Canterbury subcontracting businesses operating in the space of earthquake reconstruction in Christchurch. It offers an in-depth look at the factors that influence the development of their capacity and capability to withstand the impact of volatile economic cycles, including the 2008 global financial crisis and the subsequent 2010/11 Canterbury earthquakes. There have been significant changes to the business models of the 13 subcontracting businesses studied since the earthquakes. These changes can be seen in the ways the case study subcontractors have adapted to cope with the changing demands that the rebuild posed. Apart from the magnitude of reconstruction works and new developments that directly affect the capacity of subcontracting businesses in Canterbury, case studies found that subcontractors’ capacity and capability to meet the demand varies and is influenced by the: subcontractors’ own unique characteristics, which are often shaped by changing circumstances in a dynamic and uncertain recovery process; and internal factors in relation to the company’s goal and employees’ needs
Recently developed performance-based earthquake engineering framework, such as one provided by PEER (Deierlein et al. 2003), assist in the quantification in terms of performance such as casualty, monetary losses and downtime. This opens up the opportunity to identify cost-effective retrofit/rehabilitation strategies by comparing upfront costs associated with retrofit with the repair costs that can be expected over time. This loss assessment can be strengthened by learning from recent earthquakes, such as the 2010 Canterbury and 2016 Kaikoura earthquakes. In order to investigate which types of retrofit/rehabilitation strategies may be most cost-effective, a case study building was chosen for this research. The Pacific Tower, a 22-storey EBF apartment located within the Christchurch central business district (CBD), was damaged and repaired during the 2010 Canterbury earthquake series. As such, by taking hazard levels accordingly (i.e. to correspond to the Christchurch CBD), modelling and analysing the structure, and considering the vulnerability and repair costs of its different components, it is possible to predict the expected losses of the aforementioned building. Using this information, cost-effective retrofit/rehabilitation strategy can be determined. This research found that more often than not, it would be beneficial to improve the performance of valuable non-structural components, such as partitions. Although it is true that improving such elements will increase the initial costs, over time, the benefits gained from reduced losses should be expected to overcome the initial costs. Aftershocks do increase the predicted losses of a building even in lower intensities due to the fact that non-structural components can get damaged at such low intensities. By comparing losses computed with and without consideration of aftershocks for a range of historical earthquakes, it was found that the ratio between losses due to main shock with aftershocks to the losses due to the main shock only tended to increase with increasing main shock magnitude. This may be due to the fact that larger magnitude earthquakes tend to generate larger magnitude aftershocks and as those aftershocks happen within a region around the main shock, they are more likely to cause intense shaking and additional damage. In addition to this observation, it was observed that the most significant component of loss of the case study building was the non-structural partition walls.
Objective: The nature of disaster research makes it difficult to adequately measure the impact that significant events have on a population. Large, representative samples are required, ideally with comparable data collected before the event. When Christchurch, New Zealand, was struck by multiple, devastating earthquakes, there presented an opportunity to investigate the effects of dose-related quakes (none, one, two or three over a 9-month period) on the cognition of Canterbury’s elderly population through the New Zealand Brain Research Institute’s (NZBRI’s) cognitive screening study. The related effects of having a concomitant medical condition, sex, age and estimated- full scale IQ (Est-FSIQ) on cognition were also investigated. Method: 609 participants were tested on various neuropsychological tests and a self-rated dementia scale in a one hour interview at the NZBRI. Four groups were established, based on the number of major earthquakes experienced at the time of testing: “EQ-dose: None” (N = 51) had experienced no quakes; “EQ-dose: One” (N = 193) had experienced the initial quake in September 2010; “EQ-dose: Two” (N = 82) also experienced the most devastating February 2011 quake; and “EQ-dose: Three” (N = 265) also the June 2011 quake at testing. Results: Two neuropsychological variables of Trail A and the AD8 were impacted by an EQ-dose effect, while having a medical condition was associated with poorer function on the MoCA, Rey Copy and Recall, Trail A, and AD8. Having a major medical condition led to worse performance on the Rey Copy and Recall following the major February earthquake. Males performed significantly better on Trail A and Rey Planning, while females better on the MoCA. Older participants (>73) had significantly lower scores on the MoCA than younger participants (<74), while those with a higher Est-FSIQ (>111) had better scores on the MoCA and Rey Recall than participants with a lower Est-FSIQ. Finally, predicted variable analysis (based on calculated, sample-specific Z-scores) failed to find a significant earthquake effect when variables of age, sex and Est-FSIQ were controlled for, while there was a significant effect of medical condition on each measure. Conclusion: The current thesis provides evidence suggesting resilience amongst Canterbury’s elderly population in the face of the sequence of significant quakes that struck the region over a year from September 2010. By contrast, having a major medical condition was a ‘more significant life event’ in terms of impact on cognition in this group.
Canterbury, New Zealand, was struck by two major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Using a dyadic and developmental perspective, the current thesis first aimed to determine how the experience of earthquake-related stressors (including loss of material resources, trauma exposure, and ongoing earthquake-related stressors) and stress (posttraumatic stress symptoms) impacted individuals’ intimate relationship quality (Part 1). Data were collected from a sample of 99 couples at four time points over a period of approximately 15 months, with Time 1 completed 14 months after the 2010 earthquake (eight months post the 2011 earthquake). Data were analysed using moderated growth curve modelling in an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model framework. In line with expectations, posttraumatic stress symptoms were the strongest predictors of relationship quality. More specifically, individuals’ (actor) posttraumatic stress symptoms and their partner’s posttraumatic stress symptoms had an adverse effect on their relationship quality at Time 1. Demonstrating the importance of taking a developmental perspective, the effect of partner posttraumatic stress symptoms changed over time. Although higher partner posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with worse relationship quality in individuals (actors) at Time 1, this was no longer the case at Time 4. Differences were also found between men and women’s actor posttraumatic stress symptom slopes across time. Using the same data and analyses, Part 2 built on these findings by investigating the role of a possible posttrauma resource available within the relationship – support exchanges. Overall, results showed that individuals were protected from any adverse effects that posttraumatic stress symptoms had on relationship quality if they had more frequent support exchanges in the relationship, however, differences between men and women and slopes across time were found. Although not the case initially, individuals’ relationship quality was worse in the longer-term if their partner reported receiving lower support from them when they were experiencing high posttraumatic stress symptoms. Results also suggested that although women coped better (as evidenced through slightly better relationship quality) with higher symptoms and lower support than men initially, these efforts diminished over time. Furthermore, men appeared to be less able to cope (i.e., had worse relationship quality) with their partner’s stress when they were not receiving frequent support. Contrary to expectations, negative exchanges in the relationship did not exacerbate any adverse effects that posttraumatic stress symptoms (experienced by either individuals or their partner) had on an individuals’ relationship quality. The theoretical and practical implications and applications of these findings are discussed.
Having a quick but reliable insight into the likelihood of damage to bridges immediately after an earthquake is an important concern especially in the earthquake prone countries such as New Zealand for ensuring emergency transportation network operations. A set of primary indicators necessary to perform damage likelihood assessment are ground motion parameters such as peak ground acceleration (PGA) at each bridge site. Organizations, such as GNS in New Zealand, record these parameters using distributed arrays of sensors. The challenge is that those sensors are not installed at, or close to, bridge sites and so bridge site specific data are not readily available. This study proposes a method to predict ground motion parameters for each bridge site based on remote seismic array recordings. Because of the existing abundant source of data related to two recent strong earthquakes that occurred in 2010 and 2011 and their aftershocks, the city of Christchurch is considered to develop and examine the method. Artificial neural networks have been considered for this research. Accelerations recorded by the GeoNet seismic array were considered to develop a functional relationship enabling the prediction of PGAs. http://www.nzsee.org.nz/db/2013/Posters.htm
Disaster recovery is significantly affected by funding availability. The timeliness and quality of recovery activities are not only impacted by the extent of the funding but also the mechanisms with which funding is prioritised, allocated and delivered. This research addresses the impact of funding mechanisms on the effectiveness and efficiency of post-disaster demolition and debris management programmes. A qualitative assessment of the impacts on recovery of different funding sources and mechanisms was carried out, using the 2010 Canterbury Earthquake as well as other recent international events as case studies. The impacts assessed include: timeliness, completeness, environmental, economic and social impacts. Of the case studies investigated, the Canterbury Earthquake was the only disaster response to rely solely on a privatised approach to insurance for debris management. Due to the low level of resident displacement and low level of hazard in the waste, this was a satisfactory approach, though not ideal. This approach has led to greater organisational complexity and delays. For many other events, the potential community wide impacts caused by the prolonged presence of disaster debris means that publicly funded and centrally facilitated programmes appear to be the most common and effective method of managing disaster waste.
As the result of the September 4th 2010 Canterbury earthquake and associated aftershocks on February 22nd 2011 and June 13th 2011, final examinations in the two 100 level economics papers at Canterbury University were cancelled at short notice in semester one 2011. The final examination weightings were spread over the remaining assessments to obtain a final grade for students. This paper attempts to establish how different online assessment conditions affect final grade distributions when online assessments are substituted for an invigilated final examination. Pearson correlation coefficients and Spearman rank order correlation coefficients are used to show that there is a greater correlation between online quizzes and invigilated assessments when those quizzes are only available for a restricted period of time, compared to the whole semester. We find that online quizzes are more closely correlated with invigilated assessments when the first attempt at a quiz is recorded, as opposed to the highest of two attempts. We also find that using the first attempt leads to less grade disruption when compared to a “normal” semester that includes a final examination. Finally, the actual impact on student grades when online quizzes are substituted for a final examination is discussed.
Validating dynamic responses of engineered systems subjected to simulated ground motions is essential in scrutinising the applicability of simulated ground motions for engineering demand analyses. This paper compares the responses of two 3D building models subjected to recorded and simulated ground motions scaled to the NZS1170.5 design response spectrum, in order to evaluate the applicability of simulated ground motions for use in conventional engineering practice in New Zealand. The buildings were designed according to the NZS1170.5 and physically constructed in Christchurch prior to the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. 40 recorded ground motions from the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, along with the simulated ground motions for this event from Razafindrakoto et al. (2018) are considered. The seismic responses of the structures are principally quantified via the peak floor acceleration and maximum inter-storey drift ratio. Overall, the results indicate a general agreement in seismic demands obtained using the recorded and simulated ensembles of ground motions and provide further evidence that simulated ground motions using state-of-the-art methods can be used in code-based structural performance assessments inplace of, or in combination with, ensembles of recorded ground motions.
The Bachelor of Youth and Community Leadership (BYCL) was launched by the University of Canterbury (UC) in 2020. The genesis of this new degree was a Stage One service-learning course that, in turn, arose from the innovative and active response of many of the university’s students in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. That innovative action saw the formation of the Student Volunteer Army as well as the adoption of a new set of Graduate Attributes for every undergraduate at the university. The idea of a specialist undergraduate degree that captured this unique chain of events began to take form from 2016. The resulting degree was developed as a flexible, transdisciplinary programme for young (and not so young) leaders wanting an academic grounding for their passions in community leadership and social action. In 2020, the inaugural intake of students commenced their studies. In this reflection, we discuss our experience of teaching within the BYCL for the first time, using a collaborative approach to teaching that we based on what we understand, individually and collectively, to draw on principles of democratic pedagogy.
In this paper we introduce CityViewAR, a mobile outdoor Augmented Reality (AR) application for providing AR information visualization on a city scale. The CityViewAR application was developed to provide geographical information about the city of Christchurch, which was hit by several major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. The application provides information about destroyed buildings and historical sites that were affected by the earthquakes. The geo-located content is provided in a number of formats including 2D map views, AR visualization of 3D models of buildings on-site, immersive panorama photographs, and list views. The paper describes the iterative design and implementation details of the application, and gives one of the first examples of a study comparing user response to AR and non-AR viewing in a mobile tourism application. Results show that making such information easily accessible to the public in a number of formats could help people to have richer experience about cities. We provide guidelines that will be useful for people developing mobile AR applications for city-scale tourism or outdoor guiding, and discuss how the underlying technology could be used for applications in other areas.
Using case studies from the 2010-2011 Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake sequence, this study assesses the accuracies of paleoliquefaction back-analysis methods and explores the challenges, techniques, and uncertainties associated with their application. While liquefaction-based back-analyses have been widely used to estimate the magnitudes of paleoearthquakes, their uncertain efficacies continue to significantly affect the computed seismic hazard in regions where they are relied upon. Accordingly, their performance is evaluated herein using liquefaction data from modern earthquakes with known magnitudes. It is shown that when the earthquake source location and mechanism are known, back-analysis methods are capable of accurately deriving seismic parameters from liquefaction evidence. However, because the source location and mechanism are often unknown in paleoseismic studies, and because accurate interpretation is shown to be more difficult in such cases, new analysis techniques are proposed herein. An objective parameter is proposed to geospatially assess the likelihood of any provisional source location, enabling an analyst to more accurately estimate the magnitude of a liquefaction-inducing paleoearthquake. This study demonstrates the application of back-analysis methods, provides insight into their potential accuracies, and provides a framework for performing paleoliquefaction analyses worldwide.
The Christchurch earthquake sequence has been on-going since September 4th 2010. The largest two earthquakes, magnitude (M) 7.1 on September 4th and the M 6.3 on February 22nd 2011 caused immediate and significant damage to the city of Christchurch. As a consequence of the earthquakes, the tourism sector in the Canterbury region has been heavily impacted, with broader impacts being felt throughout the South Island. Resilient Organisations and the University of Canterbury began a series of quantitative investigations into the recovery and response of key business sectors to the earthquakes. The purpose of this study was to build on this work by exploring the outcomes of the earthquakes on the tourism sector, a critical economic driver in the region. Two postal surveys were sent to 719 tourism business managers; the first to businesses in the ‘Impact Zone’ defined as areas that experienced Modified Mercalli intensities greater than 6. The second survey was sent to the remaining businesses throughout the Canterbury region (‘Rest of Canterbury’). Response rates were 46% response for the Impact Zone, and 29% for the Rest of Canterbury. Key findings:
Children are often overlooked in the aftermath of a natural disaster, and children’s use of coping strategies plays an important part in their post-disaster adaptation (Vernberg, La Greca, Silverman, & Prinstein, 1996). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the coping strategies of children with adequate self-regulation skills and minimal behaviour problems, living in Christchurch following the major 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. This aim was achieved through the use of semi-structured interviews with five seven-year-old children, their parents, and their teachers. These interviews were analysed using Directed Content Analysis and results showed that children most often reported using active and adaptive coping strategies, followed by avoidant strategies. Results in the current literature regarding children’s coping suggest that children exposed to natural disasters are able to utilise strategies that involve some personal control over their environment and emotions, through the use of active and adaptive coping strategies. Findings from this study contribute to the current understanding of children’s use of coping strategies when faced with commonly occurring childhood upsets. Further research is required regarding the outcomes associated with the use of effective coping strategies following traumatic events.
This thesis examines how 18 University of Canterbury students based in Christchurch experienced housing insecurity during the three years after a series of major earthquakes from late 2010 and throughout 2011. I adopted a qualitative exploratory approach to gather students’ accounts and examine their experiences which were analysed using constructivist grounded theory methods. Three core categories were identified from the data: mobility, recreating security, and loss. Mobility included the effects of relocation and dislocation, as well as how the students searched for stability. Recreating security required a renewed sense of belonging and also addressed the need to feel physically safe. Lastly, loss included the loss of material possessions and also the loss of voice and political representation. The theory that emerged from these findings is that the extent to which students were able to control their mobility largely explained their experiences of housing insecurity. When students experienced a loss of control over their mobility they effectively addressed this by being resourceful and drawing on existing forms of capital. This resourcefulness generated a new form of capital, here called security capital, which represents a conceptual contribution to existing debates on students’ experiences of homelessness in a disaster context.
A major hazard accompanying earthquake shaking in areas of steep topography is the detachment of rocks from bedrock outcrops that subsequently slide, roll, or bounce downslope (i.e. rockfalls). The 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence caused recurrent and severe rockfall in parts of southern Christchurch. Coseismic rockfall caused five fatalities and significant infrastructural damage during the 2011 Mw 6.2 Christchurch earthquake. Here we examine a rockfall site in southern Christchurch in detail using geomorphic mapping, lidar analysis, geochronology (cosmogenic 3He dating, radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) from quartz, infrared stimulated luminescence from K-feldspar), numerical modeling of rockfall boulder trajectories, and ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs). Rocks fell from the source cliff only in earthquakes with interpolated peak ground velocities exceeding ~10 cm/s; hundreds of smaller earthquakes did not produce rockfall. On the basis of empirical observations, GMPEs and age chronologies we attribute paleo-rockfalls to strong shaking in prehistoric earthquakes. We conclude that earthquake shaking of comparable intensity to the strongest contemporary earthquakes in Christchurch last occurred at this site approximately 5000 to 7000 years ago, and that in some settings, rockfall deposits provide useful proxies for past strong ground motions.
Geological research in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake, New Zealand, was necessary due to the importance and perishability of field data. It also reflects a real desire on the part of researchers to contribute not only to immediate scientific understanding but also to the societal recovery effort by enhancing knowledge of the event for the benefit of affected communities, civil defence organizations and regional and national decision makers. This commitment to outreach and engagement is consistent with the recent IAPG statement of Geoethics. More immediately, it was informed by experience of the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake sequence. After that earlier disaster, intense interactions between researchers and various response agencies as well as local communities informed the development and dissemination of a set of ethical guidelines for researchers immediately following the Mw7.8 14 November 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake. In this presentation, I argue that ethical engagement of this kind is the key to gathering high quality research data immediately after the event. Creating trusting and mutually respectful, mutually beneficial relationships is also vital to ongoing engagement to facilitate further “in depth” research in collaboration with communities.
Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 involves transformational change in the business of business, and social enterprises can lead the way in such change. We studied Cultivate, one such social enterprise in Christchurch, New Zealand, a city still recovering from the 2010/11 Canterbury earthquakes. Cultivate works with vulnerable youth to transform donated compost into garden vegetables for local restaurants and businesses. Cultivate’s objectives align with SDG concerns with poverty and hunger (1 & 2), social protection (3 & 4), and sustainable human settlements (6 & 11). Like many grant-supported organisations, Cultivate is required to track and measure its progress. Given the organisation’s holistic objectives, however, adequately accounting for its impact reporting is not straightforward. Our action research project engaged Cultivate staff and youth-workers to generate meaningful ways of measuring impact. Elaborating the Community Economy Return on Investment tool (CEROI), we explore how participatory audit processes can capture impacts on individuals, organisations, and the wider community in ways that extend capacities to act collectively. We conclude that Cultivate and social enterprises like it offer insights regarding how to align values and practices, commercial activity and wellbeing in ways that accrue to individuals, organisations and the broader civic-community.
Utility managers are always looking for appropriate tools to estimate seismic damage in wastewater networks located in earthquake prone areas. Fragility curves, as an appropriate tool, are recommended for seismic vulnerability analysis of buried pipelines, including pressurised and unpressurised networks. Fragility curves are developed in pressurised networks mainly for water networks. Fragility curves are also recommended for seismic analysis in unpressurised networks. Applying fragility curves in unpressurised networks affects accuracy of seismic damage estimation. This study shows limitations of these curves in unpressurised networks. Multiple case study analysis was applied to demonstrate the limitations of the application of fragility curves in unpressurised networks in New Zealand. Four wastewater networks within New Zealand were selected as case studies and various fragility curves used for seismic damage estimation. Observed damage in unpressurised networks after the 2007 earthquake in Gisborne and the 2010 earthquake in Christchurch demonstrate the appropriateness of the applied fragility curves to New Zealand wastewater networks. This study shows that the application of fragility curves, which are developed from pressurised networks, cannot be accurately used for seismic damage assessment in unpressurised wastewater networks. This study demonstrated the effects of different parameters on seismic damage vulnerability of unpressurised networks.
