Ingham and Biggs were in Christchurch during the M6.3, 22 February 2011 earthquake and Moon arrived the next day. They were enlisted by officials to provide rapid assessment of buildings within the Central Business District (CBD). In addition, they were asked to: 1) provide a rapid assessment of the numbers and types of buildings that had been damaged, and 2) identify indicator buildings that represent classes of structures that can be used to monitor changing conditions for each class following continuing aftershocks and subsequent damage. This paper explains how transect methodology was incorporated into the rapid damage assessment that was performed 48 hours after the earthquake. Approximately 300 buildings were assessed using exterior Level 1 reporting techniques. That data was used to draw conclusions on the condition of the entire CBD of approximately 4400 buildings. In the context of a disaster investigation, a transect involves traveling a selected path assessing the condition of the buildings and documenting the class of each building, and using the results in conjunction with prior knowledge relating to the overall population of buildings affected in the area of the study. Read More: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/9780784412640.033
Two days after the 22 February 2011 M6.3 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, three of the authors conducted a transect of the central city, with the goal of deriving an estimate of building damage levels. Although smaller in magnitude than the M7.1 4 September 2010 Darfield earthquake, the ground accelerations, ground deformation and damage levels in Christchurch central city were more severe in February 2011, and the central city was closed down to the general public. Written and photographic notes of 295 buildings were taken, including construction type, damage level, and whether the building would likely need to be demolished. The results of the transect compared favourably to Civil Defence rapid assessments made over the following month. Now, more than one year and two major aftershocks after the February 2011 earthquake these initial estimates are compared to the current demolition status to provide an updated understanding of the state of central Christchurch.
In 2010 and 2011, Aotearoa New Zealand was hit by a number of major disasters involving loss of human life and severe disruption to social, ecological and economic wellbeing. The Pike River mine explosions were closely followed by a sequence of major earthquakes in Christchurch, seismic events that have permanently altered the lives of thousands of people in our third largest city, the closure of the central business district and the effective abandonment of whole residential areas. In early October 2011, the ship, Rena, grounded on a reef off the port of Tauranga and threatened a major oil spill throughout the Bay of Plenty, where local communities with spiritual and cultural connections to the land depend on sea food as well as thrive on tourism. The Council for Social Work Education Aotearoa New Zealand (CSWEANZ), representing all the Schools of Social Work in New Zealand, held a ‘Disaster Curriculum’ day in November 2011, at which social workers and Civil Defence leaders involved in the Christchurch earthquakes, the Rena Disaster, Fiji floods and the Boxing Day tsunami presented their narrative experience of disaster response and recovery. Workshops discussed and identified core elements that participants considered vital to a social work curriculum that would enable social work graduates in a range of community and cultural settings to respond in safe, creative and informed ways. We present our core ideas for a social work disaster curriculum and consider a wide range of educational content based on existing knowledge bases and new content within a disaster framework. http://www.swsd-stockholm-2012.org/
