Whole document is available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland until Feb. 2014 The increasing scale of losses from earthquake disasters has reinforced the need for property owners to become proactive in seismic risk reduction programs. However, despite advancement in seismic design methods and legislative frameworks, building owners are often reluctant to adopt mitigation measures required to reduce earthquake losses. The magnitude of building collapses from the recent Christchurch earthquakes in New Zealand shows that owners of earthquake prone buildings (EPBs) are not adopting appropriate risk mitigation measures in their buildings. Owners of EPBs are found unwilling or lack motivation to adopt adequate mitigation measures that will reduce their vulnerability to seismic risks. This research investigates how to increase the likelihood of building owners undertaking appropriate mitigation actions that will reduce their vulnerability to earthquake disaster. A sequential two-phase mixed methods approach was adopted for the research investigation. Multiple case studies approach was adopted in the first qualitative phase, followed by the second quantitative research phase that includes the development and testing of a framework. The research findings reveal four categories of critical obstacles to building owners‘ decision to adopt earthquake loss prevention measures. These obstacles include perception, sociological, economic and institutional impediments. Intrinsic and extrinsic interventions are proposed as incentives for overcoming these barriers. The intrinsic motivators include using information communication networks such as mass media, policy entrepreneurs and community engagement in risk mitigation. Extrinsic motivators comprise the use of four groups of incentives namely; financial, regulatory, technological and property market incentives. These intrinsic and extrinsic interventions are essential for enhancing property owners‘ decisions to voluntarily adopt appropriate earthquake mitigation measures. The study concludes by providing specific recommendations that earthquake risk mitigation managers, city councils and stakeholders involved in risk mitigation in New Zealand and other seismic risk vulnerable countries could consider in earthquake risk management. Local authorities could adopt the framework developed in this study to demonstrate a combination of incentives and motivators that yield best-valued outcomes. Consequently, actions can be more specific and outcomes more effective. The implementation of these recommendations could offer greater reasons for the stakeholders and public to invest in building New Zealand‘s built environment resilience to earthquake disasters
Livelihood holds the key to a rapid recovery following a large-scale devastating disaster, building its resilience is of paramount importance. While much attention has been given to how to help people who are displaced from their jobs to regain employment, little research on livelihood resilience has been undertaken for those relocated communities following a disaster event. By studying five re-located villages post-2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar, Indonesia, this research has identified the indicators of livelihood resilience and the critical factors driving it for post-disaster relocated communities. A mixed approach, combining questionnaire surveys, semistructured interviews, and field observations, was used for the collection of data. Housing entitlement, the physical and mental health of residents, access to external livelihood support and the provision of infrastructure and basic services were identified as amongst the most critical indicators that represent the level of livelihood resilience. Early recovery income support, physical and mental health, availability and timeliness of livelihood support, together with cultural sensitivity and governance structure, are amongst the most important factors. Given the nature of resettlement, access to infrastructure, location of relocated sites, the safety of the neighbourhood and the ability to transfer to other jobs/skills also play an important role in establishing sustained employment for relocated communities in Indonesia. Those indicators and factors were synthesised into a framework which was further tested in the recovery of Christchurch, and Kaikoura, New Zealand during their recovery from devastating earthquakes. It is suggested that the framework can be used by government agencies and aid organisations to assess the livelihood resilience of post-disaster relocated communities. This will help better them plan support policies and/or prioritise resilience investment strategies to ensure that the recovery needs of those relocated are best met
Industrial steel storage pallet racking systems are used extensively worldwide to store goods. Forty percent of all goods are stored on storage racks at some time during their manufactureto- consumption life. In 2017, goods worth USD 16.5 billion were carried on cold-formed steel racking systems in seismically active regions worldwide. Historically, these racks are particularly vulnerable to collapse in severe earthquakes. In the 2010/2011 Christchurch earthquakes, around NZD 100 million of pallet racking stored goods were lost, with much greater associated economic losses due to disruptions to the national supply chain. A novel component, the friction slipper baseplate, has been designed and developed to very significantly improve the seismic performance of a selective pallet racking system in both the cross-aisle and the down-aisle directions. This thesis documents the whole progress of the development of the friction slipper baseplate from the design concept development to experimental verification and incorporation into the seismic design procedure for selective pallet racking systems. The test results on the component joint tests, full-scale pull-over and snap-back tests and fullscale shaking table tests of a steel storage racking system are presented. The extensive experimental observations show that the friction slipper baseplate exhibits the best seismic performance in both the cross-aisle and the down-aisle directions compared with all the other base-connections tested. It protects the rack frame and concrete floor from damage, reduces the risk of overturning in the cross-aisle direction, and minimises the damage at beam-end connectors in the down-aisle direction, without sustaining damage to the connection itself. Moreover, this high level of seismic performance can be delivered by a simple and costeffective baseplate with almost no additional cost. The significantly reduced internal force and frame acceleration response enable the more cost-effective and safer design of the pallet racking system with minimal extra cost for the baseplate. The friction slipper baseplate also provides enhanced protection to the column base from operational impact damage compared with other seismic resisting and standard baseplates
The devastating consequences of past events, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tōhoku tsunamis, emphasise the need for continued improvement in resilience measures. Given that 80% of magnitude 8+ earthquakes occur on the Pacific Rim, New Zealand's tsunami risk is significant. This research develops a novel tsunami inundation model. The proposed model applies equations based on hydraulic principles, including energy conservation (friction loss). While it does not fully replicate hydrodynamic models, it maintains a two-dimensional approach and offers significant improvements over currently implemented simplified methods. It retains excellent computational efficiency (seconds to minutes) while achieving a significant increase in accuracy that is comparable to traditional hydrodynamic models, which typically take hours to days. Calibration of the roughness input variables to hydrodynamic modelling at Gisborne and Christchurch, New Zealand, optimised the model to achieve similarity index values of above 84% for inundation extent, while 77% of inundation depths were within ±1 m and over 93% within ±2 m. This research then produces the first nationally consistent tsunami exposure assessment for New Zealand using a physics-based modelling method. Using probabilistic shoreline wave amplitude data, the study generates high-resolution (10 m) inundation maps for seven return periods (50th and 84th percentiles). These maps are integrated with land cover and infrastructure data to quantify exposure and identify the most vulnerable locations. The results highlight exposure not only to the commonly studied cities but also to several provincial areas. The identification of exposure is the foremost step towards practical resilience efforts; however, understanding specific infrastructure impacts ensures that countermeasures and risk reduction practices are implemented. Therefore, a detailed evaluation of the NZTA Bridge Manual is conducted. Comparisons are made between the NZTA methodology and the rapid model developed in this research. The results reveal a significant overestimation of bridge and culvert exposure by NZTA methods. The study further highlights critical exposure locations for bridge and culvert assets. Flow depths calculated at bridge locations are significantly overestimated using the NZTA method compared to results derived from hydrodynamic modelling and the rapid model. This research then conducts component-level modelling of culvert assets, due to their identified vulnerability in the transportation network. At a 1:15 geometrical scale, laboratory experiments evaluated the response of different culvert set-ups to tsunami bores. The findings provide a detailed description into overtopping, flow regimes and pressure distributions and give laboratory experiments as validation studies for future numerical modelling and design improvements. Overall, this research performs a multi-modal tsunami inundation assessment, uniting macro-level exposure modelling with micro-level component responses by integrating modelling, exposure analysis, and experimental validation. The findings support refining current tsunami guidelines, improving infrastructure planning, and enhancing community preparedness. Overall, the study’s multi-model approach strengthens many elements of New Zealand’s ability to mitigate and respond to future tsunami events
