Ruth Gardner's Blog 24/03/2012: Seismic Squeaks
Articles, UC QuakeStudies
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 24 March 2012 entitled, "Seismic Squeaks".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 24 March 2012 entitled, "Seismic Squeaks".
A video of an address by Dr. Kelvin Berryman, Director of Natural Hazards and Principal Scientist at GNS, at the 2014 Seismics and the City forum. This talk was part of the Building Momentum section, and explored the question, 'What is acceptable risk and tolerable impacts of future hazard events like earthquakes and flooding?'
Object Overview of 'Earthquake hazard and risk assessment study Stage 1 Part B: Probabilistics seismic hazard assessment and earthquake scenarios for the Canterbury region, and historic earthquakes in Christchurch (Stirling et al, 1999).'
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission, CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. Seismic Risk. One thing we can learn from the past is that seismic risk in Canterbury has been underestimated before the earthquakes struck. This is confirmed in a report for EQC in 1991 (paper 2005). It is also the conclusion of the Royal Commission in the CTV report. A number of recommendations have been made but not followed. For example, neither the AS/NZS 1170.5 standard nor the New Zealand Geotechnical Society guidelines have been updated. Yet another recovery instrument is the Earthquake Prone Building Act, which is still to be passed by Parliament. As the emergency response part of the recovery is now behind us, we need to ensure sustainability for what lies ahead. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable residents."
This study updated the 1999 Earthquake hazard and risk assessment study Stage 1 Part B: Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment and Earthquake scenarios for the Canterbury region, and historic earthquakes in Christchurch report. It incorporated new fault data, a new distributed seismicity model and new methods for estimating Modified Mercalli intensities. See Object Overview for background and usage information.
This study updated the 1999 Earthquake hazard and risk assessment study Stage 1 Part B: Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment and Earthquake scenarios for the Canterbury region, and historic earthquakes in Christchurch report. It incorporated new fault data, a new distributed seismicity model and new methods for estimating Modified Mercalli intensities. See Object Overview for background and usage information.
This study compiled and tabulated all relevant available information on earthquake sources (active faults) in Canterbury and mapped the fault locations onto 1:50,000 or 1:250,000 overlays on topographic maps (later digitised into the Environment Canterbury active faults database). The study also reviewed information on historic earthquakes, instrumental seismicity and paleoseismic studies and identified information gaps. It recommended an approach for a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis and development of earthquake scenarios. See Object Overview for background and usage information.
A video of a presentation by Richard Conlin during the Community Resilience Stream of the 2016 People in Disasters Conference. The presentation is titled, "Resilience, Poverty, and Seismic Culture".The abstract for this presentation reads as follows: A strategy of resilience is built around the recognition that effective emergency response requires community involvement and mobilization. It further recognizes that many of the characteristics that equip communities to respond most effectively to short term emergencies are also characteristics that build strong communities over the long term. Building resilient communities means integrating our approaches to poverty, community engagement, economic development, and housing into a coherent strategy that empowers community members to engage with each other and with other communities. In this way, resilience becomes a complementary concept to sustainability. This requires an asset-based change strategy where external agencies meet communities where they are, in their own space, and use collective impact approaches to work in partnership. This also requires understanding and assessing poverty, including physical, financial, and social capital in their myriad manifestations. Poverty is not exclusively a matter of class. It is a complex subject, and different communities manifest multiple versions of poverty, which must be respected and understood through the asset-based lens. Resilience is a quality of a community and a system, and develops over time as a result of careful analysis of strengths and vulnerabilities and taking actions to increase competencies and reduce risk situations. Resilience requires maintenance and must be developed in a way that includes practicing continuous improvement and adaptation. The characteristics of a resilient community include both physical qualities and 'soft infrastructure', such as community knowledge, resourcefulness, and overall health. This presentation reviews the experience of some earlier disasters, outlines a working model of how emergency response, resilience, and poverty interact and can be addressed in concert, and concludes with a summary of what the 2010 Chilean earthquake tells us about how a 'seismic culture' can function effectively in communities even when government suffers from unexpected shortcomings.
This study led on from Earthquake hazard and risk assessment study Stage 1 Part A: Earthquake source identification and characterisation (Pettinga et al, 1998). It used the location and characteristics of active faults in the Canterbury region, and the historic record of earthquakes to estimate levels of ground shaking (MM intensity, peak ground acceleration and spectral accelerations) across Canterbury for different return periods. The study also provided earthquake scenarios for selected towns and cities in Canterbury, and undertook detailed investigations into the largest historic earthquakes in Christchurch and parts of the Canterbury region. See Object Overview for background and usage information.
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission. CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. After nearly five years of 'Emergency Response' where sustainability has been sacrificed in the interests of speed, we can assume that this phase is now behind us. We see no reason why this period should be extended until April 2016. Lessons must be learned from the past. It is time to move into the 'Restoration Phase'. Once seismic and building standards are corrected, and risks are notified, mapped and accepted, sustainability will be ensures. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable residents. We support option 3+."