Transcript of Fiona Robertson's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Christchurch earthquake events have raised questions on the adequacy of performance-based provisions in the current national building code. At present, in the building code the performance objectives are expressed in terms of safety and health criteria that could affect building occupants. In general, under the high intensity Christchurch events, buildings performed well in terms of life-safety (with a few exceptions) and it proved that the design practices adopted for those buildings could meet the performance objectives set by the building code. However, the damage incurred in those buildings resulted in unacceptably high economic loss. It is timely and necessary to revisit the objectives towards building performance in the building code and to include provisions for reducing economic implications in addition to the current requirements. Based on the observed performance of some buildings, a few specific issues in the current design practices that could have contributed to extensive damage have been identified and recommended for further research leading towards improved performance of structures. In particular, efforts towards innovative design/construction solutions with low-damage concepts are encouraged. New Zealand has been one of the leading countries in developing many innovative technologies. However, such technically advanced research findings usually face challenges towards implementation. Some of the reasons include: (i) lack of policy requirements; (iii) absence of demonstrated performance of new innovations to convince stakeholders; and (iv) non-existence of design guidelines. Such barriers significantly affect implementation of low damage construction and possible strategies to overcome those issues are discussed in this paper.
The damaged Peterborough Centre, surrounded by fences. Stacked shipping containers act as a retaining wall.
A photograph of a damaged building. The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "Hereford Street".
A damaged brick wall around a courtyard garden on Ash Street, seen from Madras Street.
A photograph of the interior of the badly-damaged Just Jeans store on Cashel Street.
A photograph of the interior of the badly-damaged Just Jeans store on Cashel Street.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's Blog for 25 October 2013 entitled, "Sesquicentennial of Sanctuary".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's Blog for 11 October 2013 entitled, "Fulgent Fielder".
A design guideline which provides information about how to use the SCIRT Asset Assessment Spreadsheet.
A photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Redzoned houses between Wattle Drive and Anzac Drive".
A photograph of the back of badly-damaged High Street buildings, taken from St Asaph Street.
A photograph of a vacant site and remaining damaged buildings between High Street and Lichfield Street.
A photograph of the back of damaged buildings behind an overgrown building site on High Street.
A photograph of the back of badly-damaged High Street buildings, taken from St Asaph Street.
A photograph of the back of badly-damaged High Street buildings, taken from St Asaph Street.
A photograph of the back of the badly-damaged McKenzie & Willis building on Tuam Street.
Eighty years and then the damage was done. Result of the earthquake on 22/02/11.
Damage to ceiling systems resulted in a substantial financial loss to building owners in the Canterbury earthquakes. In some buildings, collapse of ceilings could easily have resulted in severe injury to occupants. This paper summarizes the types of ceiling damage observed in the Canterbury earthquakes, and draws useful lessons from the observed performance of different types of ceiling systems. Existing ceiling manufacturing and installing practices/regulations in New Zealand are critically scrutinized to identify deficiencies, and measures are suggested to improve the practice so that the damage to ceilings and the resulting loss are minimized in future earthquakes.
The side of a damaged building on Liverpool Street has been painted with blue and white stripes.
A photograph of the badly damaged ChristChurch Cathedral, taken from a demolition site in Cathedral Square.
Closed due to earthquake damage. But it looks in better condition than the building I work in!
A photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Riverlaw Terrace signs".
Damaged buildings surrounded by security fencing on Lichfield Street. Wooden pallets have been lined up along the road.
A photograph looking south down Manchester Street. Damaged buildings on the right-hand side have been fenced off.
A photograph of coloured shipping containers stacked in front of the badly-damaged Odeon Theatre on Tuam Street.
A photograph of coloured shipping containers stacked in front of the badly-damaged Odeon Theatre on Tuam Street.
A photograph looking south down Manchester Street. Damaged buildings on the right-hand side have been fenced off.
An aerial photograph looking south-east over Cathedral Square with the damaged Christ Church Cathedral in the centre.
Group action may be taken against the Earthquake Commission over the quality of repairs to damaged Christchurch homes.