Organisations locate strategically within Business Districts (CBDs) in order to cultivate their image, increase their profile, and improve access to customers, suppliers, and services. While CBDs offer an economic benefit to organisations, they also present a unique set of hazard vulnerabilities and planning challenges for businesses. As of May 2012, the Christchurch CBD has been partially cordoned off for over 14 months. Economic activity within the cordoned CBD, which previously contained 6,000 businesses and over 51,000 workers, has been significantly diminished and organisations have been forced to find new ways of operating. The vulnerabilities and resilience of CBDs not only influences outcomes for CBD organisations, but also the broader interconnected (urban/regional/national) system. A CBD is a hub of economic, social, and built infrastructure within a network of links and nodes. When the hub is disrupted all of the people, objects, and transactions that usually flow into and out of the hub must be redirected elsewhere. In an urban situation this means traffic jams in peripheries of the city, increased prices of commercial property, and capital flight; all of which are currently being faced in Canterbury. This report presents the lessons learned from organisations in CBDs affected by the Canterbury earthquakes. Here we focus on the Christchurch CBD; however, several urban town centres were extensively disrupted by the earthquakes. The statistics and discussion presented in this report are based on the results of an ongoing study conducted by Resilient Organisations (www.resorgs.org.nz). The data was captured using two questionnaire surveys of Canterbury organisations (issued November 2010 and May 2011), interviews with key informants, and in-depth case studies of organisations. Several industry sectors were sampled, and geographic samples of organisations in the Christchurch CBD, Lyttelton, and the Kaiapoi town centre were also collected. Results in this report describing “non-CBD organisations” refer to all organisations outside of the Christchurch CBD, Lyttelton, and Kaiapoi town centres.
This report presents the simplified seismic assessment of a case study reinforced concrete (RC) building following the newly developed and refined NZSEE/MBIE guidelines on seismic assessment (NZSEE/MBIE, semi-final draft 26 October 2016). After an overview of the step-by-step ‘diagnostic’ process, including an holistic and qualitative description of the expected vulnerabilities and of the assessment strategy/methodology, focus is given, whilst not limited, to the implementation of a Detailed Seismic Assessment (DSA) (NZSEE/MBIE, 2016c). The DSA is intended to provide a more reliable and consistent outcome than what can be provided by an initial seismic assessment (ISA). In fact, while the Initial Seismic Assessment (ISA), of which the Initial Evaluation Procedure is only a part of, is the more natural and still recommended first step in the overall assessment process, it is mostly intended to be a coarse evaluation involving as few resources as reasonably possible. It is thus expected that an ISA will be followed by a Detailed Seismic Assessment (DSA) not only where the threshold of 33%NBS is not achieved but also where important decisions are intended that are reliant on the seismic status of the building. The use of %NBS (% New Building Standard) as a capacity/demand ratio to describe the result of the seismic assessment at all levels of assessment procedure (ISA through to DSA) is deliberate by the NZSEE/MBIE guidelines (Part A) (NZSEE/MBIE 2016a). The rating for the building needs only be based on the lowest level of assessment that is warranted for the particular circumstances. Discussion on how the %NBS rating is to be determined can be found in Section A3.3 (NZSEE/MBIE 2016a), and, more specifically, in Part B for the ISA (NZSEE/MBIE 2016b) and Part C for the DSA (NZSEE/MBIE 2016c). As per other international approaches, the DSA can be based on several analysis procedures to assess the structural behaviour (linear, nonlinear, static or dynamic, force or displacement-based). The significantly revamped NZSEE 2016 Seismic Assessment Guidelines strongly recommend the use of an analytical (basically ‘by hand’) method, referred to the Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA) as a first phase of any other numerically-based analysis method. Significant effort has thus been dedicated to provide within the NZSEE 2016 guidelines (NZSEE/MBIE 2016c) a step-by-step description of the procedure, either in general terms (Chapter 2) or with specific reference to Reinforced Concrete Buildings (Chapter 5). More specifically, extract from the guidelines, NZSEE “recommend using the Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA) procedure as a first step in any assessment. While SLaMA is essentially an analysis technique, it enables assessors to investigate (and present in a simple form) the potential contribution and interaction of a number of structural elements and their likely effect on the building’s global capacity. In some cases, the results of a SLaMA will only be indicative. However, it is expected that its use should help assessors achieve a more reliable outcome than if they only carried out a detailed analysis, especially if that analysis is limited to the elastic range For complex structural systems, a 3D dynamic analysis may be necessary to supplement the simplified nonlinear Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA).” This report presents the development of a full design example for the the implementation of the SLaMA method on a case study buildings and a validation/comparison with a non-linear static (pushover) analysis. The step-by-step-procedure, summarized in Figure 1, will be herein demonstrated from a component level (beams, columns, wall elements) to a subassembly level (hierarchy of strength in a beam-column joint) and to a system level (frame, C-Wall) assuming initially a 2D behaviour of the key structural system, and then incorporating a by-hand 3D behaviour (torsional effects).
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Quake: Lyttelton: Food tent set up in Lyttelton Civil Defence centre".
Radio New Zealand Reporter Rachel Graham is at the Christchurch City Council's civil defense headquarters.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
The damaged Villa Antiques building in Merivale, cordoned off with police and civil defence tape.
Website of Canterbury CDEM Group, which is a partnership of local authorities, emergency services and other organisations tasked with providing effective and comprehensive management of major hazards and their consequences anywhere in Canterbury. Includes community preparedness information, information for emergency managers and CDEM Group plan.
A video about the government's financial aid plan for workers affected by the 4 September 2010 earthquake. Prime Minister John Key has travelled to Christchurch to announce the plan. This video includes footage of a press conference with John Key at the Christchurch Art Gallery. It also includes footage of John Key meeting residents at the Civil Defence Centre at Addington Raceway.
Information about CDEM planning, programmes and the Ministry itself. Includes emergency preparedness information for the public and downloadable resources for civil defence sector workers. Earthquake related information can be found in the archived instances from September 2010-
Emergency Management personnel outside the Christchurch Art Gallery. The Art Gallery was used as the headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. In the background, the east end of the Arts Centre can be seen.
A Civil Defence staff member completing a Level 1 Rapid Assessment inspection form for a damaged house. Some of the brickwork has collapsed from the outer wall and the awnings over the windows have collapsed.
A Civil Defence staff member completing a Level 1 Rapid Assessment inspection form for a damaged house. Some of the brickwork has collapsed from the outer wall of the house and the awnings over the windows have collapsed.
A photograph of a film crew recording outside the Christchurch Art Gallery on Montreal Street. The Art Gallery was used as the temporary headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of students falling through a bridge into the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of students falling through a bridge into the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2008 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of a WRFF Helitack Rappel Crew emergency response vehicle and a truck loaded with supplies. A Civil Defence trailer is hitched to the back of the truck.
A photograph of the Christchurch Art Gallery on Montreal Street. A One News van is parked outside. The art gallery served as the temporary headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.