A photograph of the Stranges Building on the corner of High Street and Lichfield Street. In the background are the Mexican Café and Honey Pot Café buildings. The outer wall of the top storey of the Stranges Building has collapsed and the rubble has spilled onto the footpath below.
Large cracks run through the brick cladding of this house in Wainoni. The photographer comments, "During the numerous earthquakes in Christchurch the land which ran alongside the Avon river on Avonside Drive slumped towards the waterway. Houses which were wooden framed and had an external brick veneer started to sink into the liquefied soil. This caused the brick walls to crack, but the houses' occupants though shook up were saved by the wooden framework from the houses collapsing on them".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch Earthquake. A massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake has hit Christchurch and the wider South Island, causing widespread damage, two serious injuries and power cuts to most of the city. Marsha Witehira had the bricks from the wall of her house fall onto her bed where she was sleeping. Both sides of her house have collapsed".
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the John Burns & Co. Ltd building on Lichfield Street. The top section of the side wall has collapsed and the bricks have spilled onto the car park below, exposing the inside of the building. Several crushed cars have been removed from the car park and stacked on the street.
A photograph of a member of the New Zealand Army talking to a police officer on the corner of Colombo and Wordsworth Street. In the background there is a block of earthquake-damaged shops. Sections of the shops' walls have collapsed and the rubble has spilled onto the road and footpath.
A photograph of emergency management personnel standing next to an earthquake-damaged house. The wall on the left side of the house has collapsed and the bricks have spilled into the driveway in front. Wooden bracing has been placed in between the house and the fence, with wires connecting the top of the bracing to the peak of the roof.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, the bricks and other rubble spilling onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building. Several cars, also stored inside the building, are visible.
A photograph of earthquake damage to the Cranmer Centre on the corner of Armagh and Montreal Streets. Large sections of the wall have collapsed, the bricks spilling onto the footpath below. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon. Scaffolding has been erected up the side of the building to the left.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the John Burns & Co. Ltd building on Lichfield Street. The top section of the side wall has collapsed and the bricks have spilled onto the car park below, exposing the inside of the building. Several crushed cars have been removed from the car park and stacked on the street.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Asko Design building on Victoria Street. The top of the facade has crumbled and fallen into the street, taking the awning with it. The side wall has also collapsed, exposing the inside of the building. Wire fencing and tape have been used to cordon the buildings off.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to Knox Church on the corner of Bealey Avenue and Victoria Street. The brick walls of the gables have collapsed, exposing the building's wooden frame and the inside of the building. Wire fences and emergency tape have been placed around the building as a cordon.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch Earthquake. A massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake has hit Christchurch and the wider South Island, causing widespread damage, two serious injuries and power cuts to most of the city. Marsha Witehira had the bricks from the wall of her house fall onto her bed where she was sleeping. Both sides of her house have collapsed".
One of the failure modes that got the attention of researchers in the 2011 February New Zealand earthquake was the collapse of a key supporting structural wall of Grand Chancellor Hotel in Christchurch which failed in a brittle manner. However, until now this failure mode has been still a bit of a mystery for the researchers in the field of structural engineering. Moreover, there is no method to identify, assess and design the walls prone to such failure mode. Following the recent break through regarding the mechanism of this failure mode based on experimental observations (out-of-plane shear failure), a numerical model that can capture this failure was developed using the FE software DIANA. A comprehensive numerical parametric study was conducted to identify the key parameters contributing to the development of out-of-plane shear failure in reinforced concrete (RC) walls. Based on the earthquake observations, experimental and numerical studies conducted by the authors of this paper, an analytical method to identify walls prone to out-of-plane shear failure that can be used in practice by engineers is proposed. The method is developed based on the key parameters affecting the seismic performance of RC walls prone to out-of-plane shear failure and can be used for both design and assessment purposes
During the Christchurch earthquake of February 2011, several midrise reinforced concrete masonry (RCM) buildings showed performance levels that fall in the range of life safety to near collapse. A case study of one of these buildings, a six-story RCM building deemed to have reached the near collapse performance level, is presented in this paper. The RCM walls on the second floor failed due to toe crushing, reducing the building's lateral resistance in the east–west direction. A three-dimensional (3-D) nonlinear dynamic analysis was conducted to simulate the development of the governing failure mechanism. Analysis results showed that the walls that were damaged were subjected to large compression loads during the earthquake, which caused an increase in their in-plane lateral strength but reduced their ductility capacity. After toe crushing failure, axial instability of the model was prevented by a redistribution of gravity loads. VoR - Version of Record
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch Earthquake. A massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake has hit Christchurch and the wider South Island, causing widespread damage, two serious injuries and power cuts to most of the city. Clinton Gooch was awake when the quake hit and was running downstairs to get outside when the wall of his flat collapsed causing the windows to shatter in the shop below".
The Cranmer Court building, on the corner of Kilmore and Montreal Streets, after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. Large pieces of the building have collapsed, including the octagonal corner section that housed Plato Creative from March 2008 to November 2009. Masonry has fallen onto the footpath and road, and the site has been enclosed in a safety fence to keep people away. The whitewashed interior walls of one of the apartments can be seen.
The damaged Cranmer Centre on the corner of Montreal and Armagh Streets shortly after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The east wall of the building has crumbled onto the street and a man in a hard hat and high-visibility vest is directing people around it. There is scaffolding on the south side of the building from repair works after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The gable in the background has also collapsed.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team examining an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, and the bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team examining an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, and the bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building.
A photograph of the rubble from the demolished Domo furniture store on Tuam Street. In the background is the earthquake-damaged McKenzie & Willis store. The closest wall of the building has collapsed, exposing the inside of the building. Scaffolding has been constructed on the top floor in order to brace the ceiling. Shipping containers have been placed on the street in front of the building.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team examining an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, and the bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch Earthquake. A massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake has hit Christchurch and the wider South Island, causing widespread damage, two serious injuries and power cuts to most of the city. Marsha Witehira had the bricks from the wall of her house fall onto her bed where she was sleeping. Both sides of her house have collapsed. Witehira (L) is comforted by a friend".
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team examining an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, and the bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Asko Design building on Victoria Street. Mod's Hair can be seen to the right. The top of the facade of Asko Design has crumbled and fallen into the street, taking the awning with it. The side wall has also collapsed, exposing the inside of the building. Wire fencing and tape have been used to cordon the buildings off.
A photograph of emergency management personnel examining the earthquake damage to the Flight Centre's Link Centre on High Street. A brick wall on the neighbouring building has collapsed, falling through the roof of the store, and spilling out into the street. To the left, USAR codes have been spray-painted on the windows of the Coffee Culture.
A photograph of a member of an emergency management team in front of a earthquake-damaged building next to Calendar Girls on Hereford Street. The outer wall of the second storey of the building has collapsed, the bricks spilling onto the footpath below. USAR codes have been spray-painted on a window and a column of the building. Codes have also been spray-painted on the front of Calendar Girls.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to Munn's the Man store on Armagh Street. The outer wall of the top storey has collapsed, the bricks and other rubble spilling onto the car park below. Wire fences placed around the building have toppled over. Steel bracing has been set up inside the building to hold the roof up.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Asko Design building on Victoria Street. Mod's Hair can be seen to the right. The top of the facade of Asko Design has crumbled and fallen into the street, taking the awning with it. The side wall has also collapsed, exposing the inside of the building. Wire fencing and tape have been used to cordon the buildings off.
A view looking south down Durham Street during the aftermath of the 22 February 2011 earthquake. On the left are the ruins of the historic stone Provincial Council Legislative Chamber. The building's roof and walls have already collapsed, as has the scaffolding which was erected to repair it after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. An aftershock has caused masonry to dislodge from the building, sending dust into the air.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch Earthquake. A massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake has hit Christchurch and the wider South Island, causing widespread damage, two serious injuries and power cuts to most of the city. Marsha Witehira had the bricks from the wall of her house fall onto her bed where she was sleeping. Both sides of her house have collapsed. Witehira (R) is comforted by a friend".