Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Anne Edmond (proprietor) of Annie's wine bar and restaurant located in the Christchurch Arts Centre. Business is returning to normal despite the damage and closure of surrounding buildings caused by the September earthquake".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Richard Peebles is further concerned over the Manchester Courts building, which was severely damaged in the September earthquake and has now become more unstable. There is talk to move the cordons further back".
The inside of a tent set up in the Arts car park at the University of Canterbury after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The tents were used as temporary lecture rooms while the buildings were being checked for damage.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch mayor Bob Parker surveys the earthquake damage to the Science Alive/old train station building on Moorhouse Avenue. The clock tower has large cracks and the clock itself stopped at the time the earthquake hit".
A video of excavators demolishing the former railway station on Moorhouse Avenue. The building was only moderately damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake, but repair work was deemed too costly for the co-owner, Science Alive!.
A damaged building on the corner of Manchester and Welles Streets. Cordon fencing and road cones have been placed around the footpath and road to contain the demolition rubble and to keep the public away. On the fence is a sign that says 'No Entry'. 69-73 Manchester Street.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch mayor Bob Parker surveys the earthquake damage to the Science Alive/old train station building on Moorhouse Avenue. The clock tower has large cracks and the clock itself stopped at the time the earthquake hit".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch mayor Bob Parker surveys the earthquake damage to the Science Alive/old train station building on Moorhouse Avenue. The clock tower has large cracks and the clock itself stopped at the time the earthquake hit".
A digger demolishes Henry Africa's restaurant. The photographer comments, "A building housing a restaurant and a great little neighbourhood bar is finally coming down because of earthquake damage. The left half. Janes Bar and one of the upstairs flats were still standing today, but they'll be gone soon".
A stone gable wall of one of the buildings of the Beulah Christian Fellowship has partly collapsed, damaging the roof below. The photographer comments, "A bike ride around the CBD. I think this must be part of the Beulah Christian Fellowship. Taken from Edgeware Rd".
Summary of oral history interview with Belinda Grant about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.
Summary of oral history interview with Coralie Winn about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.
Barbadoes St
Barbadoes St
Fitzgerald Ave
Fitzgerald Panorama
Suburbs
Suburbs
Our Garage
Fitzgerald Ave
Avon River
Fitzgerald Ave
Barbadoes St
Fitzgerald Ave
Fitzgerald Ave
Fitzgerald Ave
The old (or is that the new) Inland Revenue Department (IRD) building on the corner of Madras and Cashel Streets in central Christchurch. Built in 2006/07 on the site of the former Farmers department store (itself badly damaged by fire), it was just a few years old when the earthquake of February 2011 struck, and subsequent quakes (all through 2...
In most design codes, infill walls are considered as non-structural elements and thus are typically neglected in the design process. The observations made after major earthquakes (Duzce 1999, L’Aquila 2009, Christchurch 2011) have shown that even though infill walls are considered to be non-structural elements, they interact with the structural system during seismic actions. In the case of heavy infill walls (i.e. clay brick infill walls), the whole behaviour of the structure may be affected by this interaction (i.e. local or global structural failures such as soft storey mechanism). In the case of light infill walls (i.e. non-structural drywalls), this may cause significant economical losses. To consider the interaction of the structural system with the ‘non-structural ’infill walls at design stage may not be a practical approach due to the complexity of the infill wall behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of the reported research is to develop innovative technological solutions and design recommendations for low damage non-structural wall systems for seismic actions by making use of alternative approaches. Light (steel/timber framed drywalls) and heavy (unreinforced clay brick) non-structural infill wall systems were studied by following an experimental/numerical research programme. Quasi-static reverse cyclic tests were carried out by utilizing a specially designed full scale reinforced concrete frame, which can be used as a re-usable bare frame. In this frame, two RC beams and two RC columns were connected by two un-bonded post tensioning bars, emulating a jointed ductile frame system (PRESSS technology). Due to the rocking behaviour at the beam-column joint interfaces, this frame was typically a low damage structural solution, with the post-tensioning guaranteeing a linear elastic behaviour. Therefore, this frame could be repeatedly used in all of the tests carried out by changing only the infill walls within this frame. Due to the linear elastic behaviour of this structural bare frame, it was possible to extract the exact behaviour of the infill walls from the global results. In other words, the only parameter that affected the global results was given by the infill walls. For the test specimens, the existing practice of construction (as built) for both light and heavy non-structural walls was implemented. In the light of the observations taken during these tests, modified low damage construction practices were proposed and tested. In total, seven tests were carried out: 1) Bare frame , in order to confirm its linear elastic behaviour. 2) As built steel framed drywall specimen FIF1-STFD (Light) 3) As built timber framed drywall specimen FIF2-TBFD (Light) 4) As built unreinforced clay brick infill wall specimen FIF3-UCBI (Heavy) 5) Low damage steel framed drywall specimen MIF1-STFD (Light) 6) Low damage timber framed drywall specimen MIF2-TBFD (Light) 7) Low damage unreinforced clay brick infill wall specimen MIF5-UCBI (Heavy) The tests of the as built practices showed that both drywalls and unreinforced clay brick infill walls have a low serviceability inter-storey drift limit (0.2-0.3%). Based on the observations, simple modifications and details were proposed for the low damage specimens. The details proved to be working effectively in lowering the damage and increasing the serviceability drift limits. For drywalls, the proposed low damage solutions do not introduce additional cost, material or labour and they are easily applicable in real buildings. For unreinforced clay brick infill walls, a light steel sub-frame system was suggested that divides the infill panel zone into smaller individual panels, which requires additional labour and some cost. However, both systems can be engineered for seismic actions and their behaviour can be controlled by implementing the proposed details. The performance of the developed details were also confirmed by the numerical case study analyses carried out using Ruaumoko 2D on a reinforced concrete building model designed according to the NZ codes/standards. The results have confirmed that the implementation of the proposed low damage solutions is expected to significantly reduce the non-structural infill wall damage throughout a building.
In the period between September 2010 and December 2011, Christchurch (New Zealand) and its surroundings were hit by a series of strong earthquakes including six significant events, all generated by local faults in proximity to the city: 4 September 2010 (Mw=7.1), 22 February 2011 (Mw=6.2), 13 June 2011 (Mw=5.3 and Mw=6.0) and 23 December 2011 (M=5.8 and (M=5.9) earthquakes. As shown in Figure 1, the causative faults of the earthquakes were very close to or within the city boundaries thus generating very strong ground motions and causing tremendous damage throughout the city. Christchurch is shown as a lighter colour area, and its Central Business District (CBD) is marked with a white square area in the figure. Note that the sequence of earthquakes started to the west of the city and then propagated to the south, south-east and east of the city through a set of separate but apparently interacting faults. Because of their strength and proximity to the city, the earthquakes caused tremendous physical damage and impacts on the people, natural and built environments of Christchurch. The 22 February 2011 earthquake was particularly devastating. The ground motions generated by this earthquake were intense and in many parts of Christchurch substantially above the ground motions used to design the buildings in Christchurch. The earthquake caused 182 fatalities, collapse of two multi-storey reinforced concrete buildings, collapse or partial collapse of many unreinforced masonry structures including the historic Christchurch Cathedral. The Central Business District (CBD) of Christchurch, which is the central heart of the city just east of Hagley Park, was practically lost with majority of its 3,000 buildings being damaged beyond repair. Widespread liquefaction in the suburbs of Christchurch, as well as rock falls and slope/cliff instabilities in the Port Hills affected tens of thousands of residential buildings and properties, and shattered the lifelines and infrastructure over approximately one third of the city area. The total economic loss caused by the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes is currently estimated to be in the range between 25 and 30 billion NZ dollars (or 15% to 18% of New Zealand’s GDP). After each major earthquake, comprehensive field investigations and inspections were conducted to document the liquefaction-induced land damage, lateral spreading displacements and their impacts on buildings and infrastructure. In addition, the ground motions produced by the earthquakes were recorded by approximately 15 strong motion stations within (close to) the city boundaries providing and impressive wealth of data, records and observations of the performance of ground and various types of structures during this unusual sequence of strong local earthquakes affecting a city. This paper discusses the liquefaction in residential areas and focuses on its impacts on dwellings (residential houses) and potable water system in the Christchurch suburbs. The ground conditions of Christchurch including the depositional history of soils, their composition, age and groundwater regime are first discussed. Detailed liquefaction maps illustrating the extent and severity of liquefaction across Christchurch triggered by the sequence of earthquakes including multiple episodes of severe re-liquefaction are next presented. Characteristic liquefaction-induced damage to residential houses is then described focussing on the performance of typical house foundations in areas affected by liquefaction. Liquefaction impacts on the potable water system of Christchurch is also briefly summarized including correlation between the damage to the system, liquefaction severity, and the performance of different pipe materials. Finally, the characteristics of Christchurch liquefaction and its impacts on built environment are discussed in relation to the liquefaction-induced damage in Japan during the 11 March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
A photograph of liquefaction along the footpath in front of St Paul's Church on Gayhurst Road. The church was severely damaged during the 4 September earthquake. Tape has been placed around the building to warn people off.