A gutter on Bracken Street in Avonside, with the footpath and road beside it showing cracks on their edges from the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
'185 Empty Chairs', Pete Majendie's art installation commemorating those who died in the earthquake. In the background a digger is parked on a rubble pile.
A footpath on Robson Avenue in Avonside that has been damaged in the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The kerb has broken off and been removed.
A gutter on Bracken Street in Avonside, with the footpath and road beside it showing cracks on their edges from the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
People gather beside the Avon River before the River of Flowers event held in Riccarton Bush, commemorating the second anniversary of the 22 February earthquake.
The crowd at the Band Together concert, a concert that was put on at Hagley Park for the people of Canterbury following the September earthquake.
A photograph of a sign outside the Christchurch Art Gallery advertising the "Debuilding" exhibition which was on display when the 22 February 2011 earthquake hit.
The crowd at the Band Together concert, a concert that was put on at Hagley Park for the people of Canterbury following the September earthquake.
People gather beside the Avon River before the River of Flowers event held in Riccarton Bush, commemorating the second anniversary of the 22 February earthquake.
The Avon River in Avonside, seen before the earthquakes. The photographer comments, "Avon River and Avonside Drive, near Robson Ave. Taken approx 317 River Road".
Trees on River Road in Avonside, seen before the earthquakes. The photographer comments, "River Rd, looking across to corner of Avonside Drive and Bracken St".
Mayor Bob Parker with his gold mayoral chains at the memorial service held in Latimer Square on the anniversary of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
The influence of nonlinear soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) on the performance of multi-storey buildings during earthquake events has become increasingly important in earthquake resistant design. For buildings on shallow foundations, SFSI refers to nonlinear geometric effects associated with uplift of the foundation from the supporting soil as well as nonlinear soil deformation effects. These effects can potentially be beneficial for structural performance, reducing forces transmitted from ground shaking to the structure. However, there is also the potential consequence of residual settlement and rotation of the foundation. This Thesis investigates the influence of SFSI in the performance of multi-storey buildings on shallow foundations through earthquake observations, experimental testing, and development of spring-bed numerical models that can be incorporated into integrated earthquake resistant design procedures. Observations were made following the 22 February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake in New Zealand of a number of multi-storey buildings on shallow foundations that performed satisfactorily. This was predominantly the case in areas where shallow foundations, typically large raft foundations, were founded on competent gravel and where there was no significant manifestation of liquefaction at the ground surface. The properties of these buildings and the soils they are founded on directed experimental work that was conducted to investigate the mechanisms by which SFSI may have influenced the behaviour of these types of structure-foundation systems. Centrifuge experiments were undertaken at the University of Dundee, Scotland using a range of structure-foundation models and a layer of dense cohesionless soil to simulate the situation in Christchurch where multi-storey buildings on shallow foundations performed well. Three equivalent single degree of freedom (SDOF) models representing 3, 5, and 7 storey buildings with identical large raft foundations were subjected to a range of dynamic Ricker wavelet excitations and Christchurch Earthquake records to investigate the influence of SFSI on the response of the equivalent buildings. The experimental results show that nonlinear SFSI has a significant influence on structural response and overall foundation deformations, even though the large raft foundations on competent soil meant that there was a significant reserve of bearing capacity available and nonlinear deformations may have been considered to have had minimal effect. Uplift of the foundation from the supporting soil was observed across a wide range of input motion amplitudes and was particularly significant as the amplitude of motion increased. Permanent soil deformation represented by foundation settlement and residual rotation was also observed but mainly for the larger input motions. However, the absolute extent of uplift and permanent soil deformation was very small compared to the size of the foundation meaning the serviceability of the building would still likely be maintained during large earthquake events. Even so, the small extent of SFSI resulted in attenuation of the response of the structure as the equivalent period of vibration was lengthened and the equivalent damping in the system increased. The experimental work undertaken was used to validate and enhance numerical modelling techniques that are simple yet sophisticated and promote interaction between geotechnical and structural specialists involved in the design of multi-storey buildings. Spring-bed modelling techniques were utilised as they provide a balance between ease of use, and thus ease of interaction with structural specialists who have these techniques readily available in practice, and theoretically rigorous solutions. Fixed base and elastic spring-bed models showed they were unable to capture the behaviour of the structure-foundation models tested in the centrifuge experiments. SFSI spring-bed models were able to more accurately capture the behaviour but recommendations were proposed for the parameters used to define the springs so that the numerical models closely matched experimental results. From the spring-bed modelling and results of centrifuge experiments, an equivalent linear design procedure was proposed along with a procedure and recommendations for the implementation of nonlinear SFSI spring-bed models in practice. The combination of earthquake observations, experimental testing, and simplified numerical analysis has shown how SFSI is influential in the earthquake performance of multi-storey buildings on shallow foundations and should be incorporated into earthquake resistant design of these structures.
We measure the longer-term effect of a major earthquake on the local economy, using night-time light intensity measured from space, and investigate whether insurance claim payments for damaged residential property affected the local recovery process. We focus on the destructive Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) 2010 -2011 as our case study. Uniquely for this event, more than 95% of residential housing units were covered by insurance, but insurance payments were staggered over 5 years, enabling us to identify their local impact. We find that night-time luminosity can capture the process of recovery and describe the recovery’s determinants. We also find that insurance payments contributed significantly to the process of economic recovery after the earthquake, but delayed payments were less affective and cash settlement of claims were more effective than insurance-managed repairs in contributing to local recovery.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Ginny Larsen to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Jenny to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Glen Harris to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Lawrence Wootton to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Philip to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Mark Edmondston to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Kim Pflaum to the QuakeStories website.