A photograph of eight students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of six students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of seven students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of seven students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of six students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of six students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of five students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of four students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A video clip of two large-scale, temporary installations titled Aurora (front) and Synthesis (back, left). The installations were created by students from Unitec and CPIT, for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A photograph of seven students on a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A video clip of people dancing inside a large-scale, temporary installation titled Equilibrium. The installation was created by students from The University of Auckland for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A photograph of eight students falling through a bridge they have constructed across the Avon River, outside the UCSA building. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A photograph of a crowd of students sitting on the bank of the Avon River outside the UCSA building in 2015. The students are gathered to watch the annual Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
This poster provides a comparison between the strong ground motions observed in the 22 February 2011 Mw6.3 Christchurch earthquake with those observed in Tokyo during the 11 March 2011 Mw9.0 Tohoku earthquake. The destuction resulting from both of these events has been well documented, although tsunami was the principal cause of damage in the latter event, and less attention has been devoted to the impact of earthquake-induced ground motions. Despite Tokyo being located over 100km from the nearest part of the causative rupture, the ground motions observed from the Tohoku earthquake were significant enough to cause structural damage and also significant liquefaction to loose reclaimed soils in Tokyo Bay. The author was fortunate enough (from the perspective of an earthquake engineer) to experience first-hand both of these events. Following the Tohoku event, the athor conducted various ground motion analyses and reconniassance of the Urayasu region in Tokyo Bay affected by liquefaction in collaboration with Prof. Kenji Ishihara. This conference is therefore a fitting opportunity in which to discuss some of authors insights obtained as a result of this first hand knowledge. Figure 1 illustrates the ground motions recorded in the Christchurch CBD in the 22 February 2011 and 4 September 2010 earthquakes, with that recorded in Tokyo Bay in the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake. It is evident that these three ground motions vary widely in their amplitude and duration. The CBGS ground motion from the 22 February 2011 event has a very large amplitude (nearly 0.6g) and short duration (approx. 10s of intense shaking), as a result of the causal Mw6.3 rupture at short distance (Rrup=4km). The CBGS ground motion from the 4 September 2010 earthquake has a longer duration (approx. 30s of intense shaking), but reduced acceleration amplitude, as a result of the causal Mw7.1 rupture at a short-to-moderate distance (Rrup=14km). Finally, the Urayasu ground motion in Tokyo bay during the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake exhibits an acceleration amplitude similar to the 4 September 2010 CBGS ground motion, but a significantly larger duration (approx 150s of intense shaking). Clearly, these three different ground motions will affect structures and soils in different ways depending on the vibration characteristics of the structures/soil, and the potential for strength and stiffness degradation due to cumulative effects. Figure 2 provides a comparison between the arias intensities of the several ground motion records from the three different events. It can be seen that the arias intensities of the ground motions in the Christchurch CBD from the 22 February 2011 earthquake (which is on average AI=2.5m/s) is approximately twice that from the 4 September 2010 earthquake (average AI≈1.25). This is consistent with a factor of approximately 1.6 obtained by Cubrinovski et al. (2011) using the stress-based (i.e.PGA-MSF) approach of liquefaction triggering. It can also be seen that the arias intensity of the ground motions recorded in Tokyo during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake are larger than ground motions in the Christchurch CBD from the 4 September 2011 earthquake, but smaller than those of the 22 February 2011 earthquake. Based on the arias intensity liquefaction triggering approach it can therefore be concluded that the ground motion severity, in terms of liquefaction potential, for the Tokyo ground motions is between those ground motions in Christchurch CBD from the 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011 events.
Ground motion observations from the most significant 10 events in the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence at near-source sites are utilized to scrutinize New Zealand (NZ)-specific pseudo-spectral acceleration (SA) empirical ground motion prediction equations (GMPE) (Bradley 2010, Bradley 2013, McVerry et al. 2006). Region-specific modification factors based on relaxing the conventional ergodic assumption in GMPE development were developed for the Bradley (2010) model. Because of the observed biases with magnitude and source-to-site distance for the McVerry et al. (2006) model it is not possible to develop region-specific modification factors in a reliable manner. The theory of non-ergodic empirical ground motion prediction is then outlined, and applied to this 10 event dataset to determine systematic effects in the between- and within-event residuals which lead to modifications in the predicted median and standard deviation of the GMPE. By examining these systematic effects over sub-regions containing a total of 20 strong motion stations within the Canterbury area, modification factors for use in region-specific ground motion prediction are proposed. These modification factors, in particular, are suggested for use with the Bradley et al. (2010) model in Canterbury-specific probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) to develop revised design response, particularly for long vibration periods.
The majority of Christchurch’s stormwater has historically been discharged untreated directly into urban surface waterways. These receiving waterways have become adversely affected by the contaminants carried in the stormwater, particularly sediment and heavy metals. An event-based contaminant load model was developed to identify the distribution and magnitude of contaminant loads entering the waterway, as well as to assess the reduction in TSS and heavy metal loads that can be achieved by various stormwater management options. The GIS-Excel based model estimates contaminant loads from an individual storm event based on different contributing impervious surfaces and key rainfall characteristics (rainfall intensity, duration, pH and antecedent dry days). It then calculates contaminant reduction loads that could be achieved through source reduction (e.g. green roofs, repainting) as well as from treatment (e.g. raingardens, wet ponds) applied to different surfaces within the catchment. This model differs from other annual load models as it is event-based and accounts for storm characteristics in its calculation of contaminant loads. Christchurch is a valuable case setting due the unique opportunity for retrofitting improved stormwater management in the post-earthquake rebuild. It is anticipated that this modelling approach could later be adapted for use in other urban settings outside of Christchurch.
Earthquakes are insured only with public sector involvement in high-income countries where the risk of earthquakes is perceived to be high. The proto-typical examples of this public sector involvement are the public earthquake insurance schemes in California, Japan, and New Zealand (NZ). Each of these insurance programs is structured differently, and the purpose of this paper is to examine these differences using a concrete case-study, the sequence of earthquakes that occurred in the Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2011. This event turned out to have been the most heavily insured earthquake event in history. We examine what would have been the outcome of the earthquakes had the system of insurance in NZ been different. In particular, we focus on the public earthquake insurance programs in California (the California Earthquake Authority - CEA), and in Japan (Japanese Earthquake Reinsurance - JER). Overall, the aggregate cost to the public insurer in NZ was $NZ 11.1 billion in its response to the earthquakes. If a similar-sized disaster event had occurred in Japan and California, homeowners would have received $NZ 2.5 billion and $NZ 1.4 billion from the JER and CEA, respectively. We further describe the spatial and distributive patterns of these different scenarios.
Plumbers say EQC paying bills too slowly, Earthquake Commission defends its claim process, Events centre, not stimulus package, for West Coast, Harawira calls meeting to consider forming new party, Government, Auckland council split over development, Search work in Christchurch central city nears completion, Power in South Christchurch threatened by cut cable.
Topics - New Zealand could begin full-scale military exercises with the United States within a year. A reported doubling of the number of supernatural events in Canterbury has been attributed to the 'sheer strength and power' of the September 4 earthquake, by a paranormal investigator.
A video clip of a large-scale, temporary installation titled Synthesis. The installation is on the corner of High Street. The installation was created by students from CPIT for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A video clip of a large-scale, temporary installation titled Antigravity. The installation is on Lichfield Street. The installation was created by students from The University of Auckland for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A video clip of several large-scale, temporary installations on the corner of High and Lichfield Streets, and the corner of Lichfield and Manchester Streets. The installations are part of CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A video clip of people walking through a large-scale, temporary installation titled ScopeCity. The installation is on Manchester Street. The installation was created by students from Unitec for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A video clip of children playing with inflatable balls inside a large-scale, temporary installation titled Upload. The installation was created by students from The University of Auckland for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A video clip of a large-scale, temporary installation titled Antigravity. The installation is on Lichfield Street. The installation was created by students from The University of Auckland for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A photograph of eight students standing in the Avon River outside the UCSA building, having just fallen through a bridge they had constructed. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A video clip of a large-scale, temporary installation titled Continuum. The installation is on Lichfield Street. The installation was created by students from The University of Auckland for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A photograph of eight students standing in the Avon River outside the UCSA building, having just fallen through a bridge they had constructed. The photograph was taken in 2015 during the annual Civil Engineering Bridge Challenge event.
A video clip depicting a large, inflatable white ball being rolled through the intersection of High Street, Lichfield Street and Manchester Street. The ball was part of an installation for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.
A video clip depicting a large, inflatable white ball being rolled through the intersection of High Street, Lichfield Street and Manchester Street. The ball was part of an installation for CityUps - a 'city of the future for one night only', and the main event of FESTA 2014.