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Images for Earthquake Damage; more images...

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The temporary ASB branch in the Re:Start mall. The photographer comments, "The new temporary city mall has been open in Christchurch now for a week. Buildings damaged in the earthquake have been demolished and replaced with cargo containers to create a new, temporary, Cashel Mall. I visited the mall yesterday and was quite impressed with what they have done. The cargo containers have been nicely converted, brightly painted and smartly branded to create some good looking stores ... ASB is the only bank to grab a container, which is fair enough seeing as they appear to be a large sponsor of the mall. The 'Re:START' Cashel Mall signs also display the tag line 'Supported by ASB'".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

People walk down Colombo Street past collapsed buildings shortly after the 22 February earthquake. The photographer comments, "Just after the aftershock settled on Tuesday afternoon, myself and colleagues fled our Tuam Street office to absolute devastation outside. We couldn't see more than a block in either direction due to the clouds of dust that had arisen from buildings that had just collapsed ... From here, we picked up our vehicles from the CCC car park and headed out to get out of the chaos to a position where we could check on loved ones. Heading first along Manchester Street, buildings that were already heavily damaged were now completely written off. We couldn't get much further down Manchester Street so eventually made it to Colombo Street".

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Currently there is a worldwide renaissance in timber building design. At the University of Canterbury, new structural systems for commercial multistorey timber buildings have been under development since 2005. These systems incorporate large timber sections connected by high strength post-tensioning tendons, and timber-concrete composite floor systems, and aim to compete with existing structural systems in terms of cost, constructability, operational and seismic performance. The development of post-tensioned timber systems has created a need for improved lateral force design approaches for timber buildings. Current code provisions for seismic design are based on the strength of the structure, and do not adequately account for its deformation. Because timber buildings are often governed by deflection, rather than strength, this can lead to the exceedence of design displacement limitations imposed by New Zealand codes. Therefore, accurate modeling approaches which define both the strength and deformation of post-tensioned timber buildings are required. Furthermore, experimental testing is required to verify the accuracy of these models. This thesis focuses on the development and experimental verification of modeling approaches for the lateral force design of post-tensioned timber frame and wall buildings. The experimentation consisted of uni-direcitonal and bi-directional quasi-static earthquake simulation on a two-thirds scale, two-storey post-tensioned timber frame and wall building with timber-concrete composite floors. The building was subjected to lateral drifts of up to 3% and demonstrated excellent seismic performance, exhibiting little damage. The building was instrumented and analyzed, providing data for the calibration of analytical and numerical models. Analytical and numerical models were developed for frame, wall and floor systems that account for significant deformation components. The models predicted the strength of the structural systems for a given design performance level. The static responses predicted by the models were compared with both experimental data and finite element models to evaluate their accuracy. The frame, wall and floor models were then incorporated into an existing lateral force design procedure known as displacement-based design and used to design several frame and wall structural systems. Predictions of key engineering demand parameters, such as displacement, drift, interstorey shear, interstorey moment and floor accelerations, were compared with the results of dynamic time-history analysis. It was concluded that the numerical and analytical models, presented in this thesis, are a sound basis for determining the lateral response of post-tensioned timber buildings. However, future research is required to further verify and improve these prediction models.

Videos, UC QuakeStudies

Aerial footage of Christchurch recorded the day after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The footage shows damage to the Smith City car park, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, the CTV Building, the PGC Building, the Durham Street Methodist Church, the Lyttelton Timeball Station, the roads alongside the Avon River, and the ChristChurch Cathedral. It also shows New Zealand Army road blocks outside the hospital, crushed buses on Colombo Street, a Royal New Zealand Navy vessel in Lyttelton Harbour, rock fall on the Summit Road, collapsed cliffs in Sumner and Redcliffs, tents set up in a park, flooding in New Brighton, and liquefaction in QEII Park.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

People gather at the corner of Colombo and St Asaph Streets shortly after the 22 February earthquake. A building has collapsed, and bricks and rubble litter the street. The photographer comments, "Just after the aftershock settled on Tuesday afternoon, myself and colleagues fled our Tuam Street office to absolute devastation outside. We couldn't see more than a block in either direction due to the clouds of dust that had arisen from buildings that had just collapsed ... From here, we picked up our vehicles from the CCC car park and headed out to get out of the chaos to a position where we could check on loved ones. Heading first along Manchester Street, buildings that were already heavily damaged were now completely written off. We couldn't get much further down Manchester Street so eventually made it to Colombo Street".

Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

The cartoon shows Christchurch obscured by ash. Text reads 'Christchurch recovery package' and below are the words 'Cash cloud'. Context - Beginning on the 6th of June the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano has been erupting for more than a week. Drifting ash clouds have been interupting flights. On Thursday 23 June Prime Minister John Key, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and representatives from engineering consultants Tonkin & Taylor announced the first part of the Government's long-awaited land report that revealed the fate of up to 5000 quake-damaged homes. These homes were in the 'red zone'. But 10,500 owners in the orange zone were left in limbo, with their properties requiring further assessment. One of the options presented to residents in the red zone, ideal for people with replacement policies, was the government bought your land, and you dealt directly with your insurers about your house. However they got a shock when insurers told them they won't replace their homes, they'll only repair them, even though they're earmarked for certain demolition. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Questions to Ministers 1. AMY ADAMS to the Minister of Finance: What will be the focus of the Budget on 19 May? 2. Hon PHIL GOFF to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his statements on the sale of State-owned assets? 3. SHANE ARDERN to the Minister of Customs: What recent reports has he received regarding interceptions of methamphetamine by Customs officers at the border? 4. Hon ANNETTE KING to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement that "we've done as good a job as we can in the conditions we've got to try and help low-income New Zealanders"? 5. KEITH LOCKE to the Minister of Defence: Has New Zealand's SAS detained anyone during its operations or joint operations with other forces, since being redeployed to Afghanistan in 2009? 6. Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement that "I have seen almost no criticism of the Government's plan to rebalance the economy" given the statement from the Chair of the 2025 Taskforce, Don Brash, that "There is certainly no evidence yet that current policies will deliver the kind of accelerated growth we need"? 7. NICKY WAGNER to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery: What process will the Government use to rebuild and restore damaged infrastructure in Canterbury? 8. Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery: Is he satisfied that the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011 provides him with all the powers necessary to facilitate the recovery of Canterbury? 9. Hon JOHN BOSCAWEN to the Minister of Finance: By how much has Government expenditure increased as a percentage of GDP since he became Minister of Finance? 10. DAVID SHEARER to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in his Minister of Foreign Affairs? 11. KATRINA SHANKS to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Why has the Government announced a Green Paper on how we value, nurture and protect children? 12. Hon TREVOR MALLARD to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in all his Ministers?

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

The previously unknown Greendale Fault ruptured to the ground surface, causing up to 5 metres horizontal and 1 metre vertical permanent offset of the ground, during the September 2010 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake. Environment Canterbury commissioned GNS Science, with help from the University of Canterbury, to define a fault avoidance zone and to estimate the fault recurrence interval. There is little evidence for past movement on the fault in the past 16,000 years. However, because of the uncertainties involved, a conservative approach was taken and the fault has been categorised as a Recurrence Interval Class IV fault (a recurrence interval of between 5,000 and 10,000 years). A PhD study by a University of Canterbury student will work towards refining the Recurrence Interval Class over the next three years. Taking a risk-based approach, the Ministry for the Environment Active Fault Guidelines recommend that normal residential development be allowed within the fault avoidance zone for faults of this Recurrence Interval Class, but recommends restrictions for larger community buildings or facilities with post-disaster functions. The report is assisting Selwyn District Council in granting consents for rebuilding houses on or near the Greendale Fault that were damaged by permanent distortion of the ground due to the fault rupture in the September 2010 earthquake. The report provides specific recommendations for building on or close to the Greendale Fault, which are being implemented by Selwyn District Council. See Object Overview for background and usage information.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This paper outlines the deconstruction, redesign and reconstruction of a 2 storey timber building at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand. The building consists of post tensioned timber frames and walls for lateral and gravity resistance, and timber concrete composite flooring. Originally a test specimen, the structure was subjected to extreme lateral displacements in the University structural testing laboratory. This large scale test of the structural form showed that post tensioned timber can withstand high levels of drift with little to no structural damage in addition to displaying full recentering characteristics with no residual displacements, a significant contributor to post earthquake cost. The building subsequently has been dismantled and reconstructed as offices for the Structural Timber Innovation Company (STIC). In doing this over 90% of the materials have been recycled which further enhances the sustainability of this construction system. The paper outlines the necessary steps to convert the structure from a test specimen into a functioning office building with minimal wastage and sufficient seismic resistance. The feasibility of recycling the structural system is examined using the key indicators of cost and time.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Questions to Ministers 1. Hon DAVID PARKER to the Minister of Finance: What was the combined increase in the value of the Crown's equity in Meridian, Mighty River Power, Solid Energy, Genesis and Air New Zealand for each of the last five years? 2. SIMON BRIDGES to the Minister of Finance: How did Budget 2011 continue the Government's programme to build faster growth, higher incomes and more jobs? 3. Hon MARYAN STREET to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Have all recent actions of New Zealand's diplomats been consistent with Government policy? 4. Hon TAU HENARE to the Minister of Health: What reports has he received about improved access to dialysis for patients in Auckland and Waitemata? 5. Dr RUSSEL NORMAN to the Minister of Finance: Will the Government have to borrow further to pay for the latest Christchurch earthquakes? 6. GRANT ROBERTSON to the Minister of Health: Does he agree with the statement of the Auditor-General, "Despite the encouraging improvements made in the last 10 years, we do not yet have a system for scheduled services that can demonstrate national consistency and equitable treatment for all"? 7. AMY ADAMS to the Minister for the Environment: What steps has the Government taken to facilitate resource consents for work required at the Lyttelton Port to ensure it is able to recover quickly from earthquake damage? 8. JACINDA ARDERN to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by the statement made on his behalf that "this Government is focused on improvements within the economy in order to create the platform on which business and New Zealanders can invest and grow jobs"? 9. TE URUROA FLAVELL to the Minister of Health: Does he agree that under section 118 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, the Medical Council has a responsibility to ensure the cultural competence of doctors, and what support has the Government provided to the health sector to ensure cultural competence is achieved across the health sector? 10. DAVID SHEARER to the Minister of Science and Innovation: Does he agree with Professor Sir Paul Callaghan's statement on science and innovation "it's clear that the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister have not really seen this as a top priority"? 11. CHESTER BORROWS to the Minister of Justice: What progress is being made on preparations for the referendum on the electoral system to be held in conjunction with this year's general election? 12. Hon RICK BARKER to the Minister of Veterans' Affairs: When can veterans expect to have a full response from the Government in response to the Law Commission's report "A New Support Scheme for Veterans"?

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Timber has experienced renewed interests as a sustainable building material in recent times. Although traditionally it has been the prime choice for residential construction in New Zealand and some other parts of the world, its use can be increased significantly in the future through a wider range of applications, particularly when adopting engineered wood material, Research has been started on the development of innovative solutions for multi-storey non-residential timber buildings in recent years and this study is part of that initiative. Application of timber in commercial and office spaces posed some challenges with requirements of large column-free spaces. The current construction practice with timber is not properly suited for structures with the aforementioned required characteristics and new type of structures has to be developed for this type of applications. Any new structural system has to have adequate capacity for carry the gravity and lateral loads due to occupancy and the environmental effects. Along with wind loading, one of the major sources of lateral loads is earthquakes. New Zealand, being located in a seismically active region, has significant risk of earthquake hazard specially in the central region of the country and any structure has be designed for the seismic loading appropriate for the locality. There have been some significant developments in precast concrete in terms of solutions for earthquake resistant structures in the last decade. The “Hybrid” concept combining post-tensioning and energy dissipating elements with structural members has been introduced in the late 1990s by the precast concrete industry to achieve moment-resistant connections based on dry jointed ductile connections. Recent research at the University of Canterbury has shown that the concept can be adopted for timber for similar applications. Hybrid timber frames using post-tensioned beams and dissipaters have the potential to allow longer spans and smaller cross sections than other forms of solid timber frames. Buildings with post-tensioned frames and walls can have larger column-free spaces which is a particular advantage for non-residential applications. While other researchers are focusing on whole structural systems, this research concentrated on the analysis and design of individual members and connections between members or between member and foundation. This thesis extends existing knowledge on the seismic behaviour and response of post-tensioned single walls, columns under uni-direction loads and small scale beam-column joint connections into the response and design of post-tensioned coupled walls, columns under bi-directional loading and full-scale beam-column joints, as well as to generate further insight into practical applications of the design concept for subassemblies. Extensive experimental investigation of walls, column and beam-column joints provided valuable confirmation of the satisfactory performance of these systems. In general, they all exhibited almost complete re-centering capacity and significant energy dissipation, without resulting into structural damage. The different configurations tested also demonstrated the flexibility in design and possibilities for applications in practical structures. Based on the experimental results, numerical models were developed and refined from previous literature in precast concrete jointed ductile connections to predict the behaviour of post-tensioned timber subassemblies. The calibrated models also suggest the values of relevant parameters for applications in further analysis and design. Section analyses involving those parameters are performed to develop procedures to calculate moment capacities of the subassemblies. The typical features and geometric configurations the different types of subassemblies are similar with the only major difference in the connection interfaces. With adoption of appropriate values representing the corresponding connection interface and incorporation of the details of geometry and configurations, moment capacities of all the subassemblies can be calculated with the same scheme. That is found to be true for both post-tensioned-only and hybrid specimens and also applied for both uni-directional and bi-directional loading. The common section analysis and moment capacity calculation procedure is applied in the general design approach for subassemblies.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Geomorphic, structural and chronological data are used to establish the late Quaternary paleoseismicity of the active dextral-oblique Northern Esk Fault in North Canterbury, New Zealand. Detailed field mapping of the preserved c. 35 km of surface traces between the Hurunui River and Ashley Head reveals variations in strike ranging from 005° to 057°. Along with kinematic data collected from fault plane striae and offset geomorphic markers along the length of the fault these variations are used to distinguish six structural subsections of the main trace, four dextral-reverse and two dextral-normal. Displacements of geomorphic markers such as minor streams and ridges are measured using differential GPS and rangefinder equipment to reveal lateral offsets ranging from 3.4 to 23.7 m and vertical offsets ranging from < 1 to 13.5 m. Characteristic single event displacements of c. 5 m and c. 2 m have been calculated for strike-slip and reverse sections respectively. The use of fault scaling relationships reveals an anomalously high displacement to surface rupture length ratio when compared to global data sets. Fault scaling relationships based on width limited ruptures and magnitude probabilities from point measurements of displacement imply earthquake magnitudes of Mw 7.0 to 7.5. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) ages from displaced Holocene alluvial terraces at the northern extent of the active trace along with OSL and radiocarbon samples of the central sections constrain the timing of the last two surface rupturing events (11.15 ±1.65 and 3.5 ± 2.8 ka) and suggest a recurrence interval of c. 5612 ± 445 years and late Quaternary reverse and dextral slip rates of c. 0.31 mm/yr and 0.82 mm/yr respectively. The results of this study show that the Northern Esk Fault accommodates an important component of the c. 0.7 – 2 mm/yr of unresolved strain across the plate boundary within the North Canterbury region and affirm the Esk Fault as a source of potentially damaging ground shaking in the Canterbury region.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

One of the great challenges facing human systems today is how to prepare for, manage, and adapt successfully to the profound and rapid changes wreaked by disasters. Wellington, New Zealand, is a capital city at significant risk of devastating earthquake and tsunami, potentially requiring mass evacuations with little or short notice. Subsequent hardship and suffering due to widespread property damage and infrastructure failure could cause large areas of the Wellington Region to become uninhabitable for weeks to months. Previous research has shown that positive health and well-being are associated with disaster-resilient outcomes. Preventing adverse outcomes before disaster strikes, through developing strengths-based skill sets in health-protective attitudes and behaviours, is increasingly advocated in disaster research, practise, and management. This study hypothesised that well-being constructs involving an affective heuristic play vital roles in pathways to resilience as proximal determinants of health-protective behaviours. Specifically, this study examined the importance of health-related quality of life and subjective well-being in motivating evacuation preparedness, measured in a community sample (n=695) drawn from the general adult population of Wellington’s isolated eastern suburbs. Using a quantitative epidemiological approach, the study measured the prevalence of key quality of life indicators (physical and mental health, emotional well-being or “Sense of Coherence”, spiritual well-being, social well-being, and life satisfaction) using validated psychometric scales; analysed the strengths of association between these indicators and the level of evacuation preparedness at categorical and continuous levels of measurement; and tested the predictive power of the model to explain the variance in evacuation preparedness activity. This is the first study known to examine multi-dimensional positive health and global well-being as resilient processes for engaging in evacuation preparedness behaviour. A cross-sectional study design and quantitative survey were used to collect self-report data on the study variables; a postal questionnaire was fielded between November 2008 and March 2009 to a sampling frame developed through multi-stage cluster randomisation. The survey response rate was 28.5%, yielding a margin of error of +/- 3.8% with 95% confidence and 80% statistical power to detect a true correlation coefficient of 0.11 or greater. In addition to the primary study variables, data were collected on demographic and ancillary variables relating to contextual factors in the physical environment (risk perception of physical and personal vulnerability to disaster) and the social environment (through the construct of self-determination), and other measures of disaster preparedness. These data are reserved for future analyses. Results of correlational and regression analyses for the primary study variables show that Wellingtonians are highly individualistic in how their well-being influences their preparedness, and a majority are taking inadequate action to build their resilience to future disaster from earthquake- or tsunami-triggered evacuation. At a population level, the conceptual multi-dimensional model of health-related quality of life and global well-being tested in this study shows a positive association with evacuation preparedness at statistically significant levels. However, it must be emphasised that the strength of this relationship is weak, accounting for only 5-7% of the variability in evacuation preparedness. No single dimension of health-related quality of life or well-being stands out as a strong predictor of preparedness. The strongest associations for preparedness are in a positive direction for spiritual well-being, emotional well-being, and life satisfaction; all involve a sense of existential meaningfulness. Spiritual well-being is the only quality of life variable making a statistically significant unique contribution to explaining the variance observed in the regression models. Physical health status is weakly associated with preparedness in a negative direction at a continuous level of measurement. No association was found at statistically significant levels for mental health status and social well-being. These findings indicate that engaging in evacuation preparedness is a very complex, holistic, yet individualised decision-making process, and likely involves highly subjective considerations for what is personally relevant. Gender is not a factor. Those 18-24 years of age are least likely to prepare and evacuation preparedness increases with age. Multidimensional health and global well-being are important constructs to consider in disaster resilience for both pre-event and post-event timeframes. This work indicates a need for promoting self-management of risk and building resilience by incorporating a sense of personal meaning and importance into preparedness actions, and for future research into further understanding preparedness motivations.