A video of an address by Raf Manji, Finance Spokesperson at the Christchurch City Council, at the 2015 Seismics and the City forum. In this talk, Mr. Manji shares his take on the progress of the rebuild, positive signs of advancement and what's in the pipeline; and how the main obstacles can be resolved.
A video of an address by Hon. Nicky Wagner, Associate Minister for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, at the 2015 Seismics and the City forum. In this talk, Minister Wagner shares her take on the progress of the rebuild, positive signs of advancement and what's in the pipeline; and how the main obstacles can be resolved.
It's almost eight years to the day since the first Christchurch earthquake, and as anyone who lives in Christchurch knows, some insurance claims are still in dispute. Dodgy repairs are still being discovered and previously undiscovered damage is being found. Earthquake Commission minister Megan Woods says as problems emerge, people can come back and ask for re-repairs or have their home looked at. But just how much money is in the National Disaster Fund?
A digitally manipulated photograph of a stencilled logo for the Christchurch School of Music. The photographer comments, "The Christchurch School of Music donated several old broken pianos to be placed on Gap Filler sites in Christchurch. Gap Filler make the land where buildings have been demolished into places the local inhabitants can enjoy. As in Maths two negatives make a positive".
A digitally manipulated image of the Bandsmen's Memorial in Hagley Park. The photographer comments, "This memorial in Hagley Park in Christchurch can no longer be used due to large cracks at the base of most columns. This was mostly caused by the earthquake in February 2011, but later earthquakes have made the memorial even more dangerous".
A photograph of Graeme Kershaw, Technician at the University of Canterbury Department of Physics and Astronomy, looking through the lens of the Townsend Telescope. The lens is the most crucial component of the telescope. It was found unscratched and unbroken in the rubble of the Observatory tower, after 22 February 2011 earthquake. This means that the telescope can be restored.
A video of an address by Peter Townsend, CEO of Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce, at the 2015 Seismics and the City forum. In this talk, Mr. Townsend shares his take on the progress of the rebuild, positive signs of advancement and what's in the pipeline; and how the main obstacles can be resolved.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Nelson College for Girls year 12 leaders (from left) Sophie Day, Petra Matz, Sascha Miller, Jessica Rose, Kate Mickleson, Ming Pons, Yvette Jones-White, Nicola Britten, Eilish Wilson (obscured), Zoey Coombs-King, Abigail Goodison and Mackenzie Orange have started a collection at the college of cans and cash to aid people of Canterbury affected by the recent earthquake".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Proof that one can make a difference. Beth Price (year 7, age 12), a pupil from Hadlow School in Masterton was the instigator and driver for a fundraiser effort for Christchurch's Belfast School to the tune of over $2000 after seeing the damage caused by Christchurch's September 4th earthquake. Beth Price in her school uniform at Belfast School".
The only Christchurch street still closed following the 2011 earthquake will reopen later in 2018 only to close again in 2019 so the council can extend the route for the tram. The proposal has raised the ire of fledgling businesses along High st worried about the disruption the road works will cause them and wanting the work done now, before they open their doors to the public.
Those displaced or affected by the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle can get help with insurance claims through a new service from today. The Government has launched the New Zealand Claims Resolution Service for homeowners to resolve issues and settle claims. The service is modelled on two that were used during the Canterbury earthquakes. Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Duncan Webb spoke to Guyon Espiner.
The base of the tower on the right of this picture has sunk so that the lower course of bricks have disappeared below ground level. The sand you can see is what came bubbling up out of the ground due to liquifaction.
The bridge on River Road just before the Banks Ave turn off. The bridge approach to the left subsided. Temporary repairs have been carried out but you can still see evidence of the amount of subsidence by the traffic island in the middle of the road.
The role of belonging in post-disaster environments remains an under-theorised concept, particularly regarding refugee populations. This paper presents a qualitative study with 101 refugee-background participants from varying communities living in Christchurch, New Zealand, about their perspectives and responses to the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010–11. Participants spoke of how a sense of belonging as individuals and as a wider community was important in the recovery effort, and highlighted the multiple ways in which they understood this concept. Their comments demonstrate how belonging can have contextual, chronological and gendered dimensions that can help inform effective and resonant disaster responses with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. This analysis also illustrates how the participants' perspectives of belonging shifted over time, and discusses the corresponding role of social work in supporting post-disaster recovery through the concepts of civic, ethno and ethnic-based belonging. AM - Accepted Manuscript
A review of the week's news including... The bill to fix botched EQC repairs from the Canterbury earthquakes is now four times what the previous Government predicted just two years ago, immigrants are being computer profiled, MPs are told that medicinal cannabis should be legalised for more people, Middlemore Hospital's woes continue, the Government orders a compulsory recall of 50 thousand vehicles with faulty airbags, Auckland drivers face a double tax hike under proposed sweeping changes to transport funding, Parliament changes the law so New Zealand men with historical homosexual convictions can have them wiped, a bus company wants to recruit more than 100 drivers from overseas because it can't find enough people to do the job here, Dunedin has its biggest weekend ever in terms of money spent thanks to Ed Sheeran, first it was closing - now it's not, Kaikohe's Warehouse is to stay, it all comes together for the New Zealand cricket team against England, an international consortium reaches a verbal agreement to buy the New Zealand Warriors and the woman who was RNZ's Washington correspondent for more than 20 years has died.
While it is well known that challenging and distressing events can negatively impact people’s psychological and physical state, increasingly researchers have investigated how challenging or stressful life circumstances can lead to the phenomenon of posttraumatic growth: positive psychological or life changes that can emerge from potentially traumatic events. Posttraumatic growth has been investigated primarily with people displaying varying levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms and other psychopathology due to theories suggesting that resilience would prohibit posttraumatic growth. Few studies have examined growth amongst resilient people. The current study examined posttraumatic growth in a sample of sixty psychologically healthy people who experienced the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010-2011. The current study is a follow-up study that used thematic analysis to explore: (1) Whether posttraumatic growth is evident nine years after the Canterbury earthquake sequence and approximately six years after baseline assessment; and (2) What themes may facilitate the posttraumatic growth process in psychologically healthy people. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed four themes describing participants’ experiences of growth: New possibilities, reappraisal of life and priorities, positive changes in self-perception and closer more meaningful relationships. Themes describing posttraumatic growth provide evidence for research question one. Thematic analysis revealed three main themes and multiple subthemes that may facilitate the process of growth in psychologically healthy people: Hardship, optimistic positive appraisal and people helping people. Themes describing processes that may lead to growth provide evidence for research question two. Results of the current study provide insights about the experience of growth in psychologically healthy people and cognitive and psychosocial factors that may facilitate growth in resilient individuals.
After a high-intensity seismic event, inspections of structural damages need to be carried out as soon as possible in order to optimize the emergency management, as well as improving the recovery time. In the current practice, damage inspections are performed by an experienced engineer, who physically inspect the structures. This way of doing not only requires a significant amount of time and high skilled human resources, but also raises the concern about the inspector’s safety. A promising alternative is represented using new technologies, such as drones and artificial intelligence, which can perform part of the damage classification task. In fact, drones can safely access high hazard components of the structures: for instance, bridge piers or abutments, and perform the reconnaissance by using highresolution cameras. Furthermore, images can be automatically processed by machine learning algorithms, and damages detected. In this paper, the possibility of applying such technologies for inspecting New Zealand bridges is explored. Firstly, a machine-learning model for damage detection by performing image analysis is presented. Specifically, the algorithm was trained to recognize cracks in concrete members. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to evaluate the algorithm accuracy by using database images. Depending on the confidence level desired,i.e. by allowing a manual classification where the alghortim confidence is below a specific tolerance, the accuracy was found reaching up to 84.7%. In the second part, the model is applied to detect the damage observed on the Anzac Bridge (GPS coordinates -43.500865, 172.701138) in Christchurch by performing a drone reconnaissance. Reults show that the accuracy of the damage detection was equal to 88% and 63% for cracking and spalling, respectively.
Since the early 1980s seismic hazard assessment in New Zealand has been based on Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA). The most recent version of the New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model, a PSHA model, was published by Stirling et al, in 2012. This model follows standard PSHA principals and combines a nation-wide model of active faults with a gridded point-source model based on the earthquake catalogue since 1840. These models are coupled with the ground-motion prediction equation of McVerry et al (2006). Additionally, we have developed a time-dependent clustering-based PSHA model for the Canterbury region (Gerstenberger et al, 2014) in response to the Canterbury earthquake sequence. We are now in the process of revising that national model. In this process we are investigating several of the fundamental assumptions in traditional PSHA and in how we modelled hazard in the past. For this project, we have three main focuses: 1) how do we design an optimal combination of multiple sources of information to produce the best forecast of earthquake rates in the next 50 years: can we improve upon a simple hybrid of fault sources and background sources, and can we better handle the uncertainties in the data and models (e.g., fault segmentation, frequency-magnitude distributions, time-dependence & clustering, low strain-rate areas, and subduction zone modelling)? 2) developing revised and new ground-motion predictions models including better capturing of epistemic uncertainty – a key focus in this work is developing a new strong ground motion catalogue for model development; and 3) how can we best quantify if changes we have made in our modelling are truly improvements? Throughout this process we are working toward incorporating numerical modelling results from physics based synthetic seismicity and ground-motion models.
In recent Canterbury earthquakes, structures have performed well in terms of life safety but the estimated total cost of the rebuild was as high as $40 billion. The major contributors to this cost are repair/demolition/rebuild cost, the resulting downtime and business interruption. For this reason, the authors are exploring alternate building systems that can minimize the downtime and business interruption due to building damage in an earthquake; thereby greatly reducing the financial implications of seismic events. In this paper, a sustainable and demountable precast reinforced concrete (RC) frame system in which the precast members are connected via steel tubes/plates or steel angles/plates and high strength friction grip (HSFG) bolts is introduced. In the proposed system, damaged structural elements in seismic frames can be easily replaced with new ones; thereby making it an easily and quickly repairable and a low-loss system. The column to foundation connection in the proposed system can be designed either as fixed or pinned depending on the requirement of strength and stiffness. In a fixed base frame system, ground storey columns will also be damaged along with beams in seismic events, which are to be replaced after seismic events; whereas in a pin base frame only beams (which are easy to replace) will be damaged. Low to medium rise (3-6 storey) precast RC frame buildings with fixed and pin bases are analyzed in this paper; and their lateral capacity, lateral stiffness and natural period are scrutinized to better understand the pros and cons of the demountable precast frame system with fixed and pin base connections.
In 2010 Neil Challenger, Head of the School of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University, stated that the malls surrounding Christchurch drove the life out of the inner city of Christchurch. His economic and sociological concerns were expressed even before the earthquake occurred, and this forms the current hesitation on the rebuilding of Christchurch’s inner city. The position of this research proposal is to establish whether an urban architectural intervention can address these economic and sociological concerns and the potentially devastating effects the suburban mall has had on urban life within Christchurch. The thesis specifically asks whether establishing a mall typology as a landmark building within the inner city can strategically engage the damaged historic buildings of post-earthquake Christchurch in ways that actively preserve these historic remnants. The main intention of this research is to engage the damaged historic buildings of post-earthquake Christchurch in ways that actively preserve these remnants and are also economically viable. By preserving the remnants as active, working elements of the urban fabric, they act as historic reminders or memorials of the event and associated loss, while also actively participating in the regrowth of the city. The thesis argues that contemporary architecture can play a strategic role in these imperatives. Overall this research argues that there exists a distinct requirement for large-scale retail in the inner city urban environment that recognises and responds to the damaged cultural and historic architecture of inner city Christchurch. The objective of the thesis is to propose means to rejuvenate not only the economic vitality of central Christchurch,but also its historic character.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Nelson College for Girls year 12 leaders (from left) Sophie Day, Petra Matz, Sascha Miller, Jessica Rose, Kate Mickleson, Ming Pons, Emma Dallison, Yvette Jones-White, Nicola Britten, Eilish Wilson, Zoey Coombs-King, Abigail Goodison and Mackenzie Orange have started a collection at the college of cans and cash to aid people of Canterbury affected by the recent earthquake".
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.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Nelson College for Girls year 12 leaders (from left) Sophie Day, Petra Matz, Sascha Miller, Jessica Rose, Kate Mickleson, Ming Pons, Emma Dallison, Yvette Jones-White, Nicola Britten, Eilish Wilson, Zoey Coombs-King, Abigail Goodison and Mackenzie Orange have started a collection at the college of cans and cash to aid people of Canterbury affected by the recent earthquake".
An interior view of the Cranmer Court building's octagonal corner section, which housed Plato Creative from March 2008 to November 2009. The photograph showcases the building's high windows and intricate wooden ceiling. Although designed as a book depot, this room was used as the principal's office while Christchurch Normal School was operating from the building. A table with chairs set around it can be seen in the lower part of the photograph.
Broken windows on the Orion building on Manchester Street. The photographer comments, "Bob Brown's Hi-Fi was damaged, as you can see, in the Christchurch earthquake on the 22 February 2011. At lot of buildings in the area have been demolished, but this art deco style structure might have not have been put on the demolition list yet".
A digitally manipulated image of furniture and machinery. The photographer comments, "This furniture restoration company got caught in the middle of the Christchurch earthquake and lost a whole wall. After constant exposure to the elements everything now needs a bit of restoration. They are now working in a different part of Christchurch, but their past can still be seen".
A information board on the fence around the Homestead at Mona Vale. It says 'This hertiage building is managed by the Christchurch City Council on behalf of the city's residents. Until recently it served as a restaurant and function centre. This building was damaged in the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes and ongoing aftershocks. Propping walls and other support is designed to keep the building weather-proof until a decision about its future can be made'.
A video of an interview with Tanja Grzeta and Alastair Wells, the Co-Directors of Unlimited School, about the news that they will be merging with Discovery One. Grzeta and Wells talk about their excitement about the merge, their pursuit of a location for the school within the Christchurch central city, and their hopes that the school can be open 24/7.
Grass growing through liquefaction silt in Avondale. The photographer comments, "Although this grass seems to be growing on the liquefaction created by the earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, they are actually only growing through it. Nothing seems to grow even though seeds will sprout almost anywhere else. The seeds are growing in the soil which got covered up by the liquefaction. If liquefaction gets mixed with even a little soil then nature can get a foothold".
Protecting live music venues is taking on a new urgency in Christchurch, with the popular 12 Bar announcing it will close at the end of the month. With people flocking back to live in the central city after the earthquakes, there have been more complaints about noise from entertainment venues. But the local music scene says positive changes are in the works, so residents and live venues can live in harmony. Niva Chittock reports.