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Audio, Radio New Zealand

Job fears intensify in Taranaki after the breadmaker Yarrows strikes trouble, Rugby World Cup organisers admit tickets are a tough sell, The former Bosnian Serb military commander is taken to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes,If earthquakes weren't damaging enough, jobs go in Christchurch as a bus manufacturer goes into liquidation.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to a building in central Christchurch. Broken glass and other rubble litters the courtyard in front of the building. There is a large crack in the brick wall to the right. A red sticker on the glass door indicates that the building is unsafe to enter.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This study analyses the Earthquake Commission’s (EQC) insurance claims database to investigate the influence of seismic intensity and property damage resulting from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) on the repair costs and claim settlement duration for residential buildings. Firstly, the ratio of building repair cost to its replacement cost was expressed as a Building Loss Ratio (BLR), which was further extended to Regional Loss Ratio (RLR) for greater Christchurch by multiplying the average of all building loss ratios with the proportion of building stock that lodged an insurance claim. Secondly, the total time required to settle the claim and the time taken to complete each phase of the claim settlement process were obtained. Based on the database, the regional loss ratio for greater Christchurch for three events producing shakings of intensities 6, 7, and 8 on the modified Mercalli intensity scale were 0.013, 0.066, and 0.171, respectively. Furthermore, small (less than NZD15,000), medium (between NZD15,000 and NZD100,000), and large (more than NZD100,000) claims took 0.35-0.55, 1.95-2.45, and 3.35-3.85 years to settle regardless of the building’s construction period and earthquake intensities. The number of claims was also disaggregated by various building characteristics to evaluate their relative contribution to the damage and repair costs.

Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

Text reads 'City's old chimneys are considered the no. 1 earthquake danger'. Below are several angry-looking chimneys which sing 'Chim chim-in-ey. Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim cher-oo! When the big shake's on - we're coming to get you!' Context - Invercargill City council building services manager Simon Tonkin has seen first-hand the massive damage falling chimneys inflicted on homes and nearby vehicles following the massive Christchurch quake, and says that Invercargill's old brick chimneys are the No1 danger to the city's residents and homes if a major earthquake strikes and should be removed if they are not being used. (Southland Times 6 April 2011) Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The former Ozone Dressing Sheds in North New Brighton, with broken and boarded-up windows. The photographer comments, "This is the Ozone as it was before it was demolished. It appeared to have been in the process of being redecorated internally, but the February Christchurch earthquake seems to have caused its demise".

Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

The arms of a woman who represents New Zealand reach out to a baby to whom she has just given birth. The baby represents '2011' and is a particularly hideous specimen. The doctor who holds the baby says 'He's cute now but wait 'til he gets older!' Outside the window is seen a cracked and damaged landscape and a storm rages; the headstone of a grave reads 'RIP 2010'. Context - Christchurch or maybe the South Island have had a bad year because of the Pike River Mine disaster and the earthquake of 4 September 2010. There is perhaps prescience in this cartoon because on 22 February 2011 a much worse earthquake hit Christchurch. Published in The Press Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

Micro - electro - mechanical system (MEMS) based accelerometers are now frequently used in many different parts of our day - to - day lives. It is also increasingly being used for structural testing applications. Researchers have had res ervation of using these devices as they are relatively untested, but now with the wider adoption, it provides a much cheaper and more versatile tool for structural engineering researchers. A number of damaged buildings in the Christchurch Central Business District (CBD) were instrumented with a number of low - cost MEMS accelerometers after the major Christchurch earthquakes. The accelerometers captured extremely high quality building response data as the buildings experienced thousands of aftershocks. This d ata set was amongst one of only a handful of data set s available around the world which provides building response data subjected to real ground motion. Furthermore, due to technological advances, a much larger than usual number of accelerometers has been deployed making the data set one of the most comprehensive available. This data set is utilised to extract modal parameters of the buildings. This paper summarises the operating requirements and preference for using such accelerometers for experimental mod al analysis. The challenges for adapting MEMS based devices for successful modal parameters identification are also discussed.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

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.

Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

Text reads '150 great reasons to live in Christchurch'. Someone quotes 'It's only 250 metres to empty your chemical toilet'. An elderly woman trudges through the rain pushing a trolley on which is balanced her chemical toilet. Context - Following the Christchurch earthquake of 22 February 2011 when a great deal of damage was done to the sewage system because of broken pipes thousands of chemical toilets have been distributed but now there seems to be confusion over whether it is safe to use flushing toilets when the sewage system cannot support it or whether residents should still be using chemical toilets. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A brick wall has fallen from this house, exposing the rooms within and leaving a pile of rubble in front. The ceiling has slumped and is held up with jacks. The photographer comments, "This was probably the result of the shallower February Christchurch earthquake rather than the bigger September one".

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

The Darfield earthquake caused widespread damage in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, with the majority of damage resulting from liquefaction and lateral spreading. One of the worst hit locations was the small town of Kaiapoi north of Christchurch, an area that has experienced liquefaction during past events and has been identified as highly susceptible to liquefaction. The low lying town sits on the banks of the Kaiapoi River, once a branch of the Waimakariri, a large braided river transporting gravelly sediment. The Waimakariri has been extensively modified both by natural and human processes, consequently many areas in and around the town were once former river channels.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Hundreds of children and 12 schools have pre-registered for swimming lessons at Christchurch's new Taiora QE2 sports centre, which opens today. The Canterbury earthquakes damaged the complex beyond repair, and almost six years after it was demolished, a new QE2 has risen from rubble - admittedly smaller and without the athletics track the old one was so well known for. Schools in particular are welcoming today's opening, after having to spend big bucks on transport to get their students to pools for lessons since the quakes. Logan Church reports.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Background Liquefaction induced land damage has been identified in more than 13 notable New Zealand earthquakes within the past 150 years, as presented on the timeline below. Following the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES), the consequences of liquefaction were witnessed first-hand in the city of Christchurch and as a result the demand for understanding this phenomenon was heightened. Government, local councils, insurers and many other stakeholders are now looking to research and understand their exposure to this natural hazard.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

Having a quick but reliable insight into the likelihood of damage to bridges immediately after an earthquake is an important concern especially in the earthquake prone countries such as New Zealand for ensuring emergency transportation network operations. A set of primary indicators necessary to perform damage likelihood assessment are ground motion parameters such as peak ground acceleration (PGA) at each bridge site. Organizations, such as GNS in New Zealand, record these parameters using distributed arrays of sensors. The challenge is that those sensors are not installed at, or close to, bridge sites and so bridge site specific data are not readily available. This study proposes a method to predict ground motion parameters for each bridge site based on remote seismic array recordings. Because of the existing abundant source of data related to two recent strong earthquakes that occurred in 2010 and 2011 and their aftershocks, the city of Christchurch is considered to develop and examine the method. Artificial neural networks have been considered for this research. Accelerations recorded by the GeoNet seismic array were considered to develop a functional relationship enabling the prediction of PGAs. http://www.nzsee.org.nz/db/2013/Posters.htm

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The former Earthquake Commission minister, Gerry Brownlee, is defending EQC over claims its assessors in Christchurch were not properly qualified. A growing number of homeowners in the city are discovering EQC assessors have completely missed quake damage including broken foundations costing hundreds of thousands to repair. That's been disastrous for people who've bought homes with hidden damage who are sometimes finding private insurers unwilling to cover the cost of putting right mistakes made by EQC. The company hired by EQC to carry out repairs was Fletcher Construction. Its chief executive at the time, Mark Binns, told Checkpoint that EQC probably hired unqualified people to assess quake damaged homes. Gerry Brownlee refused to be drawn on the comments from Mr Binns. But when asked by RNZ Christchurch reporter, Conan Young, if it was acceptable to have retired policemen, school principals and vacuum cleaner salesmen carrying out assessments for EQC, he admitted finding enough people to do the job was a challenge.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Earthquake-triggered soil liquefaction caused extensive damage and heavy economic losses in Christchurch during the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. The most severe manifestations of liquefaction were associated with the presence of natural deposits of clean sands and silty sands of fluvial origin. However, liquefaction resistance of fines-containing sands is commonly inferred from empirical relationships based on clean sands (i.e. sands with less than 5% fines). Hence, existing evaluation methods have poor accuracy when applied to silty sands. Also, existing methods do not quantify appropriately the influence on liquefaction resistance of soil fabric and structure, which are unique to a specific depositional environment. This study looks at the influence of fines content, soil fabric (i.e. arrangement of soil particles) and structure (e.g. layering, segregation) on the undrained cyclic behaviour and liquefaction resistance of fines-containing sandy soils from Christchurch using Direct Simple Shear (DSS) tests on soil specimens reconstituted in the laboratory with the water sedimentation technique. The poster describes experimental procedures and presents early test results on two sands retrieved at two different sites in Christchurch.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

Between September 4, 2010 and December 23, 2011, a series of earthquakes struck the South Island of New Zealand including the city of Christchurch producing heavy damage. During the strongest shaking, the unreinforced masonry (URM) building stock in Christchurch was subjected to seismic loading equal to approximately 150-200% of code values. Post-earthquake reconnaissance suggested numerous failures of adhesive anchors used for retrofit connection of roof and floor diaphragms to masonry walls. A team of researchers from the Universities of Auckland (NZ) and Minnesota (USA) conducted a field investigation on the performance of new adhesive anchors installed in existing masonry walls. Variables included adhesive type, anchor diameter, embedment length, anchor inclination, and masonry quality. Buildings were selected that had been slated for demolition but which featured exterior walls that had not been damaged. A summary of the deformation response measured during the field tests are presented. AM - Accepted Manuscript

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

In September 2010 and February 2011 the Canterbury region of New Zealand was struck by two powerful earthquakes, registering magnitude 7.1 and 6.3 respectively on the Richter scale. The second earthquake was centred 10 kilometres south-east of the centre of Christchurch (the region’s capital and New Zealand’s third most populous urban area, with approximately 360,000 residents) at a depth of five kilometres. 185 people were killed, making it the second deadliest natural disaster in New Zealand’s history. (66 people were killed in the collapse of one building alone, the six-storey Canterbury Television building.) The earthquake occurred during the lunch hour, increasing the number of people killed on footpaths and in buses and cars by falling debris. In addition to the loss of life, the earthquake caused catastrophic damage to both land and buildings in Christchurch, particularly in the central business district. Many commercial and residential buildings collapsed in the tremors; others were damaged through soil liquefaction and surface flooding. Over 1,000 buildings in the central business district were eventually demolished because of safety concerns, and an estimated 70,000 people had to leave the city after the earthquakes because their homes were uninhabitable. The New Zealand Government declared a state of national emergency, which stayed in force for ten weeks. In 2014 the Government estimated that the rebuild process would cost NZ$40 billion (approximately US$27.3 billion, a cost equivalent to 17% of New Zealand’s annual GDP). Economists now estimate it could take the New Zealand economy between 50 and 100 years to recover. The earthquakes generated tens of thousands of insurance claims, both against private home insurance companies and against the New Zealand Earthquake Commission, a government-owned statutory body which provides primary natural disaster insurance to residential property owners in New Zealand. These ranged from claims for hundreds of millions of dollars concerning the local port and university to much smaller claims in respect of the thousands of residential homes damaged. Many of these insurance claims resulted in civil proceedings, caused by disputes about policy cover, the extent of the damage and the cost and/or methodology of repairs, as well as failures in communication and delays caused by the overwhelming number of claims. Disputes were complicated by the fact that the Earthquake Commission provides primary insurance cover up to a monetary cap, with any additional costs to be met by the property owner’s private insurer. Litigation funders and non-lawyer claims advocates who took a percentage of any insurance proceeds also soon became involved. These two factors increased the number of parties involved in any given claim and introduced further obstacles to resolution. Resolving these disputes both efficiently and fairly was (and remains) central to the rebuild process. This created an unprecedented challenge for the justice system in Christchurch (and New Zealand), exacerbated by the fact that the Christchurch High Court building was itself damaged in the earthquakes, with the Court having to relocate to temporary premises. (The High Court hears civil claims exceeding NZ$200,000 in value (approximately US$140,000) or those involving particularly complex issues. Most of the claims fell into this category.) This paper will examine the response of the Christchurch High Court to this extraordinary situation as a case study in innovative judging practices and from a jurisprudential perspective. In 2011, following the earthquakes, the High Court made a commitment that earthquake-related civil claims would be dealt with as swiftly as the Court's resources permitted. In May 2012, it commenced a special “Earthquake List” to manage these cases. The list (which is ongoing) seeks to streamline the trial process, resolve quickly claims with precedent value or involving acute personal hardship or large numbers of people, facilitate settlement and generally work proactively and innovatively with local lawyers, technical experts and other stakeholders. For example, the Court maintains a public list (in spreadsheet format, available online) with details of all active cases before the Court, listing the parties and their lawyers, summarising the facts and identifying the legal issues raised. It identifies cases in which issues of general importance have been or will be decided, with the expressed purpose being to assist earthquake litigants and those contemplating litigation and to facilitate communication among parties and lawyers. This paper will posit the Earthquake List as an attempt to implement innovative judging techniques to provide efficient yet just legal processes, and which can be examined from a variety of jurisprudential perspectives. One of these is as a case study in the well-established debate about the dialogic relationship between public decisions and private settlement in the rule of law. Drawing on the work of scholars such as Hazel Genn, Owen Fiss, David Luban, Carrie Menkel-Meadow and Judith Resnik, it will explore the tension between the need to develop the law through the doctrine of precedent and the need to resolve civil disputes fairly, affordably and expeditiously. It will also be informed by the presenter’s personal experience of the interplay between reported decisions and private settlement in post-earthquake Christchurch through her work mediating insurance disputes. From a methodological perspective, this research project itself gives rise to issues suitable for discussion at the Law and Society Annual Meeting. These include the challenges in empirical study of judges, working with data collected by the courts and statistical analysis of the legal process in reference to settlement. September 2015 marked the five-year anniversary of the first Christchurch earthquake. There remains widespread dissatisfaction amongst Christchurch residents with the ongoing delays in resolving claims, particularly insurers, and the rebuild process. There will continue to be challenges in Christchurch for years to come, both from as-yet unresolved claims but also because of the possibility of a new wave of claims arising from poor quality repairs. Thus, a final purpose of presenting this paper at the 2016 Meeting is to gain the benefit of other scholarly perspectives and experiences of innovative judging best practice, with a view to strengthening and improving the judicial processes in Christchurch. This Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association in New Orleans is a particularly appropriate forum for this paper, given the recent ten year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the plenary session theme of “Natural and Unnatural Disasters – human crises and law’s response.” The presenter has a personal connection with this theme, as she was a Fulbright scholar from New Zealand at New York University in 2005/2006 and participated in the student volunteer cleanup effort in New Orleans following Katrina. http://www.lawandsociety.org/NewOrleans2016/docs/2016_Program.pdf

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street. The tower on the right has crumbled, and the masonry has fallen to the pavement below. A car has been crushed by the fallen rubble. Windows in the tower behind are broken.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Low Damage Seismic Design (LDSD) guidance material being developed by Engineering NZ is considering a design drift limit for multi-storey buildings of 0.5% at a new damage control limit state (DCLS). The impact of this new design requirement on the expected annual loss due to repair costs is investigated for a four-storey office building with reinforced concrete walls located in Christchurch. The LDSD guidance material aims to reduce the expected annual loss of complying buildings to below 0.1% of building replacement cost. The research tested this expectation. Losses were estimated in accordance with FEMA P58, using building responses from non-linear time history analyses (performed with OpenSees using lumped plasticity models). The equivalent static method, in line with NZS 1170.5 and NZS 3101, was used to design the building to LDSD specifications, representing a future state-of-practice design. The building designed to low-damage specification returned an expected annual loss of 0.10%, and the building designed conventionally returned an expected annual loss of 0.13%. Limitations with the NZS 3101 method for determining wall stiffness were identified, and a different method acknowledging the relationship between strength and stiffness was used to redesign the building. Along with improving this design assumption, the study finds that LDSD design criteria could be an effective way of limiting damage and losses.

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

A local inspecting the damage to St Lukes Church after the 6.3 quake hit. For whom the bell tolls Time marches on For whom the bell tolls Take a look to the sky just before you die It's the last time you will Blackened roar, massive roar, fills the crumbling sky Shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry Stranger now are his eyes to this...

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

The Manchester Courts building was a heritage building located in central Christchurch (New Zealand) that was damaged in the Mw 7.1 Darfield earthquake on 4 September 2010 and subsequently demolished as a risk reduction exercise. Because the building was heritage listed, the decision to demolish the building resulted in strong objections from heritage supporters who were of the opinion that the building had sufficient residual strength to survive possible aftershock earthquakes. On 22 February 2011 Christchurch was struck by a severe aftershock, leading to the question of whether building demolition had proven to be the correct risk reduction strategy. Finite element analysis was used to undertake a performance-based assessment, validating the accuracy of the model using the damage observed in the building before its collapse. In addition, soil-structure interaction was introduced into the research due to the comparatively low shear wave velocity of the soil. The demolition of a landmark heritage building was a tragedy that Christchurch will never recover from, but the decision was made considering safety, societal, economic and psychological aspects in order to protect the city and its citizens. The analytical results suggest that the Manchester Courts building would have collapsed during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and that the collapse of the building would have resulted in significant fatalities.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

TVs, shopping trolleys, beds, mattresses, even a gun. That is just some of the rubbish found by residents surrounding Christchurch's residential red zone. The area used to be filled with houses, but damage after the Canterbury earthquakes forced thousands of homes to be demolished. While many of the old suburban roads remain, the area now resembles a park. But it is now attracting those wanting to dump their rubbish for free - and Land Information NZ, which controls the land, has removed 25 tonnes of trash since January. Residents have had enough as well - with some taking matters into their own hands. Checkpoint reporter Logan Church has the story.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Gulls are well known for swooping in and flogging food off your plate or picnic and now they are making a complete menace of themselves in Christchurch's New Regent street. Local businesses are being over-run by the red and black-billed gulls that are nesting on the rooves of buildings along the street, swooping and pooping all over the place. It's not the first time they've invaded, they started breeding in 2019 in an earthquake damaged building on the corner of Armagh and New Regent streets. The problem is both the red and black-billed gulls are protected. Casey Alderson from Belle Cafe spoke to Lisa Owen.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Ravenscar House Museum holds an extraordinary, previously private art collection. The new building has been gifted to Christchurch by art collectors Susan Wakefield and her late husband Jim. The art remains in the ownership of the Ravenscar Trust.  Artists in the collection include Colin McCahon, Bill Sutton and Frances Hodgkins. The treasures were previously in the Wakefield's Christchurch home which suffered irreparable earthquake damage. They're now displayed in the purpose-designed and built Ravenscar House Museum in the city's Arts precinct. The story of the art and artefacts is told in in the book - Ravenscar House: A Biography, written by Christchurch journalist and writer Sally Blundell.  

Videos, UC QuakeStudies

A video of a press conference with Anglican Bishop Victoria Matthews and Dean Peter Beck, about the interim plans for the earthquake-damaged ChristChurch Cathedral. In the press conference Matthews announces that the Cathedral will be deconsecrated, that parts of it will be demolished, and that the rest will be made safe. These measures will allow the recovery of artefacts and heritage items from the building.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Iconic Bar and the former Christchurch City Council offices on Manchester Street. The outer walls of the Council offices and the top storey of Iconic have collapsed, exposing the insides of the buildings. The bricks and other rubble have been cleared from the footpath in front. USAR codes have been spray-painted next to the entrance of Iconic.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The Christchurch earthquake sequence has been on-going since September 4th 2010. The largest two earthquakes, magnitude (M) 7.1 on September 4th and the M 6.3 on February 22nd 2011 caused immediate and significant damage to the city of Christchurch. As a consequence of the earthquakes, the tourism sector in the Canterbury region has been heavily impacted, with broader impacts being felt throughout the South Island. Resilient Organisations and the University of Canterbury began a series of quantitative investigations into the recovery and response of key business sectors to the earthquakes. The purpose of this study was to build on this work by exploring the outcomes of the earthquakes on the tourism sector, a critical economic driver in the region. Two postal surveys were sent to 719 tourism business managers; the first to businesses in the ‘Impact Zone’ defined as areas that experienced Modified Mercalli intensities greater than 6. The second survey was sent to the remaining businesses throughout the Canterbury region (‘Rest of Canterbury’). Response rates were 46% response for the Impact Zone, and 29% for the Rest of Canterbury. Key findings:

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The damaged Snell Place footbridge. A crack is visible at the apex of the span. The photographer comments, "Before the Christchurch earthquakes this bridge used to be just just 9 feet at high tide above the River Avon. Now with the ends pushed together it has probably moved up another 9 feet".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the north side of the ChristChurch Cathedral in Cathedral Square. The front of the building has been propped up with steel bracing but further earthquakes have caused more damage, leaving a gap between the bracing and the wall. The tower has been partially demolished, but the lower section is still visible. Wire fencing has been placed around the entire building. In the background, a crane is rising high above the square.