Utility managers are always looking for appropriate tools to estimate seismic damage in wastewater networks located in earthquake prone areas. Fragility curves, as an appropriate tool, are recommended for seismic vulnerability analysis of buried pipelines, including pressurised and unpressurised networks. Fragility curves are developed in pressurised networks mainly for water networks. Fragility curves are also recommended for seismic analysis in unpressurised networks. Applying fragility curves in unpressurised networks affects accuracy of seismic damage estimation. This study shows limitations of these curves in unpressurised networks. Multiple case study analysis was applied to demonstrate the limitations of the application of fragility curves in unpressurised networks in New Zealand. Four wastewater networks within New Zealand were selected as case studies and various fragility curves used for seismic damage estimation. Observed damage in unpressurised networks after the 2007 earthquake in Gisborne and the 2010 earthquake in Christchurch demonstrate the appropriateness of the applied fragility curves to New Zealand wastewater networks. This study shows that the application of fragility curves, which are developed from pressurised networks, cannot be accurately used for seismic damage assessment in unpressurised wastewater networks. This study demonstrated the effects of different parameters on seismic damage vulnerability of unpressurised networks.
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
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 29 June 2016 entitled, "Feelings. Five years on #wecandohardthings".The entry was downloaded on 2 November 2016.
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 1 June 2012 entitled, "The Annual Sister-In-Law Quilt....".
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_021.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_015.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. Photograph taken 12 May 2012 File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_006.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Coffee break before more checking on leaking water mains. File Ref: CCL-2011-03-17-St Albans-IMG_0375 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Another familiar face back on its feet after the September quake - Miss Feaver File Ref: CCL-2011-03-17-St Albans-IMG_0388 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
A little spot of coffee and cheerfulness plus a man up the mast repairing the "bush telegraph" File Ref: CCL-2011-03-17-St Albans-IMG_0387 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Cheerful coffee place if you don't mind the ambience of men at work. File Ref: CCL-2011-03-17-St Albans-IMG_0378 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_018.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Got to admire someone taking a lovely red sports car out on our roads at present. File Ref: CCL-2011-03-17-St Albans-IMG_0374 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_009.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_020.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Tiler at work on the steps of Ambrose Heal. File Ref: CCL-2011-03-17-St Albans-IMG_0376 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Christchurch Hospital Chimney. File reference: CCL-2012-02-20-CanterburyBrewery-February-2012 DSC_148.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Following the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes the seismic design of buildings with precast concrete panels has received significant attention. Although this form of construction generally performed adequately in Christchurch, there were a considerable number of precast concrete panel connection failures. This observation prompted a review of more than 4700 panel details from 108 buildings to establish representative details used in both existing and new multi-storey and low rise industrial precast concrete buildings in three major New Zealand cities of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Details were collected from precast manufacturers and city councils and were categorised according to type. The detailing and quantity of each reviewed connection type in the sampled data is reported, and advantages and potential deficiencies of each connection type are discussed. The results of this survey provide a better understanding of the relative prevalence of common detailing used in precast concrete panels and guidance for the design of future experimental studies. http://www.nzsee.org.nz/publications/nzsee-quarterly-bulletin/
Messages are written on stones and laid in a circle with flowers at the CTV building site on the anniversary of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A demolition site on Lichfield Street, where further damage occurred as a result of the 23 December 2011 earthquakes".
A photograph of the earthquake damage to Plume on High Street. The awning has completely collapsed, along with the walls near the corner of the building.
A photograph of earthquake-damaged buildings along Hereford Street near the intersection with Manchester Street. Wire fencing has been placed along the street as a cordon.
A photograph of a resource room in the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury after the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
PO Frankham on board the HMNZS Otago in Lyttelton. The ship travelled to Lyttelton after the 22 February 2011 earthquake to help in the relief effort.
PO Frankham on board the HMNZS Otago in Lyttelton. The ship travelled to Lyttelton after the 22 February 2011 earthquake to help in the relief effort.
A photograph of a laminated image tied to the fencing around Cathedral Square. The image depicts the Citizen's Memorial as it looked before the Canterbury earthquakes.
Emergency management personnel carrying supplies outside the Christchurch Art Gallery. They Art Gallery served as the headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the lower end of the main tube of the Townsend Telescope. The tube was crushed and bent during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Photograph captioned by the New Zealand Defence Force, "Chief of Defence Force, Major General Rhys Jones on an operational tour of earthquake affected areas of Christchurch".
Photograph captioned by the New Zealand Defence Force, "Chief of Defence Force, Major General Rhys Jones on an operational tour of earthquake affected areas of Christchurch".