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Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Governance is understood to have considerable influence on the success of recoveries following a natural disaster. What constitutes good governance and successful recovery in these circumstances? This question is discussed in relation to two recent recovery processes. Sri Lanka has, for all intents and purposes, recovered from the tsunami that struck there and other parts of southern Asia in 2004. Christchurch, New Zealand was devastated by a sequence of earthquakes during 2010 and 2011 and recovery there is now well under way. The paper discusses the governance structures that have guided these two recoveries. While it is understood that the effects of disasters could potentially be life long and recovery from them complex, compatibility of the process and outcomes in relation to cultural norms and the critical issue of housing are the key issues discussed across the two cases.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a bookcase in the Civil Suite at the University of Canterbury after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The photograph was taken on the day when the staff were allowed to return to the building. The shelves of the bookcase have been removed, exposing damage along the sides where they knocked against the back panel. Some books have been left on the bottom shelf.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

Observations in major earthquakes have shown that rockable structures suffered less to no damage. During rocking, that is, partial and temporary footing separations, the influx of seismic energy is interrupted and thus the impact of the base excitation is reduced. Rocking causes the structure to deform more rigid like. Consequently, the structure experiences less deformation along the height and thus a lower damage potential. Although many researchers have studied the influence of rockable footings, most of these are either analytical or numerical, and only a very few structures have been built with rockable footings worldwide, for example, the chimney at Christchurch Airport and the South Rangitikei Viaduct in New Zealand. Despite these studies, a thorough and understanding is not yet available, especially with respect to experimental validations. This work is the first to investigate the rocking behaviour of bridges with different slenderness using large‐scale shake table experiments. To limit the number of influence factors, a stiff footing support and the same fixed‐base fundamental frequency of the bridges were assumed. The result shows that the girder displacement and the footing rotation of the tall bridge do not always move in phase, which cannot be observed in the short bridge. The results demonstrate the important role of slenderness in the overall responses of rockable bridges. This behaviour cannot be observed in bridges with a commonly assumed fixed base since the slenderness effect cannot be activated.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of staff from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury. The department used the Sunday School room of the Avonhead Baptist Church after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the reception area of the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury. The photograph was taken when the staff were let in after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of staff from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury. The department used the Sunday School room of the Avonhead Baptist Church after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of computers and desks from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury. These were set up in the Sunday School room of the Avonhead Baptist Church after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of Elizabeth Ackermann's office. Elizabeth Ackermann is the administrator in the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury. The photograph was taken when she was first let back in after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of computers and desks from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury. These were set up in the Sunday School room of the Avonhead Baptist Church after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.