An award application for the Civil Contractors New Zealand 2015 awards. SCIRT was a finalist in the "Connexis Company Training and Development Award - Large Company" category.
A memorandum which summarises the outcomes of the SCIRT/New Zealand Red Cross introductory session and the design thinking workshop.
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.
Nowadays the telecommunication systems’ performance has a substantial impact on our lifestyle. Their operationality becomes even more substantial in a post-disaster scenario when these services are used in civil protection and emergency plans, as well as for the restoration of all the other critical infrastructure. Despite the relevance of loss of functionality of telecommunication networks on seismic resilience, studies on their performance assessment are few in the literature. The telecommunication system is a distributed network made up of several components (i.e. ducts, utility holes, cabinets, major and local exchanges). Given that these networks cover a large geographical area, they can be easily subjected to the effects of a seismic event, either the ground shaking itself, or co-seismic events such as liquefaction and landslides. In this paper, an analysis of the data collected after the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) and the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake in New Zealand is conducted. Analysing these data, information gaps are critically identified regarding physical and functional failures of the telecommunication components, the timeline of repair/reconstruction activities and service recovery, geotechnical tests and land planning maps. Indeed, if these missing data were presented, they could aid the assessment of the seismic resilience. Thus, practical improvements in the post-disaster collection from both a network and organisational viewpoints are proposed through consultation of national and international researchers and highly experienced asset managers from Chorus. Finally, an outline of future studies which could guide towards a more resilient seismic performance of the telecommunication network is presented.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A damaged window of the Bank of New Zealand building in Kaiapoi".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Bank of New Zealand building viewed from Williams Street in Kaiapoi".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Bank of New Zealand building viewed from Williams Street in Kaiapoi".
A photograph of a volunteer from the Wellington Emergency Management Office with a member of the New Zealand Army.
Unreinforced masonry churches in New Zealand, similarly to everywhere else in the word have proven to be highly vulnerable to earthquakes, because of their particular construction features. The Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquake sequence, 2010-2011 caused an invaluable loss of local architectural heritage and of churches, as regrettably, some of them were demolished instead of being repaired. It is critical for New Zealand to advance the data collection, research and understanding pertaining to the seismic performance and protection of church buildings, with the aim to:
A paper prepared for the Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 44, no. 4, December 2011.
A paper prepared for the Water New Zealand 2014 conference which considers resilience lessons for reservoirs, pump stations and pipelines.
A document which outlines how SCIRT and the New Zealand Red Cross worked together to aid the recovery of Christchurch.
A photograph of members of the New Zealand USAR team examining the collapsed basement of a building in central Christchurch.
Demolition underway on a walk around the city to catch up on events happening June 25, 2014 Christchurch New Zealand.
Christchurch "New Zealand" architecture building "Demolition of old Millers building" demolition detail rubbleDemolition started on the old Millers building on a walk around Christchurch May 6, 2013 New Zealand. The building was originally designed in 1935 by G. A. Hart for the retail store, factory and warehouse Millers and was completed in 19...
A photograph of members of the New Zealand Army tying planks of wood to the top of one of their trucks.
Scaffolding supporting the McKenzie and Willis building. A New Zealand flag still flies from the flagpole above the damaged building.
A photograph of street art on the Work and Income New Zealand building in New Brighton. The artwork depicts a musician.
A photograph of members of the New Zealand Army guarding a cordon near the intersection of Armagh Street and Rolleston Avenue.
A photograph looking south down Montreal Street from the Bealey Avenue. The road has been cordoned off with road cones and a member of the New Zealand Army in a high-visibility vest can be seen guarding it. In the background, a New Zealand Army vehicle can be seen with more soldiers. Some are on bikes to the right.
A photograph of a member of the New Zealand Defence Force at the entrance to the emergency management headquarters in Latimer Square.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Bank of New Zealand building in Kaiapoi on the corner of Williams Street and Charles Street".
A photograph of emergency management vehicles, including two New Zealand Fire Service trucks and a police patrol wagon, parked on Worcester Street.
On a walk around the neighbourhood, December 3, 2013, Christchurch New Zealand. www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/avenues/featu...
A paper presented at the New Zealand Concrete Industry Conference 2015 about the design and construction challenges faced when strengthening the Memorial Arch.
This paper presents the preliminary conclusions of the first stage of Wellington Case Study project (Regulating For Resilience in an Earthquake Vulnerable City) being undertaken by the Disaster Law Research Group at the University of Canterbury Law School. This research aims to map the current regulatory environment around improving the seismic resilience of the urban built environment. This work provides the basis for the second stage of the project which will map the regulatory tools onto the reality of the current building stock in Wellington. Using a socio-legal methodology, the current research examines the regulatory framework around seismic resilience for existing buildings in New Zealand, with a particularly focus on multi-storey in the Wellington CBD. The work focusses both on the operation and impact of the formal seismic regulatory tools open to public regulators (under the amended Building Act) as other non-seismic regulatory tools. As well as examining the formal regulatory frame, the work also provides an assessment of the interactions between other non-building acts (such as Health and Safety at Work Act 2015) on the requirements of seismic resilience. Other soft-law developments (particularly around informal building standards) are also examined. The final output of this work will presents this regulatory map in a clear and easily accessible manner and provide an assessment of the suitability of this at times confusing and patchy legal environment as Wellington moves towards becoming a resilient city. The final conclusion of this work will be used to specifically examine the ability of Wellington to make this transition under the current regulatory environment as phase two of the Wellington Case Study project.
A photograph of members of the Dog Section of the New Zealand Police at the site of an earthquake-damaged building in central Christchurch.
The New Zealand Army Band perform an item at the memorial service held in Latimer Square on the anniversary of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of emergency management personnel inside a Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules C-130. The aircraft is on the runway at Wellington airport.
A photograph of a police car parked outside the New Zealand Police kiosk in Cathedral Square. In the background, people are walking through Cathedral Square.