Column reinforcement exposed under spalled concrete after the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Christchurch on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Column reinforcement exposed under spalled concrete after the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Christchurch on Saturday 4 September 2010.
This shop on Tuam Street survived rhe magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit Christchurch on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Crack in the parapet of this building, resulting from the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck Christchurch on 4 September 2010.
A photograph looking north down Colombo Street, from the intersection of Armagh Street. In the distance, rubble from the partially-collapsed Winnie Bagoes building can be seen on the road.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to The Daily Bagel and Covent Fruit Centre on Victoria Street. The front wall of the second storey has collapsed, exposing the rooms inside.
Emergency personnel using a sheet of corrugated plastic to slide pieces of rubble from the collapsed Canterbury Television Building. Behind them, smoke is billowing from the remains of the building.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Waitaki Street resident Mark Gilbertson shovels silt. The crater on the New Brighton street is where the pavement collapsed, bursting the mains and flooding the street".
A photograph of the badly damaged Canterbury Provincial Chambers on Durham Street. The roof and upper walls of the Stone Chamber have collapsed, the masonry falling onto the footpath below.
St Joseph's Catholic Church on Winchester Street in Lyttelton. The front wall of the church has collapsed, and the gates have been wrapped in red tape reading, 'Danger keep out'.
A shop on Manchester Street. The front wall has collapsed onto the street, revealing the inside of the building. Fencing has been placed around the building to keep people away.
St John's Ambulance staff conferring at the base of the collapsed Canterbury Television Building on Madras Street. Behind them, emergency personnel can be seen searching the ruins for trapped people.
St Joseph's Catholic Church on Winchester Street in Lyttelton. The front wall of the church has collapsed, and the gates have been wrapped in red tape reading, 'Danger keep out'.
A road worker standing next to a 'Road closed' sign on Antigua Street. In the distance, dust is rising from road repairs. To the right, a brick fence has collapsed.
St John's Anglican Church in Hororata. The top of the bell tower has collapsed into the roof of the church, some falling onto the ground below where it still lies.
St John's Anglican Church in Hororata. The top of the bell tower has collapsed into the roof of the church, some falling onto the ground below where it still lies.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to St John's Church on Hereford Street. A section of the church has collapsed, breaking through the fence and onto the footpath in front.
A photograph looking north up Barbadoes Street from the intersection of Gloucester Street. In the distance there is a cloud of dust and a partially-collapsed fish-and-chip store.
A photograph looking north up Barbadoes Street from the intersection of Gloucester Street. In the distance there is a cloud of dust and a partially-collapsed fish-and-chip store.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house in the Christchurch central city. The bricks walls of the building have collapsed and the bricks have spilt into the garden.
A photograph of a earthquake-damaged building on the corner of Tuam and High Streets. The outer-corner of the wall has collapsed leaving the inside of the building exposed.
Road damage and liquefaction in a residential street. The photographer comments, "A great gouge in the road caused by liquefaction undermining the road surface and a car driving over it. This was the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand on 22 February 2011".
The collapse of Redcliffs’ cliff in the 22 February 2011 and 13 June 2011 earthquakes were the first times ever a major failure incident occurred at Redcliffs in approximately 6000 years. This master’s thesis is a multidisciplinary engineering geological investigation sought to study these particular failure incidents, focusing on collecting the data necessary to explain the cause and effect of the cliff collapsing in the event of two major earthquakes. This study provides quantitative and qualitative data about the geotechnical attributes and engineering geological nature of the sea-cut cliff located at Redcliffs. Results from surveying the geology of Redcliffs show that the exposed lithology of the cliff face is a variably jointed rock body of welded and (relatively intact) unwelded ignimbrite, a predominantly massive unit of brecciated tuff, and a covering of wind-blown loess and soil deposit (commonly found throughout Canterbury) on top of the cliff. Moreover, detailing the external component of the slope profile shows that Redcliffs’ cliff is a 40 – 80 m cliff with two intersecting (NE and SE facing) slope aspects. The (remotely) measured geometry of the cliff face comprises of multiple outstanding gradients, averaging a slope angle of ~67 degrees (post-13 June 2011), where the steepest components are ~80 degrees, whereas the gentle sloping sections are ~44 degrees. The physical structure of Redcliffs’ cliff drastically changed after each collapse, whereby seismically induced alterations to the slope geometry resulted in material deposited on the talus at the base of the cliff. Prior to the first collapse, the variance of the gradient down the slope was minimal, with the SE Face being the most variable with up to three major gradients on one cross section. However, after each major collapse, the variability increased with more parts of the cliff face having more than one major gradient that is steeper or gentler than the remainder of the slope. The estimated volume of material lost as a result of the gradient changes was 28,267 m³ in February and 11,360 m³ in June 2011. In addition, surveys of the cliff top after the failure incidents revealed the development of fissures along the cliff edge. Monitoring 10 fissures over three months indicated that fissured by the cliff edge respond to intense seismicity (generally ≥ Mw 4) by widening. Redcliffs’ cliff collapsed on two separate occasions as a result of an accumulated amount of damage of the rock masses in the cliff (caused by weathering and erosion over time), and two Mw 6.2 trigger earthquakes which shook the Redcliffs and the surrounding area at a Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) estimated to be around 2 g. The results of the theoretical study suggests that PGA levels felt on-site during both instances of failure are the result of three major factors: source of the quake and the site affected; topographic amplification of the ground movement; the short distance between the source and the cliff for both fault ruptures; the focus of seismic energy in the direction of thrust faulting along a path that intercepts Redcliffs (and the Port Hills). Ultimately, failure on the NE and SE Faces of Redcliffs’ cliff was concluded to be global as every part of the exposed cliff face deposited a significant volume of material on the talus at the base of the cliff, with the exception of one section on the NE Face. The cliff collapses was a concurrent process that is a single (non-monotonic) event that operated as a complex series of (primarily) toppling rock falls, some sliding of blocks, and slumping of the soil mantle on top of the cliff. The first collapse had a mixture of equivalent continua slope movement of the heavily weathered / damaged surface of the cliff face, and discontinuous slope movement of the jointed inner slope (behind the heavily weathered surface); whereas the second collapse resulted in only discontinuous slope movement on account of the freshly exposed cliff face that had damage to the rock masses, in the form of old and (relatively) new discontinuous fractures, induced by earthquakes and aftershocks leading up to the point of failure.
A photograph of the damaged Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The tower on the south-west corner of the building has collapsed. Shipping containers support the far wall of the building.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage in central Christchurch after a 6.3 earthquake. Dean Beck of the Christchurch Cathedral rushes to get help for people trapped in the collapsed tower".
A damaged house on Manchester Street. A section of wall where masonry has collapsed has been weather proofed with a black tarpaulin. The building's chimney has fallen on to its roof.
Damage to a section of the A and T Burt building on Ferry Road in Woolston. Masonry has collapsed from the top section of the building's front wall, exposing its ceiling.
Damage to a gable of the Music Centre of Christchurch building on Barbadoes Street. The gaps left by the collapse of the building's masonry have been weather proofed with a tarpaulin.
Emergency personnel searching the collapsed Canterbury Television on Madras Street building for trapped people in the aftermath of the 22 February 2011 earthquake. Smoke can be seen rising from the ruins.
Emergency personnel gathered on Madras Street outside the collapsed Canterbury Television building. A digger can be seen searching the rubble while fire fighters work to extinguish the fire in the building.