Advice from the Earthquake Commission for insured residential property owners recovering from the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.
Christchurch gallery’s collections, exhibitions and services. Includes featured articles from CoCa Magazine. Includes coverage
A video of a presentation by Garry Williams during the fourth plenary of the 2016 People in Disasters Conference. Williams is the Programme Manager of the Ministry of Education's Greater Christchurch Education Renewal Programme. The presentation is titled, "Education Renewal: A section response to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake".The abstract for this presentation reads as follows: The Canterbury earthquakes caused a disaster recovery situation unparalleled in New Zealand's history. In addition to widespread damage to residential dwellings and destruction of Christchurch's central business district, the earthquakes damaged more than 200 schools from Hurunui in the north, to the Mackenzie District in the east, and Timaru in the south. The impact on education provision was substantial, with the majority of early childhood centres, schools and tertiary providers experiencing damage or subsequent, with the majority of early childhood centres, schools and tertiary providers experiencing damage or subsequent operational issues caused by the ensuing migration of people. Following the February earthquake, over 12,000 students had left the school they had been attending and enrolled elsewhere - often at a school outside the region. Shortened school days and compression of teaching into short periods meant shift-sharing students engaged in the curriculum being delivered in more diverse ways. School principals and staff reported increased fatigue and stress and changes in student behaviours, often related to repeated exposure to and ongoing reminders of the trauma of the earthquakes. While there has been a shift from direct, trauma-related presentations to the indirect effects of psychological adversity and daily life stresses, international experiences tells us that psychological recovery generally lags behind the immediate physical recovery and rebuilding. The Ministries of Health and Education and the Canterbury District Health Board have developed and implemented a joint action plan to address specifically the emerging mental health issues for youth in Canterbury. However, the impact of vulnerable and stressed adults on children's behaviour contributes to the overall impact of ongoing wellbeing issues on the educational outcomes for the community. There is substantial evidence supporting the need to focus on adults' resilience so they can support children and youth. Much of the Ministry's work around supporting children under stress is through supporting the adults responsible for teaching them and leading their schools. The education renewal programme exists to assist education communities to rebuild and look toward renewal. The response to the earthquakes provides a significant opportunity to better meet the needs and aspirations of children and youth people. All the parents want to see their children eager to learn, achieving success, and gaining knowledge and skills that will, in time, enable them to become confident, adaptable, economically independent adults. But this is not always the case, hence our approach to education renewal seeks to address inequities and improve outcome, while prioritising actions that will have a positive impact on learners in greatest need of assistance.
The November 2016 MW 7.8 Kaikōura Earthquake initiated beneath the North Culverden basin on The Humps fault and propagated north-eastwards, rupturing at least 17 faults along a cumulative length of ~180 km. The geomorphic expression of The Humps Fault across the Emu Plains, along the NW margin of Culverden basin, comprises a series of near-parallel strands separated by up to 3 km across strike. The various strands strike east to east-northeast and have been projected to mainly dip steeply to the south in seismic data (~80°). In this area, the fault predominantly accommodates right-lateral slip, with uplift and subsidence confined to releasing and restraining bends and step-overs at a range of scales. The Kaikōura event ruptured pre-existing fault scarps along the Emu Plains, which had been partly identified prior to the earthquake. Geomorphology and faulting expression of The Humps Fault on The Emu Plains was mapped, along with faulting related structures which did not rupture in the 2016 earthquake. Fault ruptures strands are combined into sections and the kinematic deformation of sections analysed to provide a moment tensor fault plane solution. This fault plane solution is consistent with the regional principal horizontal shortening direction (PHS) of ~115°, similar to seismic focal mechanism solutions of some of the nearby aftershocks of the Kaikōura earthquake, and similar to the adjacent Hope Fault. To constrain the timing of paleoseismic events, a trench was excavated across the fault where it crossed a late Quaternary alluvial fan. Mapping of stratigraphy exposed in the trench walls, and dating of variably deformed strata, constrains the pre-historic earthquake event history at the trench site. The available data provides evidence for at least three paleo-earthquakes within the last 15.1 ka, with a possible fourth (penultimate) event. These events are estimated to have occurred at 7.7-10.3 ka, 10.3-14.8 ka, and one or more events that are older than ~15.1 ka. Some evidence suggests an additional penultimate event between 1850 C.E and 7.7 ka. Time-integrated slip-rates at three locations on the fault are measured using paleo-channels as piercing points. These sites give horizontal slip rates of 0.57 ± 0.1 mm/year, 0.49 ± 0.1 mm/year and one site constrains a minimum of between 0.1 - 0.4 mm/year. Two vertical slip-rates are calculated to be constrained to a maximum of 0.2 ± 0.02 mm/year at one site and between 0.02 and 0.1 mm/year at another site. Prior to this study, The Humps fault had only been partially documented in reconnaissance level mapping in the district, and no previous paleoseismic or slip rate data had been reported. This project has provided a detailed fault zone tectonic geomorphic map and established new slip-rate and paleoseismic data. The results highlight that The Humps fault plays an important role in regional seismicity and in accommodating plate boundary deformation across the North Canterbury region.
The major earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 brought to an abrupt end a process of adaptive reuse, revitalisation and gentrification that was underway in the early 20th century laneways and buildings located in the south eastern corner of the Christchurch Central Business District. Up until then, this location was seen as an exemplar of how mixed use could contribute to making the central city an attractive and viable alternative to the suburban living experience predominant in New Zealand. This thesis is the result of a comprehensive case study of this “Lichfield Lanes” area, which involved in depth interviews with business owners, observation of public meetings and examination of documents and the revitalisation research literature. Findings were that many of the factors seen to make this location successful pre-earthquakes mirror the results of similar research in other cities. These factors include: the importance of building upon historic architecture and the eclectic spaces this creates; a wide variety of uses generating street life; affordable rental levels; plus the dangers of uniformity of use brought about by focussing on business types that pay the most rent. Also critical is co-operation between businesses to create and effectively market and manage an identifiable precinct that has a coherent style and ambience that differentiates the location from competing suburban malls. In relation to the latter, a significant finding of this project was that the hospitality and retail businesses key to the success of Lichfield Lanes were not typical and could be described as quirky, bohemian, chaotic, relatively low rent, owner operated and appealing to the economically important “Creative Class” identified by Richard Florida (2002) and others. In turn, success for many of these businesses can be characterised as including psychological and social returns rather than simply conventional economic benefits. This has important implications for inner city revitalisation, as it contrasts with the traditional focus of local authorities and property developers on physical aspects and tenant profitability as measures of success. This leads on to an important conclusion from this research, which is that an almost completely inverted strategy from that applied to suburban mall development, may be most appropriate for successful inner city revitalisation. It also highlights a disconnection between the focus and processes of regulatory authorities and the outcomes and processes most acceptable to the people likely to frequent the central city. Developers are often caught in the middle of this conflicted situation. Another finding was early commitment by businesses to rebuild the case study area in the same style, but over time this waned as delay, demolition, insurance problems, political and planning uncertainty plus other issues made participation by the original owners and tenants impossible or uneconomic. In conclusion, the focus of inner city revitalisation is too often on buildings rather than the people that use them and what they now desire from the central city.
A charitable trust which began after the earthquakes to create and maintain temporary public parks on cleared sites in Christchurch.
Site set up to market Christchurch businesses after the Christchurch earthquake. Directory entries of Christchurch businesses arranged by business type.
Information and advice from official sources for Christchurch residents in the aftermath of the 22 February earthquake (aftershock).
Group established to help residents after the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch. Includes information about housing, fruit & vegetable cooperatives and clothing aid.
Blog from Christchurch business-owner Nicky Arts detailing the rebuild of the Christchurch CBD following the earthquakles of 2010 and 2011.
Provides feedback to CERA for input into planning cycle ways in the redesign of Christchurch following the earthquakes.
Images of Christchurch following the earthquake, showing the demolition of buildings, street art, art, community and cultural life.
A large scale interactive art installation that seeks to provide a mechanism for emotional healing alongside the physical rebuilding of the city.
Describes what you might feel and experience after going through the quake, and what you can do to help yourself and others.
A health and safety training and development project bringing together a large range of stakeholders involved in the reconstruction of Canterbury.
Provides health information to Christchurch residents in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes of September 4, 2010 and February 22, 2011.
Blog designed to act as a forum to document, share and discuss street art and creative activities in Christchurch. Created by Ben Leith.
CERA is the public service department established by the Government to work with the people of Canterbury to rebuild Christchurch.
Visual overview of ideas generated for the redevelopment of Christchurch following recent earthquakes, using the Magnetic South online discussion game.
Site of Sir Paul Callaghan's project appealing to expat Kiwis to pay back their student loans following the Christchurch earthquake.
Blog of freelance journalist Adrienne Rewi who lives in Christchurch. She highlights Christchurch's historic cemeteries and covers the Christchurch earthquake among other things.
In the Know aims to make it faster and easier for Canterbury residents to get information about the residential rebuild and repair process.
Information on damage caused by the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, for homeowners, tenants, insurers, lawyers, realtors, builders, developers, engineers and building consent authorities.
Information on the Earthquake Commission and how to prepare for earthquakes and other natural disasters such as tsunami, landslips, volcanic eruptions and hydrothermal activity.
Blog of Christchurch poet Catherine Fitchett. Includes her thoughts about poetry and life, and photographs, including the Christchurch earthquake.
Includes terms of reference, information about the commissioners and information about the commission which was established after the September 2010 Canterbury Earthquake.
A community based blog/journal made up of contributions from the people of Christchurch, sharing their experiences from the two major Canterbury quakes.
LVS acts as site brokers for a creative Christchurch, finding short and medium-term uses for the many vacant sites and buildings of Christchurch.
The Charter is an agreement on health and safety between the leaders of a number of government organisations and companies leading the rebuild.
A forum created by Jeremy McManus to discuss ideas for rebuilding Christchurch following the February 22, 2011 earthquake. Topics discussed include housing, transportation, and urban design.