Christchurch's leading business group is criticising city council plans to slow down its earthquake rebuild programme. Conan Young reports.
Divine Cakes in Christchurch has had a tough past five years building up again after the 2011 earthquakes.
The magnitude Mw7.8 ‘Kaikōura’ earthquake occurred shortly after midnight on 14 November 2016. This paper presents an overview of the geotechnical impacts on the South Island of New Zealand recorded during the postevent reconnaissance. Despite the large moment magnitude of this earthquake, relatively little liquefaction was observed across the South Island, with the only severe manifestation occurring in the young, loose alluvial deposits in the floodplains of the Wairau and Opaoa Rivers near Blenheim. The spatial extent and volume of liquefaction ejecta across South Island is significantly less than that observed in Christchurch during the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence, and the impact of its occurrence to the built environment was largely negligible on account of the severe manifestations occurring away from the areas of major development. Large localised lateral displacements occurred in Kaikōura around Lyell Creek. The soft fine-grained material in the upper portions of the soil profile and the free face at the creek channel were responsible for the accumulation of displacement during the ground shaking. These movements had severely impacted the houses which were built close (within the zone of large displacement) to Lyell Creek. The wastewater treatment facility located just north of Kaikōura also suffered tears in the liners of the oxidation ponds and distortions in the aeration system due to ground movements. Ground failures on the Amuri and Emu Plains (within the Waiau Valley) were small considering the large peak accelerations (in excess of 1g) experienced in the area. Minor to moderate lateral spreading and ejecta was observed at some bridge crossings in the area. However, most of the structural damage sustained by the bridges was a result of the inertial loading, and the damage resulting from geotechnical issues were secondary.
Should a 150 year-old tree have been cut down to make way for Christchurch's earthquake memorial?
The grass roots organisations that sprang up after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake are showing little sign of fading away.
Insurance company Tower says yesterday's earthquake in North Canterbury will cost it a maximum of just over seven million dollars.
Christchurch businesses are calling on the council to keep the New Brighton pier open while earthquake repairs are completed.
A new report has heavily criticised how the Ministry of Education handled the post-earthquake Christchurch school reshuffle nearly four years ago.
The Cathedral has been in a state of limbo since the Christchurch earthquakes. Now roosting pigeons are adding to the damage.
The cost of building a home in New Zealand's main cities has risen by 20 per cent since the Canterbury earthquakes.
More than 300 people turned out to a meeting in Christchurch last night to hear about botched Earthquake Commission repairs.
Christchurch City Councillor Ali Jones talks about what the cull of EQC staff will mean for life in the post-earthquake city.
Repair work on Christchurch's iconic Town Hall, badly damaged in the earthquakes, has nearly hit the halfway mark.
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel has experienced her fair share of earthquakes as a resident, MP and then Mayor. She joins Checkpoint.
Firms can expect to pay more and wait longer to get goods delivered to their door following the North Canterbury earthquakes.
This article presents a subset of findings from a larger mixed methods CEISMIC1 funded study of twenty teachers’ earthquake experiences and post-earthquake adjustment eighteen months after a fatal earthquake struck Christchurch New Zealand, in the middle of a school day (Geonet Science, 2011; O’Toole & Friesen, 2016). This earthquake was a significant national and personal disaster with teachers’ emotional self-management as first responders being crucial to the students’ immediate safety (O’Toole & Friesen, 2016). At the beginning of their semi-structured interviews conducted eighteen months later, the teachers shared their earthquake stories (O’Toole & Friesen, 2016). They recalled the moment it struck in vivid detail, describing their experiences in terms of what they saw (destruction), heard (sonic boom, screaming children) and felt (fright and fear) as though they were back in that moment similar to flashbulb memory (Brown & Kulik, 1977). Their memories of the early aftermath were similarly vivid (Rubin & Kozin, 1984). This article focuses on how the mood meter (Brackett & Kremenitzer, 2011) was then used (with permission) to further explore the teachers’ perceived affect to enlighten their lived experiences.
Research report N. 2016-2This report presents the simplified seismic assessment of a case study reinforced concrete (RC) building following the newly developed and refined NZSEE/MBIE guidelines on seismic assessment (NZSEE/MBIE, semi-final draft 26 October 2016). After an overview of the step-by-step ‘diagnostic’ process, including an holistic and qualitative description of the expected vulnerabilities and of the assessment strategy/methodology, focus is given, whilst not limited, to the implementation of a Detailed Seismic Assessment (DSA) (NZSEE/MBIE, 2016c). The DSA is intended to provide a more reliable and consistent outcome than what can be provided by an initial seismic assessment (ISA). In fact, while the Initial Seismic Assessment (ISA), of which the Initial Evaluation Procedure is only a part of, is the more natural and still recommended first step in the overall assessment process, it is mostly intended to be a coarse evaluation involving as few resources as reasonably possible. It is thus expected that an ISA will be followed by a Detailed Seismic Assessment (DSA) not only where the threshold of 33%NBS is not achieved but also where important decisions are intended that are reliant on the seismic status of the building. The use of %NBS (% New Building Standard) as a capacity/demand ratio to describe the result of the seismic assessment at all levels of assessment procedure (ISA through to DSA) is deliberate by the NZSEE/MBIE guidelines (Part A) (NZSEE/MBIE 2016a). The rating for the building needs only be based on the lowest level of assessment that is warranted for the particular circumstances. Discussion on how the %NBS rating is to be determined can be found in Section A3.3 (NZSEE/MBIE 2016a), and, more specifically, in Part B for the ISA (NZSEE/MBIE 2016b) and Part C for the DSA (NZSEE/MBIE 2016c). As per other international approaches, the DSA can be based on several analysis procedures to assess the structural behaviour (linear, nonlinear, static or dynamic, force or displacement-based). The significantly revamped NZSEE 2016 Seismic Assessment Guidelines strongly recommend the use of an analytical (basically ‘by hand’) method, referred to the Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA) as a first phase of any other numerically-based analysis method. Significant effort has thus been dedicated to provide within the NZSEE 2016 guidelines (NZSEE/MBIE 2016c) a step-by-step description of the procedure, either in general terms (Chapter 2) or with specific reference to Reinforced Concrete Buildings (Chapter 5). More specifically, extract from the guidelines, NZSEE “recommend using the Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA) procedure as a first step in any assessment. While SLaMA is essentially an analysis technique, it enables assessors to investigate (and present in a simple form) the potential contribution and interaction of a number of structural elements and their likely effect on the building’s global capacity. In some cases, the results of a SLaMA will only be indicative. However, it is expected that its use should help assessors achieve a more reliable outcome than if they only carried out a detailed analysis, especially if that analysis is limited to the elastic range For complex structural systems, a 3D dynamic analysis may be necessary to supplement the simplified nonlinear Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA).” This report presents the development of a full design example for the the implementation of the SLaMA method on a case study buildings and a validation/comparison with a non-linear static (pushover) analysis. The step-by-step-procedure, summarized in Figure 1, will be herein demonstrated from a component level (beams, columns, wall elements) to a subassembly level (hierarchy of strength in a beam-column joint) and to a system level (frame, C-Wall) assuming initially a 2D behaviour of the key structural system, and then incorporating a by-hand 3D behaviour (torsional effects).
The 2013 Seddon earthquake (Mw 6.5), the 2013 Lake Grassmere earthquake (Mw 6.6), and the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake (Mw 7.8) provided an opportunity to assemble the most extensive damage database to wine storage tanks ever compiled worldwide. An overview of this damage database is presented herein based on the in-field post-earthquake damage data collected for 2058 wine storage tanks (1512 legged tanks and 546 flat-based tanks) following the 2013 earthquakes and 1401 wine storage tanks (599 legged tanks and 802 flat-based tanks) following the 2016 earthquake. Critique of the earthquake damage database revealed that in 2013, 39% and 47% of the flat-based wine tanks sustained damage to their base shells and anchors respectively, while due to resilience measures implemented following the 2013 earthquakes, in the 2016 earthquake the damage to tank base shells and tank anchors of flat-based wine tanks was reduced to 32% and 23% respectively and instead damage to tank barrels (54%) and tank cones (43%) was identified as the two most frequently occurring damage modes for this type of tank. Analysis of damage data for legged wine tanks revealed that the frame-legs of legged wine tanks sustained the greatest damage percentage among different parts of legged tanks in both the 2013 earthquakes (40%) and in the 2016 earthquake (44%). Analysis of damage data and socio-economic findings highlight the need for industry-wide standards, which may have socio-economic implications for wineries.
Five years after being created the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, commonly known as CERA, will officially close its doors on Monday.
Christchurch businesses are calling on the council to keep the New Brighton pier open while earthquake repairs are completed.
The Earthquake Commission could have a big job on its hands fixing quake damaged Christchurch homes for a second time.
Karen Brown reports from Chch, where there seems to be no end in sight for the mental health problems caused by the earthquakes
Bruce Springsteen has announced dates for a New Zealand tour including a concert in Christchurch for the anniversary of the February 2011 earthquake.
Forty Christchurch homeowners have headed back to court, as they seek to take a class action against earthquake insurer Southern Response.
Farmers in North Canterbury say the earthquake is another blow to a region which has battled drought and volatile lamb and dairy markets
Canterbury residents were left confused after the earthquake after the news media reported they needed to evacuate but tsunami sirens were silent.
20160415_0039_1D3-40 The Wobbly Jetty - 1 (106/366) [Explored] The South New Brighton jetty was rebuilt a couple of years before the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes wrecked it. Then, it was straight, level and all railings on left side were intact. Was closed to the public for about four years but is open now. #7221
20160307_0012_1D3-32 Subway is closed (067/366) The Subway shop in the High Street Mall has not operated since lunch time on the 22nd February 2011 when the most damaging of Christchurch and Canterbury's earthquakes struck. I assume the building is still to be demolished. #7119
Jessie Garland and Luke Tremlett References and acknowledgements Christchurch City Council. Garvin, J., 2001. A Building History of Northern New England. University Press of New England, New Hampshire. Insight Unlimited.
Frustrated Christchurch home-owners have delivered a 3000 strong petition to the government, calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into shoddy earthquake repairs.