A story submitted by Danielle to the QuakeStories website.
Transcript of Pat Twiss's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of Danny's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
This study analyses the Earthquake Commission’s (EQC) insurance claims database to investigate the influence of seismic intensity and property damage resulting from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) on the repair costs and claim settlement duration for residential buildings. Firstly, the ratio of building repair cost to its replacement cost was expressed as a Building Loss Ratio (BLR), which was further extended to Regional Loss Ratio (RLR) for greater Christchurch by multiplying the average of all building loss ratios with the proportion of building stock that lodged an insurance claim. Secondly, the total time required to settle the claim and the time taken to complete each phase of the claim settlement process were obtained. Based on the database, the regional loss ratio for greater Christchurch for three events producing shakings of intensities 6, 7, and 8 on the modified Mercalli intensity scale were 0.013, 0.066, and 0.171, respectively. Furthermore, small (less than NZD15,000), medium (between NZD15,000 and NZD100,000), and large (more than NZD100,000) claims took 0.35-0.55, 1.95-2.45, and 3.35-3.85 years to settle regardless of the building’s construction period and earthquake intensities. The number of claims was also disaggregated by various building characteristics to evaluate their relative contribution to the damage and repair costs.
Almost 100 people are losing their jobs at Christchurch's Hotel Grand Chancellor this Friday, the latest in a series of significant job losses in the wake of the earthquake.
A story submitted by Lyndsay Fenwick to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Patti-Ann Oberst to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Rosie Belton to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Sheryl Fairbairn to the QuakeStories website.
Transcript of Isobelle Doig's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Summary of oral history interview with Tinks about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.
Transcript of Betty's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of Vanessa Evans's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of Amanda Coles's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of Lorraine's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
In February of 2011, an earthquake destroyed the only all-weather athletics track in the city of Christchurch (New Zealand). The track has yet to be replaced, and so since the loss of the track, local Christchurch athletes have only had a grass track for training and preparation for championship events. This paper considers what effect the loss of the training facility has had on the performance of athletes from Christchurch at national championship events. Not surprisingly, the paper finds that there has been a deterioration in the performance in events that are heavily dependent upon the all-weather surface. However, somewhat more surprisingly, the loss of the track appears to have caused a significant improvement in the performance of Christchurch athletes in events that, while on the standard athletics program, are not heavily track dependent.
On the eve of the memorial service for the Christchurch earthquake, the Labour party is laying into the Government's handling of the city's ditching as a Rugby World Cup venue.
A video of a presentation by Dr Duncan Webb, Partner at Lane Neave, during the third plenary of the 2016 People in Disasters Conference. The presentation is titled, "Loss of Trust and other Earthquake Damage".The abstract for this presentation reads as follows: It was predictable that the earthquakes which hit the Canterbury region in 2010 and 2011 caused trauma. However, it was assumed that recovery would be significantly assisted by governmental agencies and private insurers. The expectation was that these organisations would relieve the financial pressures and associated anxiety caused by damage to property. Some initiatives did exactly that. However, there are many instances where difficulties with insurance and related issues have exacerbated the adverse effects of the earthquakes on people's wellness. In some cases, stresses around property issues have become and independent source of extreme anxiety and have had significant impacts on the quality of people's lives. Underlying this problem is a breakdown in trust between citizen and state, and insurer and insured. This has led to a pervading concern that entitlements are being denied. While such concerns are sometimes well founded, an approach which is premised on mistrust is frequently highly conflicted, costly, and often leads to worse outcomes. Professor Webb will discuss the nature and causes of these difficulties including: the complexity of insurance and repair issues, the organisational ethos of the relevant agencies, the hopes of homeowners and the practical gap which commonly arises between homeowner expectation and agency response. Observations will be offered on how the adverse effects of these issues can be overcome in dealing with claimants, and how such matters can be managed in a way which promotes the wellness of individuals.
By closely examining the performance of a 22-storey steel framed building in Christchurch subject to various earthquakes over the past seven years, it is shown that a number of lessons can be learnt regarding the cost-effective consideration of non-structural elements. The first point in this work is that non-structural elements significantly affected the costs associated with repairing steel eccentrically braced frame (EBF) links. The decommissioning or rerouting of non-structural elements in the vicinity of damaged links in the case study building attributed to approximately half the total cost of their repair. Such costs could be significantly reduced if the original positioning of non-structural elements took account of the potential need to repair the EBF links. The second point highlighted is the role that pre-cast cladding apparently played on the distribution and type of damage in the building. Loss estimates obtained following the FEMA P-58 framework vary considerably when cladding is or isnt modelled, both because of changes to drift demands up the height of the building and because certain types of subsequent damage are likely to be cheaper to repair than others. Finally, costly repairs to non-structural partition walls were required not only after the moment magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 2010 but also in multiple aftershocks in the years that followed. Repair costs associated with aftershock events exceeded those from the main event, emphasizing the need to consider aftershocks within modern performance-based earthquake engineering and also the opportunity that exists to make more cost-effective repair strategies following damaging earthquakes.
A story submitted by Hilary Lakeman to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Jo Wicken to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Ian Longhorn to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Sue Freeman to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Dee Dawson to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Catherine to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Nicky to the QuakeStories website.
Transcript of Emma Parnell's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Summary of oral history interview with Erica Wheeler about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.
Summary of oral history interview with Dee Turner about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.
Summary of oral history interview with April about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.