Transcript of participant number LY960's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Shaking table testing of a full-scale three storey resilient and reparable complete composite steel framed building system is being conducted. The building incorporates a number of interchangeable seismic resisting systems of New Zealand and Chinese origin. The building has a steel frame and cold formed steel-concrete composite deck. Energy is dissipated by means of friction connections. These connections are arranged in a number of structural configurations. Typical building non-skeletal elements (NSEs) are also included. Testing is performed on the Jiading Campus shaking table at Tongji University, Shanghai, China. This RObust BUilding SysTem (ROBUST) project is a collaborative China-New Zealand project sponsored by the International Joint Research Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering (ILEE), Tongji University, and a number of agencies and universities within New Zealand including the BRANZ, Comflor, Earthquake Commission, HERA, QuakeCoRE, QuakeCentre, University of Auckland, and the University of Canterbury. This paper provides a general overview of the project describing a number of issues encountered in the planning of this programme including issues related to international collaboration, the test plan, and technical issues.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to 139 Manchester Street. Inside the building, scaffolding is being used to hold up the damaged roof.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to 139 Manchester Street. Inside the building, scaffolding is being used to hold up the damaged roof.
A photograph of the front door of the Canterbury Club Building on Cambridge Terrace. USAR codes have been spray-painted on the glass.
A photograph of IHC Christchurch Earthquake Reflection Group member Kerry Horsham standing outside the Student Services Building at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.
A red sticker on the door of a damaged building in North New Brighton. The photographer comments, "A year after the earthquake in Christchurch a lot of buildings outside of the CBD are covered in cracks and beyond repair. These will slowly be demolished, but until then the buildings will be protected by a movable barrier and a red sticker".
Description: Observations of RC building performance in recent earthquakes with a special focus on the devastating events in Christchurch, New Zealand. These events have highlighted the complexity of post-earthquake decisions for damaged buildings and the impacts on communities. The presentation will reflect on factors influencing demolition decisions and emerging challenges for the earthquake engineering community. http://atc-sei.org/
Today marks one week since the devastating earthquake struck Christchurch and overnight, the death toll from the rubble has risen. 154 bodies have now been recovered.
Survivor Nick Walls, who was pulled from the rubble of the Pyne Gould Corporation building, says his life will change as a result of the earthquake. From his bedside in the Christchurch hospital's orthopeadic ward he explained to our reporter Lorna Perry what he was doing when the earth shook.
Survivor Nick Walls, who was pulled from the rubble of the Pyne Gould Corporation building, says his life will change as a result of the earthquake. From his bedside in the Christchurch hospital's orthopeadic ward he explained to our reporter Lorna Perry what he was doing when the earth shook.
The government has pledged five and half billion dollars over the next six years for Canterbury's Earthquake Recovery Fund.
An entry from Roz Johnson's blog for 22 May 2012 entitled, "Giving New Life".
Christchurch earthquake events have raised questions on the adequacy of performance-based provisions in the current national building code. At present, in the building code the performance objectives are expressed in terms of safety and health criteria that could affect building occupants. In general, under the high intensity Christchurch events, buildings performed well in terms of life-safety (with a few exceptions) and it proved that the design practices adopted for those buildings could meet the performance objectives set by the building code. However, the damage incurred in those buildings resulted in unacceptably high economic loss. It is timely and necessary to revisit the objectives towards building performance in the building code and to include provisions for reducing economic implications in addition to the current requirements. Based on the observed performance of some buildings, a few specific issues in the current design practices that could have contributed to extensive damage have been identified and recommended for further research leading towards improved performance of structures. In particular, efforts towards innovative design/construction solutions with low-damage concepts are encouraged. New Zealand has been one of the leading countries in developing many innovative technologies. However, such technically advanced research findings usually face challenges towards implementation. Some of the reasons include: (i) lack of policy requirements; (iii) absence of demonstrated performance of new innovations to convince stakeholders; and (iv) non-existence of design guidelines. Such barriers significantly affect implementation of low damage construction and possible strategies to overcome those issues are discussed in this paper.
A digger works on top of a pile of soil and building rubble.
A photograph of the entrance to 270 St Asaph Street. A red sticker on the door indicates that the building is unsafe to enter.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Mona Vale Gatehouse. Wire fencing and tape has been placed around the building as a cordon.
Forbes' Store on Norwich Quay with a broken awning and damage visible on the brick walls. Scaffolding placed around the building since the 4 September 2010 earthquake has tumbled during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Forbes' Store on Norwich Quay with a broken awning and damage visible on the brick walls. Scaffolding placed around the building since the 4 September 2010 earthquake has tumbled during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A crushed car on Gloucester Street. Bricks from the building above fell during the earthquake onto the car. A yellow 'C' has been spray painted onto the car, indicating that it is clear of people.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage in central Christchurch after a 6.3 earthquake. Inside the Press building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch earthquake aftermath. The Wilson Parking building in Kilmore Street is being cordoned off".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage in central Christchurch after a 6.3 earthquake. Inside The Press building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage in central Christchurch after a 6.3 earthquake. Inside The Press building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage in central Christchurch after a 6.3 earthquake. Inside The Press building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage in central Christchurch after a 6.3 earthquake. Inside The Press building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage in central Christchurch after a 6.3 earthquake. Inside The Press building".
Maps showing the location of the 26 December 2010 earthquake and aftershocks, and the location of damaged buildings.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Damaged building on Colombo Street in Sydenham after the earthquake on 4 September 2010".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Damaged building on Colombo Street in Sydenham after the earthquake on 4 September 2010".