In 1978 world-class motorcycle designer John Britten bought a derelict stable block in Christchurch and painstakingly converted it into a home where he raised his family and built his revolutionary V1000 motorbike. The family continued to live there after his death in 1995, but were forced to abandon it when it sustained serious damage during the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes. After sitting broken and empty for six years, Isabelle Weston, John's eldest daughter, and her husband Tim undertook to restore and revamp the house with a view to running it as a B&B. The story of their epic project features in the first episode of Grand Designs New Zealand series four, which premieres on TV3, on October 3..
The Acheron rock avalanche is located in the Red Hill valley almost 80 km west of Christchurch and is one of 42 greywacke-derived rock avalanches identified in the central Southern Alps. It overlies the Holocene active Porters Pass Fault; a component of the Porters Pass-Amberley Fault Zone which extends from the Rakaia River to beyond the Waimakariri River. The Porters Pass Fault is a dextral strike-slip fault system viewed as a series of discontinuous fault scarps. The location of the fault trace beneath the deposit suggests it may represent a possible source of seismic shaking resulting in the formation of the Acheron rock avalanche. The rock mass composition of the rock avalanche source scar is Torlesse Supergroup greywacke consisting of massive sandstone and thinly bedded mudstone sequences dipping steeply north into the centre of the source basin. A stability analysis identified potential instability along shallow north dipping planar defects, and steep south dipping toppling failure planes. The interaction of the defects with bedding is considered to have formed conditions for potential instability most likely triggered by a seismic event. The dTositional area of the rock avalanche covers 7.2 x 105 m2 with an estimated volume of 9 x 10 m3 The mobilised rock mass volume was calculated at 7.5 x 106 m3• Run out of the debris from the top of the source scar to the distal limit reached 3500m, descending over a vertical fall of almost 700m with an estimated Fahrboschung of 0.2. The run out of the rock avalanche displayed moderate to high mobility, travelling at an estimated maximum velocity of 140-160 km/hour. The rapid emplacement of the deposit is confirmed by highly fragmented internal composition and burial of forest vegetation New radiocarbon ages from buried wood retrieved from the base of Acheron rock avalanche deposit represents an emplacement age closely post-dating (Wk 12094) 1152 ± 51 years B.P. This differs significantly from a previous radiocarbon age of (NZ547) 500 ± 69 years B.P. and modal lichenometry and weathering-rind thickness ages of approximately 460 ± 10 yrs and 490 ± 50 years B.P. The new age shows no resemblance to an earthquake event around 700- 500 years B.P. on the Porters Pass-Amberley Fault Zone. The DAN run out simulation using a friction model rheology successfully replicated the long run out and velocity of the Acheron rock avalanche using a frictron angle of 27° and high earth pressure coefficients of 5.5, 5.2, and 5.9. The elevated earth pressure coefficients represent dispersive pressures derived from dynamic fragmentation of the debris within the mobile rock avalanche, supporting the hypothesis of Davies and McSaveney (2002). The DAN model has potential applications for areas prone to large-scale instability in the elevated slopes and steep waterways of the Southern Alps. A paleoseismic investigation of a newly identified scarp of the Porters Pass Fault partially buried by the rock avalanche was conducted to identify any evidence of a coseismic relationship to the Acheron rock avalanche. This identified three-four fault traces striking at 078°, and a sag pond displaying a sequence of overbank deposits containing two buried soils representing an earthquake event horizon. A 40cm vertical offset of the ponded sediment and lower buried soil horizqn was recorded, which was dated to (Wk 13112 charcoal in palosol) 653 ± 54 years B.P. and (Wk 13034 palosol) 661 ± 34 years B.P. The evidence indicates a fault rupture occurred along the Porters Pass Fault, west of Porters Pass most likely extending to the Red Lakes terraces, post-dating 700 years B.P., resulting in 40cm of vertical displacement and an unknown component of dextral strike slip movement. This event post dates the event one (1000 ± 100 years B.P) at Porters Pass previously considered to represent the most recent rupture along the fault line. This points to a probable source for resetting of the modal weathering-rind thicknesses and lichen size populations in the Red Hill valley and possibly the Red Lakes terraces. These results suggest careful consideration must be given to the geomorphic and paleoseismic history of a specific site when applying surface dating techniques and furthermore the origin of dates used in literature and their useful range should be verified. An event at 700-500 years B.P did not trigger the Acheron rock avalanche as previously assumed supporting Howard's conclusions. The lack of similar aged rupture evidence in either of the Porters Pass and Coleridge trenches supports Howard's hypothesis of segmentation of the Porters Pass Fault; where rupture occurs along one fault segment but not along another. The new rock avalanche age closely post-dating 1200-1100 years B.P. resembles the poorly constrained event one rupture age of 1700-800 years B.P for the Porters Pass Fault and the tighter constrained Round Top event of 1010 ± 50 years B.P. on the Alpine Fault. Eight other rock avalanche deposits spread across the central Southern Alps also resemble the new ages however are unable to be assigned specific earthquake events due to the large associated error bars of± 270 years. This clustering of ages does represent compelling lines of evidence for large magnitude earthquake events occurring over the central Southern Alps. The presence of a rock avalanche deposit does not signify an earthquake based on the historical evidence in the Southern Alps however clustering of ages does suggest that large Mw >7 earthquakes occurred across the Southern Alps between 1200-900 years BP.
The 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence began with the 4 September 2010, Mw7.1 Darfield earthquake and includes up to ten events that induced liquefaction. Most notably, widespread liquefaction was induced by the Darfield and Mw6.2 Christchurch earthquakes. The combination of well-documented liquefaction response during multiple events, densely recorded ground motions for the events, and detailed subsurface characterization provides an unprecedented opportunity to add well-documented case histories to the liquefaction database. This paper presents and applies 50 high-quality cone penetration test (CPT) liquefaction case histories to evaluate three commonly used, deterministic, CPT-based simplified liquefaction evaluation procedures. While all the procedures predicted the majority of the cases correctly, the procedure proposed by Idriss and Boulanger (2008) results in the lowest error index for the case histories analyzed, thus indicating better predictions of the observed liquefaction response.
One Month after the Christchurch Earthquake. A view in Sydenham suburb - Columbo St Twitter | Facebook | My Website |
One Month after the Christchurch Earthquake. This is in Kaiapoi at the north end of Christchurch. A view down the walkway next to the river Twitter | Facebook |
Christchurch moteliers say this has been the hardest winter since the Canterbury earthquakes - and they are blaming both AirBnB and a lack of events. RNZ Christchurch reporter Logan Church spoke with Comfort Inn motel owner, Bob Cringle, about the state of the sector.
Implementing seismic risk mitigation is a major challenge in many earthquake prone regions. The objective of this research is to investigate how property investment market practices can be used to enhance building owners’ decisions to improve seismic performance of earthquake prone buildings (EPBs). A case study method adopted, revealed the impacts of the property market stakeholders’ practices on seismic retrofit decisions. The findings from this research provide significant new insights on how property market-based incentives such as such as mandatory disclosure of seismic risks in all transactions in the property market, effective awareness seismic risk program and a unified earthquake safety assessment information system, can be used to enhance EPBs owners seismic retrofit decisions. These market-based incentives offer compelling reasons for the different property market stakeholders and the public at large to retain, care, invest, and act responsibly to rehabilitate EPBs. The findings suggest need for stakeholders involved in property investment and retrofit decisions to work together to foster seismic rehabilitation of EPBs.
The Canterbury earthquakes of 2010-2012 have been generation shaping. People living and working in and around the city during this time have had their lives and social landscapes changed forever. The earthquake response, recovery and rebuild efforts have highlighted unheralded social strengths and vulnerabilities within individuals, organisations, communities and country writ large. It is imperative that the social sciences stand up to be counted amongst the myriad of academic research, commentary and analysis.
One Month after the Christchurch Earthquake. The mangled remains of the pedestrian bridge over the river Avon Twitter | Facebook | My ...
One Month after the Christchurch Earthquake. The mangled remains of the pedestrian bridge over the river Avon Twitter | Facebook | My ...
A Simple shot down the street where the shops are now marked for demolition. Twitter | Facebook | My Website |
A corner shop in Sydenham - a Suburb of Christchurch. Front walls are all missing Twitter | Facebook | My Website |
This is the pedestrian bridge in Kaiapoi close to Christchurch. Not the best angle but the whole bridge on the right hand side is twisted and looks like some kind of rollercoaster. Taken one month after the Quake Twitter |
There are quite a few signs like this around Christchurch after the Quake. This is one of them. Off shot to the right is a leveled patch of ground where the owners furniture restoration shop used to be. Twitter |
One Month after the Christchurch Earthquake. The remains of a Church in St albans, Edgeware Rd Twitter | Facebook | My Website | <...
A scanned copy of a black and white photograph of the He-Ne Continuous Gas Laser used in David Lockwood's MSc research at the University of Canterbury. David says, "The experiments in the Thesis were aimed at examining the effects of sound waves on colloids, which are very small particles that are found in clays for example (for more details see page 181 of http://www.cap.ca/PiC-PaC/static/downloads/1efdc1f3784b85c1a1b33e396b91ee8aef2072c5.pdf ). In fact, I was looking at nanoparticles of matter, which preceded the emergence of nanotechnology as a field of research by more than two decades. I needed a suitable light source to probe the alignment of the nanoparticles in the ultrasonic sound field. At that time the laser had just been invented and I realized that this was the ideal light source for my experiment. I then proceeded to construct the first home-built laser in New Zealand. This laser - a He-Ne continuous-wave gas laser - operated at 632.8 nm (in the red). This laser, over a metre long, is shown in the black-and-white photo. There were lot of problems to be overcome, but eventually, with invaluable help from Dr. Tom Seed (my MSc supervisor) and Dr. Rod Syme, I had it working".
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred at 4:35 am on September 4, 2010 here in Christchurch. There was damage and destruction to buildings but no loss of life. Five months later (22nd Feb, 2011) the city was struck by another quake. This time we weren't so lucky. 185 people lost their lives. Many people lost homes and businesses. The central b...
A seismic financial risk analysis of typical New Zealand reinforced concrete buildings constructed with topped precast concrete hollow-core units is performed on the basis of experimental research undertaken at the University of Canterbury over the last five years. An extensive study that examines seismic demands on a variety of multi-storey RC buildings is described and supplemented by the experimental results to determine the inter-storey drift capacities of the buildings. Results of a full-scale precast concrete super-assemblage constructed and tested in the laboratory in two stages are used. The first stage investigates existing construction and demonstrates major shortcomings in construction practice that would lead to very poor seismic performance. The second stage examines the performance of the details provided by Amendment No. 3 to the New Zealand Concrete Design Code NZS 3101:1995. This paper uses a probabilistic financial risk assessment framework to estimate the expected annual loss (EAL) from previously developed fragility curves of RC buildings with precast hollow core floors connected to the frames according to the pre-2004 standard and the two connection details recommended in the 2004 amendment. Risks posed by different levels of damage and by earthquakes of different frequencies are examined. The structural performance and financial implications of the three different connection details are compared. The study shows that the improved connection details recommended in the 2004 amendment give a significant economic payback in terms of drastically reduced financial risk, which is also representative of smaller maintenance cost and cheaper insurance premiums.
None
Following the 2010-2011 earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand, the University of Canterbury (UC) was faced with the need to respond to major challenges in its teaching and learning environment. With the recognition of education as a key component to the recovery of the Canterbury region, UC developed a plan for the transformation and renewal of the campus. Central to this renewal is human capital – graduates who are distinctly resilient and broadly skilled, owing in part to their living and rebuilding through a disaster. Six desired graduate attributes have been articulated through this process: knowledge and skills of a recognized subject, critical thinking skills, the ability to interpret information from a range of sources, the ability to self-direct learning, cultural competence, and the recognition of global connections through social, ethical, and environmental values. All of these attributes may readily be identified in undergraduate geoscience field education and graduate field-based studies, and this is particularly important to highlight in a climate where the logistical and financial requirements of fieldwork are becoming a barrier to its inclusion in undergraduate curricula. Fieldwork develops discipline-specific knowledge and skills and fosters independent and critical thought. It encourages students to recognize and elaborate upon relevant information, plan ways to solve complicated problems, execute and re-evaluate these plans. These decisions are largely made by the learners, who often direct their own field experience. The latter two key graduate attributes, cultural competence and global recognition of socio-environmental values, have been explicitly addressed in field education elsewhere and there is potential to do so within the New Zealand context. These concepts are inherent to the sense of place of geoscience undergraduates and are particularly important when the field experience is viewed through the lens of landscape heritage. This work highlights the need to understand how geoscience students interact with field places, with unique implications for their cultural and socio-environmental awareness as global citizens, as well as the influence that field pedagogy has on these factors.
In this article we utilize grounded theory to explore women’s experiences in the unique construction industry context that followed the 2010 Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquakes. Data were obtained from 36 semi-structured interviews conducted with women working in a variety of occupations in the construction industry. We identify three inter-related categories: capitalizing on opportunity, demonstrating capability and surface tolerance, which together represent a response process that we label ‘deferential tailoring’. The deferential tailoring process explains how women intentionally shape their response to industry conditions through self-regulating behaviors that enables them to successfully seize opportunities and manage gender-related challenges in the working environment. Our findings challenge existing research which suggests that women adopt submissive coping strategies to conform to androcentric norms in the construction industry. Instead, we argue that the process of deferential tailoring can empower women to build positive workplace relationships, enhance career development, and help shift perceptions of the value of their work in the industry.
This study led on from Earthquake hazard and risk assessment study Stage 1 Part A: Earthquake source identification and characterisation (Pettinga et al, 1998). It used the location and characteristics of active faults in the Canterbury region, and the historic record of earthquakes to estimate levels of ground shaking (MM intensity, peak ground acceleration and spectral accelerations) across Canterbury for different return periods. The study also provided earthquake scenarios for selected towns and cities in Canterbury, and undertook detailed investigations into the largest historic earthquakes in Christchurch and parts of the Canterbury region. See Object Overview for background and usage information.
When the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes created a city-wide outdoor research laboratory, UC Civil Engineering Professor Misko Cubrinovski gathered as much information as possible. This work has been recognised by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which is presenting him with the 2019 Ralph B. Peck Award for "outstanding contributions to the geotechnical engineering profession through the publication of several insightful field case histories"
This study updated the 1999 Earthquake hazard and risk assessment study Stage 1 Part B: Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment and Earthquake scenarios for the Canterbury region, and historic earthquakes in Christchurch report. It incorporated new fault data, a new distributed seismicity model and new methods for estimating Modified Mercalli intensities. See Object Overview for background and usage information.
This study updated the 1999 Earthquake hazard and risk assessment study Stage 1 Part B: Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment and Earthquake scenarios for the Canterbury region, and historic earthquakes in Christchurch report. It incorporated new fault data, a new distributed seismicity model and new methods for estimating Modified Mercalli intensities. See Object Overview for background and usage information.
This is what my lunch looked like after spending a month in my office, post-quake. The banana had liquefied in its skin but there wasn't any mould or anything else. The banana absolutely reeked, though; I ended up tossing everything that had been in the lunch box.
Broken head-stones as a result of the magnitude 6.3 quake in Christchurch - 22 February 2011. HDR process to add the "feeling" I felt at seeing this sort of damage.
A one story, two bays, approximately half scaled, perimeter moment frame containing precastprestressed floor units was built and tested at the University of Canterbury to investigate the effect of precastprestressed floor units on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete moment resisting frame. This paper gives an overview of the experimental set up and summarizes the results obtained from the test. The results show that elongation in the beam plastic hinges is partially restrained by the prestressed floor, which increases the strength of the beams much more than that being specified in the codes around the world.
Using case studies from the 2010-2011 Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake sequence, this study assesses the accuracies of paleoliquefaction back-analysis methods and explores the challenges, techniques, and uncertainties associated with their application. While liquefaction-based back-analyses have been widely used to estimate the magnitudes of paleoearthquakes, their uncertain efficacies continue to significantly affect the computed seismic hazard in regions where they are relied upon. Accordingly, their performance is evaluated herein using liquefaction data from modern earthquakes with known magnitudes. It is shown that when the earthquake source location and mechanism are known, back-analysis methods are capable of accurately deriving seismic parameters from liquefaction evidence. However, because the source location and mechanism are often unknown in paleoseismic studies, and because accurate interpretation is shown to be more difficult in such cases, new analysis techniques are proposed herein. An objective parameter is proposed to geospatially assess the likelihood of any provisional source location, enabling an analyst to more accurately estimate the magnitude of a liquefaction-inducing paleoearthquake. This study demonstrates the application of back-analysis methods, provides insight into their potential accuracies, and provides a framework for performing paleoliquefaction analyses worldwide.
This report examines and compares case studies of labour market policy responses in APEC economies to natural disasters. It first reviews the policies and practice within APEC economies and internationally in managing the labour market effects of natural disasters. By using comparative case studies, the report then compares recent disaster events in the Asia-Pacific region, including: - the June 2013 Southern Alberta floods in Canada; - the 2010 and 2011 Queensland floods in Australia; - the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand; - the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan; and - the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China.