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.
A photograph of an vacant site on Madras Street where the YWCA used to stand.
A photograph of a window of 268 Madras Street.
There is a critical strand of literature suggesting that there are no ‘natural’ disasters (Abramovitz, 2001; Anderson and Woodrow, 1998; Clarke, 2008; Hinchliffe, 2004). There are only those that leave us – the people - more or less shaken and disturbed. There may be some substance to this; for example, how many readers recall the 7.8 magnitude earthquake centred in Fiordland in July 2009? Because it was so far away from a major centre and very few people suffered any consequences, the number is likely to be far fewer than those who remember (all too vividly) the relatively smaller 7.1 magnitude Canterbury quake of September 4th 2010 and the more recent 6.3 magnitude February 22nd 2011 event. One implication of this construction of disasters is that seismic events, like those in Canterbury, are as much socio-political as they are geological. Yet, as this paper shows, the temptation in recovery is to tick boxes and rebuild rather than recover, and to focus on hard infrastructure rather than civic expertise and community involvement. In this paper I draw upon different models of community engagement and use Putnam’s (1995) notion of ‘social capital’ to frame the argument that ‘building bridges’ after a disaster is a complex blend of engineering, communication and collaboration. I then present the results of a qualitative research project undertaken after the September 4th earthquake. This research helps to illustrate the important connections between technical rebuilding, social capital, recovery processes and overall urban resilience.
An extensive research program is on-going at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand to develop new technologies to permit the construction of multi-storey timber buildings in earthquake prone areas. The system combines engineered timber beams, columns and walls with ductile moment resisting connections using post-tensioned tendons and eventually energy dissipaters. The extensive experimental testing on post-tensioned timber building systems has proved a remarkable lateral response of the proposed solutions. A wide number of post-tensioned timber subassemblies, including beam-column connections, single or coupled walls and column-foundation connections, have been analysed in static or quasi-static tests. This contribution presents the results of the first dynamic tests carried out with a shake-table. Model frame buildings (3-storey and 5-storey) on one-quarter scale were tested on the shake-table to quantify the response of post-tensioned timber frames during real-time earthquake loading. Equivalent viscous damping values were computed for post-tensioned timber frames in order to properly predict their response using numerical models. The dynamic tests were then complemented with quasi-static push and pull tests performed to a 3-storey post-tensioned timber frame. Numerical models were included to compare empirical estimations versus dynamic and quasi-static experimental results. Different techniques to model the dynamic behaviour of post-tensioned timber frames were explored. A sensitivity analysis of alternative damping models and an examination of the influence of designer choices for the post-tensioning force and utilization of column armouring were made. The design procedure for post-tensioned timber frames was summarized and it was applied to two examples. Inter-storey drift, base shear and overturning moments were compared between numerical modelling and predicted/targeted design values.
New Zealand’s first skyscraper was built on the corner of Manchester and Hereford Streets between 1905 – 06 for the New Zealand Express Company. This state of the art seven storey buil…
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The front of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Security fencing has been placed around the building to restrict access".
A photograph of stacks of wire fences in Cathedral Square. The former Post Office Building and the badly-damaged Regent Theatre can be seen in the background.
A photograph of a severely-damaged building on Armagh Street. The building's facade has completely fallen away, and the bricks have fallen onto the footpath in front. USAR codes have been spray painted on an exposed wall.
A photograph of the Canterbury Times and Star Building on Gloucester Street. Bricks and rubble can be seen on the footpath and USAR codes have been spray painted on the doors.
Damage to the buildings down the north side of Norwich Quay. Wire fencing has been placed along the entire street to keep people away from the buildings.
A photograph of the badly-damaged Edward Gibbon building on Tuam Street. The building has been cordoned off with wire fencing and the footpath behind the fence is covered in fallen bricks.
A photograph of a badly-damaged building on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street. The top storey of the building has collapsed, and the bricks and wood have fallen onto the footpath below.
A photograph of two workers walking down Gloucester Street. To the right, the earthquake-damaged Canterbury Times and Star Building can be seen. A car parked in front has been crushed by falling debris.
St John Ambulance and Urban Search and Rescue personnel conferring near the base of the collapsed Pyne Gould Corporation building in the aftermath of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Damage to the Crichton Cobbers Youth and Community Club on Fitzgerald Avenue".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "From Worcester Street looking north across The Press site to the Isaac Theatre Royal and the PricewaterhouseCoopers building in the distance".
A photograph of emergency management personnel standing on the intersection of Madras Street and Cashel Streets. In the background is the elevator tower of the collapsed CTV building.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Earthquake damage to the Mexican Cafe and His Lordships building on Lichfield Street".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The La Boheme building on Bedford Row which was further damage during the 23 December 2011 earthquakes".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The front of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Security fencing has been placed around the building to restrict access".
A photograph of a building on Cashel Street, housing ASB Bank and Whitcoulls. The building has been cordoned off with wire fencing and an excavator can be seen in the distance.
A photograph of the new Press Building on Gloucester Street under construction. To the right, the former Theatre Royal can be seen with wooden beams placed under the awning for support.
A photograph of the badly-damaged Winnie Bagoes building on Colombo Street. The left side of the building has collapsed and a metal pole anchored to a concrete block is holding up the remains.
A view across Norwich Quay in Lyttelton showing the historic Post Office building and Forbes' Store. Masonry has fallen from the walls of both buildings and the awning of Forbes' Store has collapsed.
The fenced-off remains of the Forbes' Store building on Norwich Quay, one of the earliest commercial buildings built from permanent materials in Lyttelton. Included in the rubble are the bent remains of scaffolding.
The fenced-off remains of the Forbes' Store building on Norwich Quay, one of the earliest commercial buildings built from permanent materials in Lyttelton. Included in the rubble are the bent remains of scaffolding.