Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings have repeatedly been shown to perform poorly in large magnitude earthquakes, with both New Zealand and Australia having a history of past earthquakes that have resulted in fatalities due to collapsed URM buildings. A comparison is presented here of the URM building stock and the seismic vulnerability of Christchurch and Adelaide in order to demonstrate the relevance to Australian cities of observations in Christchurch resulting from the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquake swarm. It is shown that the materials, architecture and hence earthquake strength of URM buildings in both countries is comparable and that Adelaide and other cities of Australia have seismic vulnerability sufficient to cause major damage to their URM buildings should a design level earthquake occur. Such an earthquake is expected to cause major building damage, and fatalities should be expected.
Two men sit safe amongst the devastation of an earthquake surrounded by collapsed buildings and crushed cars; one has his head in his hands and the other says 'Remind me what we were all arguing about before all this'. Context - on 22 February 2011 a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck in Christchurch which has probably killed more than 200 people (at this point the number is still not known) and caused very severe damage. The second man is aware of the relative unimportance of petty squabbles and differences of opinion against the enormity of the earthquake. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
The Prime Minister and the Earthquake Recovery Minister are poised to announce decisions on the fate of homes on quake damaged land in Christchurch.
Auckland ratepayers are to pay up to almost three million dollars to host three extra rugby world cup games relocated from earthquake damaged Christchurch.
A photograph of members of the Dog Section of the New Zealand Police at the site of an earthquake-damaged building in central Christchurch.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house in Christchurch. The house has fallen off its foundations and is on a severe lean.
This afternoon the Government will announce its initial package to deal with land badly damaged by earthquakes in Christchurch, including offering a pay out to households who want to take the cash.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged house in Christchurch. The bricks on the side of the house have crumbled and damaged the fence. A red sticker on the front window indicates that the building is unsafe to enter.
Depicts huge elderly woman with 'CERA' on her dress scolding smaller adult dressed as schoolboy near bustop with sign 'CBD red zone tours' Text reads 'And don't talk to strangers and don't cross the road and remember to eat your lunch..' Context: After the 22 Feburary 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, the central business district (CBD) was marked as a red zone. Red zone areas were deemed unsuitable for habitation due to significant damage and at high risk of further damage from low levels of earth shaking. CERA (Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority) ran public bus tours of the Christchurch CBD from November to December 2011. For safety reasons the public was not allowed off the buses as it was a dangerous and active demolition site. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Text at top left reads 'Christchurch display portaloos' Four different styles of portaloo are shown; the "Merivale", the 'Sumner", the "Heritage" and the "Eastsider"; someone inside the 'Eastsider says 'At least I'm open plan AND mobile!' Context - After the tow Christchurch earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks that have hit Christchurch one of the problems is lack of toilets because of damage to buildings and also damage to sewage systems so many portaloos and chemical toilets have been sent to Christchurch. However many people have resorted to the good old kiwi way and dug long-drops in the backyard. A website 'showusyourlongdrop.co.nz' has been developed by Christchurch man Jason Moore, who was inspired by photographs of Christchurch dunnies uploaded to Facebook. There has been a competition. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Two people crawl across a desert littered with animal bones and skulls towards the words 'Land reports' in the distance. The woman says 'Don't get your hopes up! It's probably a mirage!' Context - On Thursday 23 June Prime Minister John Key, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and representatives from engineering consultants Tonkin & Taylor announced the first part of the Government's long-awaited land report that revealed the fate of up to 5000 quake-damaged homes. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged house in Christchurch. The walls on the side of the house have crumbled and the bricks have damaged the fence. A red sticker on the front window indicates that the building is unsafe to enter.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to Grenadier House on Madras Street. The glass windows have shattered and the section of wall between has buckled.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 25 February 2011 entitled, "Inside the Christchurch Cordon Day 4".
One landscape colour digital photograph taken on 30 June 2011 showing earthquake damage to the former Convent of Our Lady of Mercy and to the Catholic Church of St Joseph the Worker. Photograph taken from St. Davids Street The sense of loss felt when confronted with the collapse or demolition of an historic building is compounded when that bui...
Damage to Christchurch city following the 22 February earthquake 2011. A crack in the road where the asphalt has lifted, possibly due to liquefaction. Cones have been placed along the crack to warn drivers of the irregular surface.
A large crack between a row of trees and the riverbank. A fence lining the riverbank has collapsed. The photographer comments, "On the 22 February 2011 we had an earthquake in Christchurch, which ripped us apart literally. This is what happened to the riverbank at New Brighton. Some trees stayed in place and others dropped 2 feet. The amazing thing was that they all stayed upright".
A Christchurch couple who fled to Auckland after the earthquakes are now assessing damage at their new house, after a tornado tore through their suburb.
For the latest on the damage caused by Monday's earthquakes, we're joined by the Christchurch City Council's water and waste unit manager, Mark Christison.
A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing in front of an earthquake-damaged building in central Christchurch.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a residential road in Christchurch. Road cones have been placed around lifted man holes to warn road users.
Two men chat over the fence about the state of their houses after the 4th September earthquake in Christchurch. One of them is complaining about the slow pace of reconstruction of houses after the magnitude 7.1 earthquake on 4 September 2010; the second man thinks they are doing their best. Context - Frustration over the slow rate of processing insurance applications and building inspections after the magnitude 7.1 earthquake on 4 September 2010 which although it resulted in a lot of damage, no-one died. In the cartoon the man's red sticker (meaning the house is uninhabitable) has faded to green after being put on the house after the September earthquake. Three days after this cartoon was published the much more disastrous earthquake of the 22nd February struck and many people died. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
One landscape colour digital photograph taken on 12 April 2011 showing earthquake damage to the Anglican Church of The Most Holy Trinity in Winchester Street Lyttelton. The photograph shows the bracing to the north transept which was erected after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. Architect After the 22 February 2011 earthquake the Church of the ...
A digitally manipulated image of a damaged building in Madras Street. The photographer comments, "After the 22 February earthquake in Christchurch there was a lot of damaged buildings. Sometimes there is the odd one where being unclothed or de-bricked let the world see their beauty".
The damaged Ozone Hotel has had its window frames removed, and the interior has been gutted. The photographer comments, "The Ozone was badly damaged in Christchurch's February earthquake, but at considerable risk someone has removed the windows and door".
One landscape colour digital photograph taken on 12 April 2011 showing earthquake damage to the former Convent of Our Lady of Mercy. St Mary's School, run by the Sisters of Mercy, was also housed in this building. At the time of the 4 September 2010 earthquake the building was a private residence. The sense of loss felt when confronted with the...
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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.
The 4th of September 2010 Mw 7.1 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake had generated significant ground shaking within the Christchurch Central Business District (CBD). Despite the apparently significant shaking, the observed structural damage for pre-1970s reinforced concrete (RC) buildings was indeed limited and lower than what was expected for such typology of buildings. This paper explores analytically and qualitatively the different aspects of the "apparent‟ good seismic performance of the pre-1970s RC buildings in the Christchurch CBD, following the earthquake reconnaissance survey by the authors. Damage and building parameters survey result, based on a previously established inventory of building stock of these non-ductile RC buildings, is briefly reported. From an inventory of 75 buildings, one building was selected as a numerical case-study to correlate the observed damage with the non-linear analyses. The result shows that the pre-1970s RC frame buildings performed as expected given the intensity of the ground motion shaking during the Canterbury earthquake. Given the brittle nature of this type of structure, it was demonstrated that more significant structural damage and higher probability of collapse could occur when the buildings were subjected to alternative input signals with different frequency content and duration characteristics and still compatible to the seismicity hazard for Christchurch CBD.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the back of the Canterbury Provincial Chambers, taken from Oxford Terrace across the Avon River.