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Images, UC QuakeStudies

A car on Rowses Road has its entire front half embedded in liquefaction after falling into a sink hole. Behind it, another car has its wheels stuck in the silt, and in the background a car drives through flooding. The photographer comments, "Perhaps the most impressively stuck car was this small silver hatchback that went head first into a large hole in a street just off Shortland Street (between Shortland and Breezes Road) in Aranui. The rear hatch was open when we came across it. Apparently there had been one person and a dog inside but they managed to escape. The silt has now settled around and inside the car, making the vehicle an intimidating monument to the earthquake".

Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

The title reads 'CBD: High water table, flood/liquefaction risk...' The cartoon shows several Southern Right whales being used to ferry people around Christchurch City. Someone says 'Who needs light rail when you can have right whale!' Context: discussion about building a light rail system as a part of Christchurch post-earthquake development. Context: Several large Southern right whales have found Akaroa Harbour to their liking this week, sticking around rather than heading back south as part of their annual migration back to Antarctica. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A tribute taped to a window of a house on Tasman Place. The tribute reads, "Our red zoned house. When we bought you years ago, you looked a bit tired and sad, but overall you weren't too bad. We spruced you up with paint and love and asked for a blessing from above. The years went by, family and friends celebrations under your roof, your 'veggie' garden gave us kai. We felt safe within your wall, then one dreadful September night, the shaking earth made you fall. You tried with all your groaning might to keep us from harm. Because you were strongly built we held onto the door, while a wave of terror buckled the floor and outside the garden flooded with silt. Now you are near the end, sunken walls and windows bend. We say goodbye today and let you go, Our spirit and heart feels low. You are more than just mortar and brick. For us you were a gift, a safe haven where we once lived".

Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

A man representing the South Island stands under an umbrella representing 'hope' to shelter from a bucketload of water representing 'misfortune'. Context - in the last year apart from the usual droughts and floods the South Island has suffered the Pike River Mine disaster on 19 November 2010 in which 29 coal miners were killed, the 7.1 earthquake on 4 September 2010 in which there was a lot of damage but no deaths and now on 22 February 2011 a 6.3 magnitude earthquake which has probably killed more than 200 people (at this point the number is still not known) and caused more severe damage. The reason the apparently lesser magnitude quake caused more destruction is because it was very shallow, was in the middle of the day and struck very close to the centre of the city. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Heavy traffic at the corner of Moorhouse Avenue and Manchester Street as people attempt to leave the city centre shortly after the 22 February earthquake. The photographer comments, "Just after the aftershock settled on Tuesday afternoon, myself and colleagues fled our Tuam Street office to absolute devastation outside. We couldn't see more than a block in either direction due to the clouds of dust that had arisen from buildings that had just collapsed ... From here, we picked up our vehicles from the CCC car park and headed out to get out of the chaos to a position where we could check on loved ones ... As we got to Moorhouse Avenue, we found we had to quickly drive underneath [the Colombo Street overbridge]and carry on down to Brougham Street as the bridge was being closed at that moment. From Brougham, we headed back up towards Madras. The traffic lights were out and the intersection was chaos. Over the next couple of hours, we continued crawling through heavy traffic. Impressively, everyone was very orderly despite the feeling of panic and the continuing aftershocks. We chatted to others in other vehicles to exchange news and stopped to speak to a lady that had broken down following water in the engine after having driven hrough floods".

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The 22 February 2011, Mw6.2-6.3 Christchurch earthquake is the most costly earthquake to affect New Zealand, causing 181 fatalities and severely damaging thousands of residential and commercial buildings, and most of the city lifelines and infrastructure. This manuscript presents an overview of observed geotechnical aspects of this earthquake as well as some of the completed and on-going research investigations. A unique aspect, which is particularly emphasized, is the severity and spatial extent of liquefaction occurring in native soils. Overall, both the spatial extent and severity of liquefaction in the city was greater than in the preceding 4th September 2010 Darfield earthquake, including numerous areas that liquefied in both events. Liquefaction and lateral spreading, variable over both large and short spatial scales, affected commercial structures in the Central Business District (CBD) in a variety of ways including: total and differential settlements and tilting; punching settlements of structures with shallow foundations; differential movements of components of complex structures; and interaction of adjacent structures via common foundation soils. Liquefaction was most severe in residential areas located to the east of the CBD as a result of stronger ground shaking due to the proximity to the causative fault, a high water table approximately 1m from the surface, and soils with composition and states of high susceptibility and potential for liquefaction. Total and differential settlements, and lateral movements, due to liquefaction and lateral spreading is estimated to have severely compromised 15,000 residential structures, the majority of which otherwise sustained only minor to moderate damage directly due to inertial loading from ground shaking. Liquefaction also had a profound effect on lifelines and other infrastructure, particularly bridge structures, and underground services. Minor damage was also observed at flood stop banks to the north of the city, which were more severely impacted in the 4th September 2010 Darfield earthquake. Due to the large high-frequency ground motion in the Port hills numerous rock falls and landslides also occurred, resulting in several fatalities and rendering some residential areas uninhabitable.