A photograph of the earthquake damage to Knox Church on the corner of Bealey Avenue and Victoria Street. The brick walls of the gables have collapsed, exposing the building's wooden frame and the inside of the building. Wire fences and emergency tape have been placed around the building as a cordon.
A photograph of earthquake damage to the Kenton Chambers Building on Hereford Street. Cracks have formed between the windows of the building. A section of the bottom storey has collapsed, the bricks spilling onto the footpath. Steel fencing and road cones have been placed on the street in front of the building as a cordon.
The September Canterbury earthquake. These buildings have since been demolished. Note: these photos were taken on a cellphone; mind the quality.
The September Canterbury earthquake. These buildings have since been demolished. Note: these photos were taken on a cellphone; mind the quality.
The September Canterbury earthquake. These buildings have since been demolished. Note: these photos were taken on a cellphone; mind the quality.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to Kudos Hairdressers on the corner of Papanui Road and Mansfield Avenue. The façade of the building has crumbled, the bricks falling to the footpath. Police tape has been draped around the building as a cordon.
The damaged Cranmer Courts on the corner of Kilmore and Montreal Streets. The corner of the building has crumbled onto the street, which is now littered with broken masonry. Wire fencing placed around the building after the 4 September 2010 earthquake has managed to keep the debris away from the road.
The Arts Centre on Worcester Boulevard with damage to the gables. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon. In the distance, steel bracing has been placed against the front of the building to hold the walls together.
Damage to the Fuze Restaurant and Bar on the corner of Oxford Street and Norwich Quay. The top of the building facade has crumbled into the street below and wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Asko Design building on Victoria Street. The front facade and side wall have crumpled, exposing the inside of the buildings. The awnings over the windows have been twisted and ripped off by the falling bricks.
A photograph of the second storey of the partially-demolished Westende Jewellers Building on the corner of Manchester and Worcester Streets, which housed Alva Rados Mexican restaurant. The building was severely damage during the 4 September 2010 earthquake and had to be demolished.
A view of the badly-damaged Arts Centre from Hereford Street. The gables of the building have been secured with wooden bracing and a pile of brickwork lies on the street below. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
The badly-damaged Arts Centre, viewed from Rolleston Avenue. The turret has been removed from the building and secured to a platform on the footpath. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon and there are many road cones directing traffic.
The badly-damaged Arts Centre, viewed from Rolleston Avenue. The turret has been removed from the building and secured to a platform on the footpath. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon and there are many road cones directing traffic.
A damaged brick building on Centaurus Road with "Danger Keep Out" tape around the property. The brick walls have cracked and broken above two of the windows and a red sticker has been placed on the front window indicating that the building is unsafe to enter.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a building on the corner of Barbadoes and Armagh Streets. The top storey of the building has crumbled, spilling rubble onto the pavement. Steel fences and road cones have been placed around the rubble as a cordon.
A photograph of signs under the rear section of the Forsyth Barr building. The signs reads, "Danger drop zone". In the background is rubble from an earthquake-damaged building . Steel bracing has been constructed around a concrete pillar to the right.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Domo furniture store on Tuam Street. A large section of the building has collapsed and the rubble has spilled onto the street below. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to The Painted Room on Colombo Street. The ceiling of the building has collapsed into the store, smashing the front window. Wire fencing and police tape has been placed around the building as a cordon.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Domo furniture store on Tuam Street. A large section of the building has collapsed and the rubble has spilled onto the street below. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
The Arts Centre on Worcester Boulevard with damage to the gables. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon. In the distance, steel bracing has been placed against the front of the building to hold the walls together.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a row of buildings on Colombo Street. The front of the buildings has collapsed, exposing the inside of both floors. The rubble from the collapsed walls has been cleared from the street in front.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged building on the corner of Montreal Street and Moorhouse Avenue. The top of the brick facade has crumbled onto the footpath below. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
Transcript of participant number UC208YW's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
The sequence of earthquakes that has affected Christchurch and Canterbury since September 2010 has caused damage to a great number of buildings of all construction types. Following post-event damage surveys performed between April 2011 and June 2011, the damage suffered by unreinforced stone masonry buildings is reported and different types of observed failures are described. A detailed technical description of the most prevalently observed failure mechanisms is provided, with reference to recognised failure modes for unreinforced masonry structures. The observed performance of existing seismic retrofit interventions is also provided, as an understanding of the seismic response of these interventions is of fundamental importance for assessing the vulnerability of similar strengthening techniques when applied to unreinforced stone masonry structures.
This poster presents preliminary results of ongoing experimental campaigns at the Universities of Auckland and Canterbury, aiming at investigating the seismic residual capacity of damaged reinforced concrete plastic hinges, as well as the effectiveness of epoxy injection techniques for restoring their stiffness, energy dissipation, and deformation capacity characteristics. This work is part of wider research project which started in 2012 at the University of Canterbury entitled “Residual Capacity and Repairing Options for Reinforced Concrete Buildings”, funded by the Natural Hazards Research Platform (NHRP). This research project aims at gaining a better understanding and providing the main end-users and stakeholders (practitioner engineers, owners, local and government authorities, insurers, and regulatory agencies) with comprehensive evidence-based information and practical guidelines to assess the residual capacity of damaged reinforced concrete buildings, as well as to evaluate the feasibility of repairing and thus support their delicate decision-making process of repair vs. demolition or replacement.
Seismic isolation is an effective technology for significantly reducing damage to buildings and building contents. However, its application to light-frame wood buildings has so far been unable to overcome cost and technical barriers such as susceptibility to movement during high-wind loading. The precursor to research in the field of isolation of residential buildings was the 1994 Northridge Earthquake (6.7 MW) in the United States and the 1995 Kobe Earthquake (6.9 MW) in Japan. While only a small number of lives were lost in residential buildings in these events, the economic impact was significant with over half of earthquake recovery costs given to repair and reconstruction of residential building damage. A value case has been explored to highlight the benefits of seismically isolated residential buildings compared to a standard fixed-base dwellings for the Wellington region. Loss data generated by insurance claim information from the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake has been used by researchers to determine vulnerability functions for the current light-frame wood building stock. By further considering the loss attributed to drift and acceleration sensitive components, and a simplified single degree of freedom (SDOF) building model, a method for determining vulnerability functions for seismic isolated buildings was developed. Vulnerability functions were then applied directly in a loss assessment using the GNS developed software, RiskScape. Vulnerability was shown to dramatically reduce for isolated buildings compared to an equivalent fixed-base building and as a result, the monetary savings in a given earthquake scenario were significant. This work is expected to drive further interest for development of solutions for the seismic isolation of residential dwellings, of which one option is further considered and presented herein.
A photograph of the earthquake-damaged Stone Chamber of the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings on Durham Street North. Large sections of the Chamber have collapsed and the masonry and other rubble has spilled onto the footpath in front. To the left scaffolding constructed up the side of the building has also collapsed and twisted out of shape. Wire fences have been placed along the side of the building as a cordon.
A damaged port-a-loo sitting among building rubble. A skull and crossbones and the words "No go" have been spray painted on the side.
A photograph of the badly-damaged building at 128 Manchester Street. Shipping containers are stacked on the road in front of the west-facing facade.