A photograph of an installation that forms part of the '60 Lights Market' at the LUXCITY event. Coordinators: Jeongbin Ok, Tiago Rorke, Jonathan Coates; student: Tom Hall
The Canterbury earthquakes are unique in that the there have been a series of major earthquakes, each with their own subsequent aftershock pattern. These have extended from the first large earthquake in September 2010 to currently, at the time of writing, two years later. The last significant earthquake of over magnitude 5.0 on the Richter scale was in May on 2012, and the total number of aftershocks has exceeded 12,000. The consequences, in addition to the loss of life, significant injury and widespread damage, have been far reaching and long term, with detrimental effects and still uncertain effects for many. This provides unique challenges for individuals, communities, organisations and institutions within Canterbury. This document reviews research-based understandings of the concept of resilience. A conceptual model is developed which identifies a number of the factors that influence individual and household resilience. Guided by the model, a series of recommendations are developed for practices that will support individual and household resilience in Canterbury in the aftermath of the 2010-2011 earthquakes.
An artist's impression of the installation 'Etch-a-Sketch', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: Anna Tong, Chris Holmes
An artist's impression of the installation 'Etch-a-Sketch', created as part of the LUXCITY event. Tutors: Anna Tong, Chris Holmes
A blog post from US Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, David Huebner, titled, "Jim Kolbe Remembers February 22nd".
The seismic response of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, in both their as-built or retrofitted configuration, is strongly dependent on the characteristics of wooden floors and, in particular, on their in-plane stiffness and on the quality of wall-to-floor connections. As part of the development of alternative performance-based retrofit strategies for URM buildings, experimental research has been carried out by the authors at the University of Canterbury, in order to distinguish the different elements contributing to the whole diaphragm's stiffness. The results have been compared to the ones predicted through the use of international guidelines in order to highlight shortcomings and qualities and to propose a simplified formulation for the evaluation of the stiffness properties.
The scale of damage from a series of earthquakes across Christchurch Otautahi in 2010 and 2011 challenged all networks in the city at a time when many individuals and communities were under severe economic pressure. Historically, Maori have drawn on traditional institutions such as whanau, marae, hapu and iwi in their endurance of past crises. This paper presents research in progress to describe how these Maori-centric networks supported both Maori and non-Maori through massive urban dislocation. Resilience to any disaster can be explained by configurations of economic, social and cultural factors. Knowing what has contributed to Maori resilience is fundamental to the strategic enhancement of future urban communities - Maori and non-Maori.
The University of Canterbury has initialized a research program focusing on the seismic sustainability of structures. As part of this program, the relative seismic sustainability of various structures will be assessed to identify those with the highest sustainability for the Christchurch rebuild and general use in New Zealand. This preliminary case study assesses one reinforced concrete (RC) frame structure and one RC wall structure. The scenario loss is evaluated for two earthquake records considering direct losses only in order to explain and illustrate the methodology.
An artist's impression of an installation that forms part of the '60 Lights Market' at the LUXCITY event. Coordinators: Daniele Abreu e Lima and Sam Stringlen; students: Chi Tran, Aria Jansen, Naomi Snelling, Rebecca Wyborn
An artist's impression of an installation that forms part of the '60 Lights Market' at the LUXCITY event. Coordinators: Daniele Abreu e Lima and Michael Smith; students: Alex Heperi, Gagan Saini, Shamal Nanji, Xavier Apelinga
A photograph showing Geoff Devoll and Anna Kouwenhoven in their 'red zoned' home, soon to be demolished following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a demolition of a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a demolition of a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing Road Cones in Dallington, Christchurch following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photography showing Bill and Heather Allott outside their 'red zoned' home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing earthquake damage in a Dallington resident's home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing earthquake damage in a Dallington resident's home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing Jayne Cummins in her 'red zoned' home, soon to be demolished following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing earthquake damaged homes in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing earthquake damage in a Dallington resident's home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph captioned, "I wonder what they're going to do with the land? We'd like a community garden. That's our aim, but I don't know what they're going to do. Seems like nobody does".
Caption reads: "We have to find a new home. We have to move on but we don't know what to look for."
Caption reads: "People brought food to the area and we were grateful. It was a disaster but we were coping. Our house was broken but that didn’t mean we had to be."
A photograph captioned, "So we're just sitting here not knowing. And okay, sooner or later it will come to an end, eventually it has to. It's the not knowing that kills you".
Photograph captioned, "I'll have mixed feelings when I leave. I'll be sad to go - and sad to see my house go. But I hope it'll be a good feeling once it's over. I'll be pleased to get to that stage and feel like I'm finally moving on".
A photograph captioned, "It's weird, it's very random. There were some beautiful houses here and now they are gone".
Photograph captioned, "Dallington used to be the most popular suburb in New Zealand to live in. And that makes sense, because it's halfway between the beach and the city. It's close enough to town but far enough away, as well. There were good schools in the area. The mall was close. It's got the river and the tree lined sections, everything. It was special all right".
A photograph showing the damaged streetscape of Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph captioned, "They're fixing other places first. People over the other side of town are getting their houses fixed. We wonder why".