Old churches and earthquakes do not mix well.
A video of interviews with Kaiapoi residents about their the 4 September 2010 earthquake. Kaiapoi was one of the worst-affected areas following the earthquake which was centred in Darfield.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage to roads near Darfield".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage to roads near Darfield".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage to roads near Darfield".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake damage to roads near Darfield".
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Toppled grain silos on the outskirts of Darfield near the epicentre of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake that struck on Saturday 4 September 2010.
On the way to Darfield to locate the faultline where the tectonic plates slipped, causing the magnitude 7.1 earthquake on Saturday 4 September 2010.
On 4 September 2010, a magnitude Mw 7.1 earthquake struck the Canterbury region on the South Island of New Zealand. The epicentre of the earthquake was located in the Darfield area about 40 km west of the city of Christchurch. Extensive damage was inflicted to lifelines and residential houses due to widespread liquefaction and lateral spreading in areas close to major streams, rivers and wetlands throughout Christchurch and Kaiapoi. Unreinforced masonry buildings also suffered extensive damage throughout the region. Despite the severe damage to infrastructure and residential houses, fortunately, no deaths occurred and only two injuries were reported in this earthquake. From an engineering viewpoint, one may argue that the most significant aspects of the 2010 Darfield Earthquake were geotechnical in nature, with liquefaction and lateral spreading being the principal culprits for the inflicted damage. Following the earthquake, an intensive geotechnical reconnaissance was conducted to capture evidence and perishable data from this event. This paper summarizes the observations and preliminary findings from this early reconnaissance work.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Darfield man Craig Smith with earthquake damage to farm paddocks near Christchurch".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Di and Craig Roberts refuse to look at their earthquake-damaged house near Darfield".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Canterbury earthquake. Amy Taylor from Darfield photographs the damage to St Johns church in Hororata".
A team of earthquake geologists, seismologists and engineering seismologists from GNS Science, NIWA, University of Canterbury, and Victoria University of Wellington have collectively produced an update of the 2002 national probabilistic seismic hazard (PSH) model for New Zealand. The new model incorporates over 200 new onshore and offshore fault sources, and utilises newly developed New Zealand-based scaling relationships and methods for the parameterisation of the fault and subduction interface sources. The background seismicity model has also been updated to include new seismicity data, a new seismicity regionalisation, and improved methodology for calculation of the seismicity parameters. Background seismicity models allow for the occurrence of earthquakes away from the known fault sources, and are typically modelled as a grid of earthquake sources with rate parameters assigned from the historical seismicity catalogue. The Greendale Fault, which ruptured during the M7.1, 4 September 2010 Darfield earthquake, was unknown prior to the earthquake. However, the earthquake was to some extent accounted for in the PSH model. The maximum magnitude assumed in the background seismicity model for the area of the earthquake is 7.2 (larger than the Darfield event), but the location and geometry of the fault are not represented. Deaggregations of the PSH model for Christchurch at return periods of 500 years and above show that M7-7.5 fault and background source-derived earthquakes at distances less than 40 km are important contributors to the hazard. Therefore, earthquakes similar to the Darfield event feature prominently in the PSH model, even though the Greendale Fault was not an explicit model input.
On 4 September 2010, a magnitude Mw 7.1 earthquake struck the Canterbury region on the South Island of New Zealand. The epicentre of the earthquake was located in the Darfield area about 40 km west of the city of Christchurch. Extensive damage occurred to unreinforced masonry buildings throughout the region during the mainshock and subsequent large aftershocks. Particularly extensive damage was inflicted to lifelines and residential houses due to widespread liquefaction and lateral spreading in areas close to major streams, rivers and wetlands throughout Christchurch and Kaiapoi. Despite the severe damage to infrastructure and residential houses, fortunately, no deaths occurred and only two injuries were reported in this earthquake. From an engineering viewpoint, one may argue that the most significant aspects of the 2010 Darfield Earthquake were geotechnical in nature, with liquefaction and lateral spreading being the principal culprits for the inflicted damage. Following the earthquake, a geotechnical reconnaissance was conducted over a period of six days (10–15 September 2010) by a team of geotechnical/earthquake engineers and geologists from New Zealand and USA (GEER team: Geo-engineering Extreme Event Reconnaissance). JGS (Japanese Geotechnical Society) members from Japan also participated in the reconnaissance team from 13 to 15 September 2010. The NZ, GEER and JGS members worked as one team and shared resources, information and logistics in order to conduct thorough and most efficient reconnaissance covering a large area over a very limited time period. This report summarises the key evidence and findings from the reconnaissance.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch earthquake. Rachel Hood (Darfield) with her daughters Izra (3) and Jasmine (1) who she is putting on an aircraft and getting out of Christchurch because of the earthquakes".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch earthquake. Rachel Hood (Darfield) with her daughters Izra (3) and Jasmine (1) who she is putting on an aircraft and getting out of Christchurch because of the earthquakes".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch earthquake. Rachel Hood (Darfield) with her daughters Izra (3) and Jasmine (1) who she is putting on an aircraft and getting out of Christchurch because of the earthquakes".
Ground heaving on the faultline from which the Saturday 4 September 2010 earthquake originated.
The ground literally opened up! On the previously unknown faultline along which the Saturday 4 September 2010 earthquake originated.
The ground literally opened up! On the previously unknown faultline along which the Saturday 4 September 2010 earthquake originated.
The ground literally opened up! On the previously unknown faultline along which the Saturday 4 September 2010 earthquake originated.