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Articles, UC QuakeStudies

The previously unknown Greendale Fault ruptured to the ground surface, causing up to 5 metres horizontal and 1 metre vertical permanent offset of the ground, during the September 2010 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake. Environment Canterbury commissioned GNS Science, with help from the University of Canterbury, to define a fault avoidance zone and to estimate the fault recurrence interval. There is little evidence for past movement on the fault in the past 16,000 years. However, because of the uncertainties involved, a conservative approach was taken and the fault has been categorised as a Recurrence Interval Class IV fault (a recurrence interval of between 5,000 and 10,000 years). A PhD study by a University of Canterbury student will work towards refining the Recurrence Interval Class over the next three years. Taking a risk-based approach, the Ministry for the Environment Active Fault Guidelines recommend that normal residential development be allowed within the fault avoidance zone for faults of this Recurrence Interval Class, but recommends restrictions for larger community buildings or facilities with post-disaster functions. The report is assisting Selwyn District Council in granting consents for rebuilding houses on or near the Greendale Fault that were damaged by permanent distortion of the ground due to the fault rupture in the September 2010 earthquake. The report provides specific recommendations for building on or close to the Greendale Fault, which are being implemented by Selwyn District Council. See Object Overview for background and usage information.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Time Capsule from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church investigated by left to right Rev Chris Chamberlain, Senior Minister OTBC. Mike Crudge, Minister OTBC Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator Christchurch Art Gallery Jeff Palmer, archivist Jill Durney from the Macmillan Brown library. 15.7.11

Audio, Radio New Zealand

It's no longer politics as usual in Christchurch following a series of devastating earthquakes. Not everyone in the city and its surrounding areas is happy with last week's offer to buy out those households on land which has suffered the worst damage. Our political editor Brent Edwards investigates.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Naval blockade: Greenpeace say its activists are willing to get arrested over their protest against a Brazilian oil company surveying off East Cape. Royal Commission: Legal experts are in agreement ... the purpose of the Royal Commission into February's earthquake in Christchurch is to investigate - not to incriminate.

Research Papers, Lincoln University

The aftermath of three earthquakes has forced Christchurch to re-plan and rebuild. New perspectives of a sustainable city have arisen granting Christchurch the chance of becoming an example to the world. This work is centred on bioclimatic landscape design as a base for greening strategies. It deals with strategic landscape design adapted to a specific climate, from a user’s perspective. The investigation will be applied to Christchurch’s urban centres, assessing cultural adaptability to the local climate and implications for landscape design. Climatic data shows that humidity is not a local problem. However, the wind is the determinant. In Christchurch the solar radiation and the prevailing winds are the most important microclimatic variables, the latter intensifying the loss of surface heat, decreasing the radiant temperature and affecting thermal sensation. The research objective is to explore design parameters at the street-scale and identify ways to maximise thermal comfort in outdoor spaces through design-based strategies. The investigation will apply methods of participant observation, depth interviews, climatic data collection and design experimentation based on thermal comfort models and computer simulation tools. Case study sites chosen for investigation are places with current levels of activity that may be anticipated in the rebuild of the central city. The research will have two main outcomes: improved understanding of local urban culture adaptation to microclimate, and a demonstration of how design can enhance adaption. These outcomes will inform designers and city managers about good design practices and strategies that can be used to ensure a long term liveable city.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This thesis investigates the relationship between the apocalyptic narrative and the postmodern novel. It explores and builds on Patricia Waugh‟s hypothesis in Practising Postmodernism: Reading Modernism (1992) which suggests that that the postmodern is characterised by an apocalyptic sense of crisis, and argues that there is in fact a strong relationship between the apocalyptic and the postmodern. It does so through an exploration of apocalyptic narratives and themes in five postmodern novels. It also draws on additional supporting material which includes literary and cultural theory and criticism, as well as historical theory. In using the novel as a medium through which to explore apocalyptic narratives, this thesis both assumes and affirms the novel‟s importance as a cultural artefact which reflects the concerns of the age in which it is written. I suggest that each of the novels discussed in this thesis demonstrates the close relationship between the apocalyptic and the postmodern through society‟s concern over the direction of history, the validity of meta-narratives, and other cultural phenomenon, such as war, the development of nuclear weaponry, and terrorism. Although the scope of this thesis is largely confined to the historical-cultural epoch known as postmodernity, it also draws on literature and cultural criticism from earlier periods so as to provide a more comprehensive framework for investigating apocalyptic ideas and their importance inside the postmodern novel. A number of modernist writers are therefore referred to or quoted throughout this thesis, as are other important thinkers from preceding periods whose ideas are especially pertinent. The present thesis was researched and written between March 2010 and August 2011 and is dedicated to all of those people who lost their lives in the apocalyptic events of the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

The Christchurch region of New Zealand experienced a series of major earthquakes and aftershocks between September 2010 and June 2011 which caused severe damage to the city’s infrastructure. The performance of tilt-up precast concrete buildings was investigated and initial observations are presented here. In general, tilt-up buildings performed well during all three major earthquakes, with mostly only minor, repairable damage occurring. For the in-plane loading direction, both loadbearing and cladding panels behaved exceptionally well, with no significant damage or failure observed in panels and their connections. A limited number of connection failures occurred due to large out-of-plane panel inertia forces. In several buildings, the connections between the panel and the internal structural frame appeared to be the weakest link, lacking in both strength and ductility. This weakness in the out-of-plane load path should be prevented in future designs.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Disaster recovery is significantly affected by funding availability. The timeliness and quality of recovery activities are not only impacted by the extent of the funding but also the mechanisms with which funding is prioritised, allocated and delivered. This research addresses the impact of funding mechanisms on the effectiveness and efficiency of post-disaster demolition and debris management programmes. A qualitative assessment of the impacts on recovery of different funding sources and mechanisms was carried out, using the 2010 Canterbury Earthquake as well as other recent international events as case studies. The impacts assessed include: timeliness, completeness, environmental, economic and social impacts. Of the case studies investigated, the Canterbury Earthquake was the only disaster response to rely solely on a privatised approach to insurance for debris management. Due to the low level of resident displacement and low level of hazard in the waste, this was a satisfactory approach, though not ideal. This approach has led to greater organisational complexity and delays. For many other events, the potential community wide impacts caused by the prolonged presence of disaster debris means that publicly funded and centrally facilitated programmes appear to be the most common and effective method of managing disaster waste.