The Christchurch City Council and the Earthquake Commission are devising a wholesale solution to the city's flood protection.
Construction teams are working to fix earthquake damaged stopbanks in the Waimakariri and Kaiapoi rivers near Christchurch.
A document which describes the processes and procedures SCIRT designers and delivery teams had to follow to locate and protect utilities.
A photograph of a New Zealand Fire Service Environment Protection Unit truck parked outside Latimer Square.
Damage to a house in Richmond. The foundation is all that remains of one room, and the exposed interior wall has been covered with builders' paper for protection. The photographer comments, "Revisiting our abandoned house. Temporary protection after the sunroom was demolished".
Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tim Manning, inspecting the damaged Cranmer Centre on Armagh Street.
Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tim Manning, inspecting the damaged Cranmer Centre on Armagh Street.
There is a relationship between inelastic deformation and energy dissipation in structures that are subjected to earthquake ground motions. Thus, if seismic energy dissipation can be achieved by means of a separate non-load bearing supplementary damping system, the load bearing structure can remain elastic with continuing serviceability following the design level earthquake. This research was carried out to investigate the advantages of using added damping in structures. The control system consists of passive friction dampers called ring spring dampers installed in the ground floor of the structure using a tendon to transmit the forces to the other parts of the structure. The ring springs dampers are friction devices consisting of inner and outer ring elements assembled to form a spring stack. External load applied to the spring produces sliding action across mating ring interfaces. The damping forces generated by the dampers and transferred in the supplemental system to the structure by the tendon and horizontal links oppose the internal loads. A four storey-two bay steel frame structure was used in the study. Experimental and analytical studies to investigate the effectiveness of a supplemental control system are presented. The model was subjected to a series of earthquake simulations on the shaking table in the Structural Laboratory of the Civil Engineering Department, at the University of Canterbury. The earthquake simulation tests have been performed on the structure both with and without the supplemental control system. The earthquake simulations were a series of gradually increasing intensity replications of two commonly used earthquake records. This thesis includes detailed description of the structural model, the supplemental control system, the ring springs dampers and the data obtained during the testing. Analyses were then carried out on a twelve storey framed structure to investigate the possible tendon arrangements and the size and type of dampers required to control the response of a real building. Guidelines for determining the appropriateness of including a supplemental damping system have been investigated. The main features of the supplemental control system adopted in this research are: • It is a passive control system with extreme reliability and having no dependence on external power sources to effect the control action. These power sources may not be available during a major earthquake. • Ring springs are steel friction devices capable of absorbing large amounts of input energy. No liquid leakage can occur and minimal maintenance is required for the ring spring dampers. • With a damper-tendon system, the distribution of the dampers throughout the structure is not so critical. Only one or two dampers are used to produce the damping forces needed, and forces are then transferred to the rest of the building by the tendon system. • It is a relatively inexpensive control system with a long useful life.
Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tim Manning, photographed in front of rubble from the damaged Cranmer Courts on Montreal Street.
A photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Coal sampling, Lyttelton Port. Protective walls of containers for boulder protection".
A photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Coal sampling, Lyttelton Port. Protective walls of containers for boulder protection".
A photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Coal sampling, Lyttelton Port. Protective walls of containers for boulder protection".
Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tim Manning, being interviewed by the media in front of the Cranmer Centre about the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
An earthquake memories story from Paul Schoolderman, Health Protection Officer, Community and Public Health, titled, "Surfing on asphalt".
An earthquake memories story from Denise Tully, Health Protection Officer, Community and Public Health, titled, "Sense finally prevailed".
An expert worried about Christchurch art in the wake of the earthquake has set up a website to identify items which may be at risk.
Helen Gatonyi is the Manager of the Christchurch Tenants Protection Association, whose own office was destroyed in the quake.
An earthquake memories story from Debbie Smith, Health Protection Officer, Community and Public Health, titled, "Long road to recovery".
An earthquake memories story from Malcolm Walker, Health Protection Officer, Community and Public Health, titled, "Suddenly the screaming started".
An earthquake memories story from Judy Williamson, Health Protection Officer, Community and Public Health, titled, "Not just another one".
A poster which illustrates each of SCIRT's eight critical risks.
A document which describes SCIRT's approach to ensuring zero harm during its five and a half year programme of work.
A document which outlines how to work safely around underground services, created to discuss with site staff at on-site "toolbox talks".
A poster created by University of Canterbury students outlining their findings from examining SCIRT's approach to managing health and safety.
A board paper which asks the SCIRT board to review and revise SCIRT's existing Health and Safety Policy.
The SCIRT Health and Safety Policy, revised in February 2016.
A final year paper prepared by University of Canterbury students examining the positive effects of SCIRT on the New Zealand construction industry's health and safety performance.
A document which outlines how to work safely in confined spaces, created to discuss with site staff at on-site "toolbox talks".
An example of a SCIRT safety alert. Safety alerts were sent out to Delivery Team Health and Safety representatives after an incident who then sent or delivered them to subcontractors.
A document which illustrates the impetus for SCIRT's zero harm programme, the parties involved, initiatives undertaken and outcomes achieved.