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Damage to Weston House on Park Terrace. The front wall of those house has crumbled into the garden below. USAR codes have been spray-painted on the brick wall.

In-situ lateral load test performance of Christchurch houses

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

There is very little research on total house strength that includes contributions of non-structural elements. This testing programme provides inclusive stiffness and response data for five houses of varying ages. These light timber framed houses in Christchurch, New Zealand had minor earthquake damage from the 2011 earthquakes and were lateral load tested on site to determine their strength and/or stiffness, and to identify damage thresholds. Dynamic characteristics including natural periods, which ranged from 0.14 to 0.29s were also investigated. Two houses were quasi-statically loaded up to approximately 130kN above the foundation in one direction. Another unidirectional test was undertaken on a slab-on-grade two-storey house, which was also snapback tested. Two other houses were tested using cyclic quasi-static loading, and between cycles snapback tests were undertaken to identify the natural period of each house, including foundation and damage effects. A more detailed dynamic analysis on one of the houses provided important information on seismic safety levels of post-quake houses with respect to different hazard levels in the Christchurch area. While compared to New Zealand Building Standards all tested houses had an excess of strength, damage is a significant consideration in earthquake resilience and was observed in all of the houses. http://www.aees.org.au/downloads/conference-papers/2015-2/

Elizabeth Ackermann Photograph 143

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a damaged house on Memorial Avenue. The chimney has crumbled and the house is on a noticeable lean.

Photograph by Paul Corliss 3074

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a house with a damaged chimney. The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "On River Road, red zone".

Jim Baltaxe WEMO Photograph 040

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house in Christchurch. Bricks from the demolished house next door still lie on the roof and against the side wall.

WEMO ERT Set 1 - March 2011 - Photograph 10

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house in Christchurch. The roof of the house has collapsed, bringing the top of the front wall down with it.

WEMO ERT Set 1 - March 2011 - Photograph 11

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house in Christchurch. The roof of the house has collapsed, bringing the top of the front wall down with it.