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Images for movement; more images...

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A large crack where the foundation of a building has moved away from the adjoining carpark. The photographer comments, "The gap between Robbies restaurant and bar in New Brighton and the car park after the Christchurch Earthquake".

Images, Canterbury Museum

One model of the Temple for Christchurch with a rectangular base of Jarrah and solid silver conical shapes and wave like walls representing the movement of the 22 February 2011 earthquake. Based on the Temple for Christchurch sculpture that was designed by Hippathy Valentine.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Aftermath of the earthquake in Christchurch where the cleanup has begun. Teams of building inspectors gathered at the Linwood Service Centre before heading into the eastern suburbs en masse. Movement around Dallington Terrace was varied. The Medway Street footbridge from River Road to Avonside Drive".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liquefaction and buckled tarmac on a residential street in North New Brighton. The photographer comments, "In the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch the kerb at the end of my road was pushed from both ends. This caused it to move away from the grass verge and push itself under the tarmac. The tarmac would normally have been 3 inches below the top of the kerb. Between the kerb and the grass can be seen the colour of the liquefaction that spewed out from the ground. The tarmac in the area seemed to flow downhill".

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

During 2010 and 2011, a series of major earthquakes caused widespread damage in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The magnitude 6.3 quake in February 2011 caused 185 fatalities. In the ensuing months, the government progressively zoned residential land in Christchurch on the basis of its suitability for future occupation (considering damage from these quakes and future earthquake risk). Over 6,000 homes were placed in the ‘red-zone’, meaning that property owners were forced to sell their land to the Crown. This study analysed patterns of residential mobility amongst thirty-one red-zone households from the suburb of Southshore, Christchurch. Drawing on interviews and surveys, the research traced their experience from the zoning announcement until they had moved to a new residence. The research distinguished between short (before the zoning announcement) and long term (post the red zone ‘deadline’) forms of household relocation. The majority of households in the study were highly resistant to short term movement. Amongst those which did relocate before the zoning decision, the desire to maintain a valued social connection with a person outside of the earthquake environment was often an important factor. Some households also moved out of perceived necessity (e.g. due to lack of power or water). In terms of long-term relocation, concepts of affordability and safety were much more highly valued by the sample when purchasing post-quake property. This resulted in a distinct patterning of post-quake housing location choices. Perceived control over the moving process, relationship with government organisations and insurance companies, and time spent in the red-zone before moving all heavily influenced participants’ disaster experience. Contrary to previous studies, households in this study recorded higher levels of subjective well-being after relocating. The study proposed a typology of movers in the Christchurch post-disaster environment. Four mobility behaviours, or types, are identified: the Committed Stayers (CSs), the Environment Re-Creators (ERCs), the Resigned Acceptors (RAs), and the Opportunistic Movers (OMs). The CSs were defined by their immobility rather than their relocation aspirations, whilst the ERCs attempted to recreate or retain aspects of Southshore through their mobility. The RAs expressed a form of apathy towards the post-quake environment, whereas, on the other hand, the OMs moved relative to pre-earthquake plans, or opportunities that arose from the earthquake itself. Possibilities for further research include examining household adaptability to new residential environments and tracking further mobility patterns in the years following relocation from the red- zone.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

One of the less understood geotechnical responses to the cyclic loading from the MW6.2 Christchurch Earthquake, on the 22nd of February 2011, is the fissuring in the loessial soil-mantled, footslope positions of the north-facing valleys of the Port Hills. The fissures are characterized by mostly horizontal offset (≤500mm), with minor vertical displacement (≤300mm), and they extend along both sides of valleys for several hundred metres in an approximately contour-parallel orientation. The fissure traces correspond to extensional features mapped in other studies. Previous studies have suggested that the fissures are the headscarps of incipient landslides, but the surface and subsurface features are not typical of landslide movement. Whilst there are some features that correlate with landslide movement, there are many features that contradict the landslide movement hypothesis. Of critical importance to this investigation was the fact that there are no landslide flanks, there has been no basal shear surface found, there is little deformation in the so-called ‘landslide body’, and there have been no recorded zones of low shear strength in the soil deposit that are indicative of a basal shear surface. This thesis is a detailed geotechnical study on the fissures along part of Ramahana Road in the Hillsborough Valley, Christchurch. Shallow and deep investigation methods found that the predominant soil is loess-colluvium, to depths of ~20m, and this soil has variable geotechnical characteristics depending on the layer sampled. The factor that has the most influence on shear strength was found to be the moisture content. Direct shear-box testing of disturbed, recompacted loess-colluvium found that the soil had a cohesion of 35-65kPa and a friction angle of 38-43° when the soil moisture content was at 8-10%. However when the moisture content was at 19-20% the soil’s cohesion decreased to 3-5kPa and its friction angle decreased to 33-38°, this moisture content is at or slightly above the plastic limit. An electrical resistivity geophysical survey was conducted perpendicular to multiple fissure traces and through the compressional zone at 17 Ramahana Road. The electrical resistivity line found that there was an area of high resistivity at the toe of the slope, and an area of high conductivity downslope of this and at greater depths. This area correlated to the compressional zone recorded by previous studies. Moisture content testing of the soil in these locations showed that the soil in the resistive area was relatively dry (9%) compared to the surrounding soil (13%), whilst the soil in the conductive area was relatively wet (22%)compared to the surrounding soil (19%). Density tests of the soil in the compressional zone recorded that the resistive area had a higher dry density than the surrounding soil (~1790 kg/m3 compared to ~1650 kg/m3). New springs arose downslope of the compressional zone contemporaneously with the fissures, and it is interpreted that these have arisen from increased hydraulic head in the Banks Peninsula bedrock aquifer system, and earthquake induced-bedrock fracturing. A test pit was dug across an infilled fissure trace at 17 Ramahana Road to a depth of 3m. The fissure trace had an aperture of 450-470mm at the ground surface, but it gradually lost aperture with depth until 2.0-2.1m where it became a segmented fissure trace with 1-2mm aperture. A mixed-colluvium layer was intercepted by the fissure trace at 2.4m depth, and there was no observable vertical offset of this layer. The fissure trace was at an angle of 78° at the ground surface, but it also flattened with depth, which gave it a slightly curved appearance. The fissure trace was at an assumed angle of 40-50° near the base of the test pit. Rotational slide, translational slide and lateral spread landslide movement types were compared and contrasted as possibilities for landslide movement types, whilst an alternative hypothesis was offered that the fissures are tensile failures with a quasi-toppling motion involving a cohesive block of loessial soil moving outwards from the slope, with an accommodating compressional strain in the lower less cohesive soil. The mechanisms behind this movement are suggested to be the horizontal earthquake inertia forces from the Christchurch Earthquake, the static shear stress of the slope, and bedrock uplift of the Port Hills in relation to the subsidence of the Christchurch city flatlands. Extremely high PGA is considered to be a prerequisite to the fissure trace development, and these can only be induced in the Hillsborough Valley from a Port Hills Fault rupture, which has a recurrence interval of ~10,000 years. The current understanding of how the loess-colluvium soil would behave under cyclic loading is limited, and the mechanisms behind the suggested movement type are not completely understood. Further research is needed to confirm the proposed mechanism of the fissure traces. Laboratory tests such as the cyclic triaxial and cyclic shear test would be beneficial in future research to quantitatively test how the soil behaves under cyclic loading at various moisture contents and clay contents, and centrifuge experiments would be of great use to qualitatively test the suggested mode of movement in the loessial soil.

Videos, UC QuakeStudies

A video capturing an aftershock from the Canterbury earthquake on 22 February 2011, 1:04pm. After the 6.3 magnitude earthquake at 12:51pm, Ben Post set up his camera on a tripod and left it running. The movement of the water in the fish tank during the quake suggests that the shaking is up and down. The camera also shows this effect; due to the lightweight material of the tripod, the camera is shaken about more than the surroundings.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A wooden house in Wainoni has visibly bowed inwards towards its centre. The photographer comments, "During the numerous earthquakes in Christchurch the land which ran alongside the Avon river on Avonside Drive slumped towards the waterway. In a line parallel to the road the road, but around 20m away a ground movement occurred which caused some houses to rise up or sink down".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A motion-blurred photograph of houses, with the Port Hills in the background. The photographer comments, "This I hope gives you a feel of what it feels like in an earthquake. When you spend your whole life thinking that you and your home are built on solid ground, it can be quite a shock when you find it is not. You can feel the house shaking like a dog with a toy, rising up violently underneath you or the most gentle form which is when the ground moves gently like a wave moving under a rowing boat. It is not just the movement, you often get a rumbling sound which can precede a violent shake or can result in no movement at all. This means that some vehicles can sound like the rumbling initially and in the early days would get your heart racing. Another form of stress is when big excavators as heavy as a tank move as you can feel the ground shake from streets away, but you do not always hear the engine. For most of us the problem when the shaking starts, is wondering if this is the start of an extremely violent earthquake or will it peter out".

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

A zone of active tectonism occurs in mid and north Canterbury, from the Rakaia to the Waipara Rivers, which coincides with seismicity concentrations and several Quaternary surface anomalies and is here defined as the Porters Pass Tectonic Zone. Although parallel to the Marlborough faults to the north, the lack of regional definition suggests this zone is much younger in its inception reflecting a southward movement of the plate rotation vector. The objectives of this study were to map the structures associated with this zone in the segment between the Rakaia and Waimakariri Rivers with detailed analysis concentrated in the upper Kawai Valley. Quaternary offsets on the main lineament of the Porters Pass Fault were traced through the area and evidence for the rate of movement, probable magnitudes and return periods of related seismic events was sought. The basement was found to be complicated by pre-existing deformation structures in Torlesse Group rocks which have been subsequently been re-activated or rotated by recent fault movement probably beginning in the Pleistocene. This phase is dominantly thrusting and uplift has lead to the erosion of most of the overlying sedimentary cover. Remnants of the Cret-Tertiary sediments still remain as fault-bounded packets. Evidence suggests that a change to development of a regional lateral shear associated with the Porters Pass Tectonic Zone transects the thrust system with complex interaction between the older reverse and new strike-slip faults. Offset rates along the segments of the Porters Pass Fault are not well constrained but are believed to be approximately in the range of 11-13 mm/year for at least the last 130,000 years. This rate is similar to other large faults in the Marlborough region. Two earthquake events have been identified and dated at 600 and 2000 years ago, with a magnitude of greater than 6.5. Evidence suggests characteristic earthquakes along the Porters Pass Fault are greater than Magnitude 7. This result has some major ramifications for the expected seismic hazards for nearby Christchurch.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This article reports on research conducted in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. This quake and thousands of subsequent aftershocks have left the city of Christchurch with serious infrastructure damage to roads, sewage supply, housing and commercial buildings. The emergence of a vibrant art and craft movement in the Christchurch region post earthquake has been an unexpected aspect of the recovery process. The article begins with a review of the literature on traditional responses to disaster recovery illustrating how more contemporary approaches are community-focused. We review the links between crafting and well-being, and report on qualitative research conducted with five focus groups and nine individuals who have contributed to this movement in Christchurch. The findings illustrate the role crafting has played post earthquake, in terms of processing key elements of the disaster for healing and recovery, creating opportunities for social support; giving to others; generating learning and meaning making and developing a vision for the future. The data analysis is underpinned by theory related to post-traumatic growth and ecological concerns. The role of social work in promoting low-cost initiatives such as craft groups to foster social resilience and aid in the recovery from disaster trauma is explored. This discussion considers why such approaches are rare in social work.

Videos, UC QuakeStudies

A video of a press conference with Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Mayor Lianne Dalziel. The conference was held to announce the implementation of the Accessible Transport Plan. Brownlee announces the introduction of a 30 km/h speed limit in the inner city zone, facilitating the use of bicycles and encouraging pedestrian movement within the centre city. Lianne also talks about how the plan allows for a clean, green, safe, and accessible city, reflecting the public's visions in the Share an Idea campaign.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Following the Mw 6.2 Christchurch Earthquake on 22 February 2011, extensive ground cracking in loessial soils was reported in some areas of the Port Hills, southeast of central Christchurch. This study was undertaken to investigate the mechanisms of earthquake-induced ground damage on the eastern side of the Hillsborough Valley. A zone of extensional cracking up to 40m wide and 600m long was identified along the eastern foot-slope, accompanied by compression features and spring formation at the toe of the slope. An engineering geological and geomorphological model was developed for the eastern Hillsborough Valley that incorporates geotechnical investigation data sourced from the Canterbury Geotechnical Database (CGD), the findings of trenching and seismic refraction surveying carried out for this research, and interpretation of historical aerial photographs. The thickness and extent of a buried peat swamp at the base of the slope was mapped, and found to coincide with significant compression features. Ground cracking was found to have occurred entirely within loess-colluvium and to follow the apices of pre-1920s tunnel-gully fan debris at the southern end of the valley. The ground-cracking on the eastern side of the Hillsborough Valley is interpreted to have formed through tensile failure of the loess-colluvium. Testing was carried out to determine the tensile strength of Port Hills loess colluvium as a function of water content and density, in order to better understand the occurrence and distribution of the observed ground cracking. A comprehensive review of the soil tensile strength testing literature was undertaken, from which a test methodology was developed. Results show remoulded loess-colluvium to possess tensile strength of 7 - 28 kPa across the range of tested moisture contents (10-15%) and dry densities (1650-1900kg/m3). A positive linear relationship was observed between tensile strength and dry density, and a negative linear relationship between moisture content and tensile strength. The observed ground damage and available geotechnical information (inclinometer and piezometer records provided by the Earthquake Commission) were together used to interpret the mechanism(s) of slope movement that occurred in the eastern Hillsborough Valley. The observed ground damage is characteristic of translational movement, but without the development of lateral release scarps, or a basal sliding surface - which was not located during drilling. It is hypothesised that shear displacement has been accommodated by multiple slip surfaces of limited extent within the upper 10m of the slope. Movement has likely occurred within near-saturated colluvial units that have lost strength during earthquake shaking. The eastern Hillsborough Valley is considered to be an ‘incipient translational slide’, as both the patterns of damage and shearing are consistent with the early stages of such slide development. Sliding block analysis was utilised to understand how the eastern Hillsborough Valley may perform in a future large magnitude earthquake. Known cumulative displacements of ~0.3m for eastern Hillsborough Valley during the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence were compared with modelled slope displacements to back-analyse a lower-bound yield acceleration of 0.2 - 0.25g. Synthetic broadband modelling for future Alpine and Hope Fault earthquakes indicates PGAs of approximately 0.08g for soil sites in the Christchurch area, as such, slope movement is unlikely to be reactivated by an Alpine Fault or Hope Fault earthquake. This does not take into account the possible role of strength loss due to excess pore pressure that may occur during these future events.

Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

An elderly couple sit having afternoon tea and chatting about Prince William's visit to Christchurch after the February 22 earthquake. The woman expresses delight that 'Prince William took time out to visit Christchurch' and her husband comments that there is 'Not much talk about becoming a republic lately'. Context - The Christchurch earthquakes of 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011 and Prince William's subsequent visit. Also discussion about New Zealand's becoming a republic; there is a Republican Movement who are promoting the idea of an elected head of state. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

This report provided information on the location and character of the Ostler Fault Zone near Twizel. The fault traces, and associated recommended fault avoidance zones, were mapped in detail for inclusion in a District Plan Change for the Twizel area. The Ostler Fault Zone was mapped in detail because of the higher likelihood of movement on that fault than others in the district, and the potential for future development across the fault zone because of its proximity to Twizel. See Object Overview for background and usage information. The report recommended that the information be incorporated into the District Plan Change and that site-specific investigations be undertaken before development is allowed within the fault avoidance zones. These recommendations were taken up by Mackenzie District Council.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This paper describes pounding damage sustained by buildings and bridges in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Approximately 6% of buildings in Christchurch CBD were observed to have suffered some form of serious pounding damage. Almost all of this pounding damage occurred in masonry buildings, further highlighting their vulnerability to this phenomenon. Modern buildings were found to be vulnerable to pounding damage where overly stiff and strong ‘flashing’ components were installed in existing building separations. Soil variability is identified as a key aspect that amplifies the relative movement of buildings, and hence increases the likelihood of pounding damage. Pounding damage in bridges was found to be relatively minor and infrequent in the Christchurch earthquake.

Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

This topic was chosen in response to the devastation caused to Cathedral Square, Christchurch, New Zealand following earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Working amongst the demolition bought to attention questions about how to re-conceive the square within the rebuilt city. In particular, it raised questions as to how a central square could be better integrated and experienced as a contemporary addition to Christchurch city. This thesis seeks to investigate the ways in which central squares can be better integrated with the contemporary city and how New Urbanist design principles can contribute toward this union. The research principally focuses on the physical and spatial integration of the square with the contemporary city. A drawing-based analysis of select precedent case studies helped to determine early on that overall integration of the contemporary square could be attributed to several interdependent criteria. The detailed studies are supplemented further with literature-based research that narrowed the criteria to five integrative properties. These are: identity, scale and proportion, use, connectivity and natural landscape. These were synthesised, in part, from the integrative New Urbanist movement and the emerging integrative side of the more contemporary Post Urbanist movement. The literature-based research revealed that a more inclusive approach toward New Urbanist and Post Urbanist design methodologies may also produce a more integrated and contemporary square. Three design case studies, using the redesign of Cathedral Square, were undertaken to test this hypothesis. The case studies found that overall, integration was reliant on a harmonious balance between the five integrative properties, concluding that squares can be better integrated with the contemporary city. Further testing of the third concept, which embraced an allied New Urbanist / Post Urbanist approach to design, found that New Urbanism was limited in its contribution toward the integration of the square.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The collapse of Redcliffs’ cliff in the 22 February 2011 and 13 June 2011 earthquakes were the first times ever a major failure incident occurred at Redcliffs in approximately 6000 years. This master’s thesis is a multidisciplinary engineering geological investigation sought to study these particular failure incidents, focusing on collecting the data necessary to explain the cause and effect of the cliff collapsing in the event of two major earthquakes. This study provides quantitative and qualitative data about the geotechnical attributes and engineering geological nature of the sea-cut cliff located at Redcliffs. Results from surveying the geology of Redcliffs show that the exposed lithology of the cliff face is a variably jointed rock body of welded and (relatively intact) unwelded ignimbrite, a predominantly massive unit of brecciated tuff, and a covering of wind-blown loess and soil deposit (commonly found throughout Canterbury) on top of the cliff. Moreover, detailing the external component of the slope profile shows that Redcliffs’ cliff is a 40 – 80 m cliff with two intersecting (NE and SE facing) slope aspects. The (remotely) measured geometry of the cliff face comprises of multiple outstanding gradients, averaging a slope angle of ~67 degrees (post-13 June 2011), where the steepest components are ~80 degrees, whereas the gentle sloping sections are ~44 degrees. The physical structure of Redcliffs’ cliff drastically changed after each collapse, whereby seismically induced alterations to the slope geometry resulted in material deposited on the talus at the base of the cliff. Prior to the first collapse, the variance of the gradient down the slope was minimal, with the SE Face being the most variable with up to three major gradients on one cross section. However, after each major collapse, the variability increased with more parts of the cliff face having more than one major gradient that is steeper or gentler than the remainder of the slope. The estimated volume of material lost as a result of the gradient changes was 28,267 m³ in February and 11,360 m³ in June 2011. In addition, surveys of the cliff top after the failure incidents revealed the development of fissures along the cliff edge. Monitoring 10 fissures over three months indicated that fissured by the cliff edge respond to intense seismicity (generally ≥ Mw 4) by widening. Redcliffs’ cliff collapsed on two separate occasions as a result of an accumulated amount of damage of the rock masses in the cliff (caused by weathering and erosion over time), and two Mw 6.2 trigger earthquakes which shook the Redcliffs and the surrounding area at a Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) estimated to be around 2 g. The results of the theoretical study suggests that PGA levels felt on-site during both instances of failure are the result of three major factors: source of the quake and the site affected; topographic amplification of the ground movement; the short distance between the source and the cliff for both fault ruptures; the focus of seismic energy in the direction of thrust faulting along a path that intercepts Redcliffs (and the Port Hills). Ultimately, failure on the NE and SE Faces of Redcliffs’ cliff was concluded to be global as every part of the exposed cliff face deposited a significant volume of material on the talus at the base of the cliff, with the exception of one section on the NE Face. The cliff collapses was a concurrent process that is a single (non-monotonic) event that operated as a complex series of (primarily) toppling rock falls, some sliding of blocks, and slumping of the soil mantle on top of the cliff. The first collapse had a mixture of equivalent continua slope movement of the heavily weathered / damaged surface of the cliff face, and discontinuous slope movement of the jointed inner slope (behind the heavily weathered surface); whereas the second collapse resulted in only discontinuous slope movement on account of the freshly exposed cliff face that had damage to the rock masses, in the form of old and (relatively) new discontinuous fractures, induced by earthquakes and aftershocks leading up to the point of failure.