Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings have repeatedly been shown to perform poorly in large magnitude earthquakes, with both New Zealand and Australia having a history of past earthquakes that have resulted in fatalities due to collapsed URM buildings. A comparison is presented here of the URM building stock and the seismic vulnerability of Christchurch and Adelaide in order to demonstrate the relevance to Australian cities of observations in Christchurch resulting from the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquake swarm. It is shown that the materials, architecture and hence earthquake strength of URM buildings in both countries is comparable and that Adelaide and other cities of Australia have seismic vulnerability sufficient to cause major damage to their URM buildings should a design level earthquake occur. Such an earthquake is expected to cause major building damage, and fatalities should be expected.
Photo of earthquake damage on Double Days Road taken by Kate Roughan, 8 September 2010.
The University of Canterbury's CEISMIC project is building a digital archive of earthquake-related information
The Earthquake Commission says it's had to dismiss assessors who've not met its standards when dealing with Canterbury claimants.
Blog from Christchurch business-owner Nicky Arts detailing the rebuild of the Christchurch CBD following the earthquakles of 2010 and 2011.
Minister for Social Development and Employment, Paula Bennett discusses Financial assistance in the wake of the Canterbury earthquake.
State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie is helping to recruit the new head of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
An earthquake memories story from Sarah Carnoutsos, Canterbury Health Laboratories Community Liaison Representative, titled, "Tears of relief".
Canterbury's earthquake risk has caught up to Wellington's.
This report assesses issues and options for preparing an earthquake hazard and risk assessment programme for Canterbury. It outlines investigation options and associated costs in order to better understand Canterbury's earthquake hazard and risk. Although earthquake hazard and risk information needs and investigation priorities within Canterbury have changed over the past 15 years, the majority of the report’s recommended components have been undertaken to some degree either by Environment Canterbury or other organisations. See Object Overview for background and usage information.
A class action taken by 40 Canterbury earthquake claimants against Southern Response heads to court tomorrow.
The Government is considering introducing a state of emergency after a series of powerful earthquakes in Christchurch this afternoon.
Amidst the damage and disruption of the Canterbury earthquake, spare a thought for the animals.
A photograph of a veterinarian giving a puppy a full health check after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of an SPCA Field Officer carrying a dog to safety after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Response 66 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 71 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 68 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 8 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 59 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 62 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 49 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 2 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 3 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 64 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 11 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 12 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 17 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 15 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 1 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.