Almost three days on from the 6 point 3 earthquake that shattered central Christchurch and Lyttleton and searchers are continuing to find more bodies but no more survivors in the rubble.
The head of the the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce, Peter Townsend, says the effects of the Christchurch earthquake will dominate business in Canterbury for at least the next three years.
The Labour Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel says the city council has made a terrible decision about how it organises help for earthquake victims and it needs to be changed urgently.
A new survey shows New Zealand insurers are worried the industry's reputation could be ruined if it does not deal well with the huge number of claims from the Christchurch earthquakes.
Christchurch will lose its Rugby World Cup games with a report finding the city's stadium is unfit to host matches in the wake of last month's earthquake, British media is reporting.
Auckland structural engineer John Scarry is concerned that the series of investigations into earthquake related collapses of Christchurch buildings won't result in the changes needed to make the city safer.
The Anglican Church has been asked why it failed to carry out a detailed inspection of a building which partially collapsed, killing a Canadian tourist in Christchurch during the February earthquake.
Christchurch carpenter Chris Nutfield rescued three women from the collapsed PGC building. He's one of the many to receive a bravery and heroism award one year after the February 2011 earthquake.
The days of aftershocks have got too much for the Wingfield family who are getting out of Christchurch in an effort to calm their deeply distressed children aged two and five.
Civil Engineer Professor Jason Ingham discusses his extensive projects investigating seismic retrofit of structures in earthquake regions he's been to over the past 12 months, Indonesia, Chile and of course, Christchurch.
The Green Party has spelt out how it would impose an earthquake levy on higher earning taxpayers, to fund the rebuild of Christchurch, if it becomes part of the next Government.
The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister has been forced to concede he's received official advice on the Christchurch City Council selling some of its assets to help pay for rebuilding the city.
The Christchurch City Council's control of the earthquake recovery plan has been taken out of its hands, to the delight of business leaders, but to the chagrin of some local councilors.
The first passenger train from Piction to Christchurch since the devastating Kaikōura earthquake has arrived in the Garden City - Kathy Templeman was on board and says it was an emotional experience.
A public talk by Michael Gorman, Christchurch City Missioner at the City Mission. This talk, entitled 'Dealing with the social aftershock', formed part of the Plenary Two session, 'Clearing the decks'.
Graffiti on a damaged building on Colombo Street. The photographer comments, "This street art has been unseen by the general Christchurch population as it was off limits in the Red Zone".
Graffiti on a damaged building. The photographer comments, "They should have painted four leaf clover, if they wanted this tagging to survive the demolition of the earthquake damaged Ozone in Christchurch
The end gable of the Library Chambers has crumbled, and the area has been cordoned off with fencing and cones. In the background is the new Christchurch City Council's Civic Offices.
National's new deputy leader Gerry Brownlee discusses today's resignations from Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams, his track record in helping Christchurch earthquake claimants, and National's plans for the Auckland Central electorate.
Owners of earthquake-damaged land in Christchurch may not get an individual payout from the Earthquake Commission if it goes ahead instead with a more widespread approach to fixing the land.
EQC said it would provide the Ross family with a cash settlement by February 20, almost seven years to the day since the Christchurch earthquake. Now it's commissioning another rebuild estimate.
EQC CEO Sid Miller says the agency is currently defending 316 legal cases over the Christchurch earthquakes, and is considering legal action against Fletcher's for its project management of the repairs.
Christchurch people who have had to battle insurance companies over the repair or rebuild of earthquake damaged homes are welcoming the Labour party's idea of an earthquake court to settle disputes.
What are the lessons from the Christchurch earthquakes? The Government was slow in their quake response, but does that mean we should give more property market power to the private sector?
The Canterbury region experienced widespread damage due to liquefaction induced by seismic shaking during the 4 September 2010 earthquake and the large aftershocks that followed, notably those that occurred on 22 February, 13 June and 23 December 2011. Following the 2010 earthquake, the Earthquake Commission directed a thorough investigation of the ground profile in Christchurch, and to date, more than 7500 cone penetration tests (CPT) have been performed in the region. This paper presents the results of analyses which use a subset of the geotechnical database to evaluate the liquefaction process as well as the re-liquefaction that occurred following some of the major events in Christchurch. First, the applicability of existing CPT-based methods for evaluating liquefaction potential of Christchurch soils was investigated using three methods currently available. Next, the results of liquefaction potential evaluation were compared with the severity of observed damage, categorised in terms of the land damage grade developed from Tonkin & Taylor property inspections as well as from observed severity of liquefaction from aerial photography. For this purpose, the Liquefaction Potential Index (LPI) was used to represent the damage potential at each site. In addition, a comparison of the CPT-based strength profiles obtained before each of the major aftershocks was performed. The results suggest that the analysis of spatial and temporal variations of strength profiles gives a clear indication of the resulting liquefaction and re-liquefaction observed in Christchurch. The comparison of a limited number of CPT strength profiles before and after the earthquakes seems to indicate that no noticeable strengthening has occurred in Christchurch, making the area vulnerable to liquefaction induced land damage in future large-scale earthquakes.
Following the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes a detailed campaign of door to door assessments was conducted in a variety of areas of Christchurch to establish the earthquake performance of residential dwellings having masonry veneer as an external cladding attached to a lightweight timber framing system. Specifically, care was taken to include regions of Christchurch which experienced different levels of earthquake shaking in order to allow comparison between the performance of different systems and different shaking intensities. At the time of the inspections the buildings in the Christchurch region had been repeatedly subjected to large earthquakes, presenting an opportunity for insight into the seismic performance of masonry veneer cladding. In total just under 1100 residential dwellings were inspected throughout the wider Christchurch area, of which 24% were constructed using the older nail-on veneer tie system (prior to 1996) and 76% were constructed using screw fixed ties to comply with the new 1996 standards revision (post-1996), with 30% of all inspected houses being of two storey construction. Of the inspected dwellings 27% had some evidence of liquefaction, ground settlement or lateral spreading. Data such as damage level, damage type, crack widths, level of repair required and other parameters were collected during the survey. A description of the data collection processes and a snapshot of the analysis results are presented within. http://15ibmac.com/home/
A couple sits in a Travel Agency discussing places to go for a holiday. The travel agent says 'Worried about holidaying in New Zealand - well how about...' and she turns to the display of countries to visit on the wall behind her. Each of the countries is illustrated with a very negative image; e.g. 'Japan' with a nuclear symbol, 'Thailand' with a pile of human ashes, 'Sth Africa' with two arms raised in desperate supplication... Context - The couple do not want to visit New Zealand because of the Canterbury earthquakes and there seem to be an awful lot of natural disasters or wars or high expense etc. recently. Colour and black and white versions available Quantity: 2 digital cartoon(s).
Tertiary students, not just working populations, might be experiencing feelings of burnout following the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. In the aftermath of a major disaster, the gap between the resources available to handle pressures (e.g., support) and the demands inherent in the pursuit of an academic degree (e.g., heavy workload) may lead to feelings of burnout among students. This study hypothesised that burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion and disengagement) would be related to students’ perceptions of immediate institutional support, extended institutional support, peer support, family support, and work overload. Additionally, it was proposed that institutional and social support would moderate the relationship between work overload and burnout. Two hundred and seventy one third and fourth year students were sampled using an online questionnaire. These particular students were expected to be at greater risk of emotional exhaustion and academic disengagement because they were at the earliest stage of their tertiary education when the major earthquakes first hit. Family support and extended institutional support were found to be associated with decreased levels of emotional exhaustion and disengagement. Meanwhile, work overload was found to be related to increased levels of emotional exhaustion and disengagement. Furthermore, both peer support and immediate institutional support were found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between work overload and disengagement. This study has exposed unique findings which contribute to burnout research especially in a post-disaster context, and raises the importance of providing the right types of support for individuals who are particularly dealing with the consequences of a natural disaster.
This study explored the effects of the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 on different areas of quality of life (QOL) for children and adolescents with disabilities. Using a survey developed from the Quality of Life Instrument for People with Developmental Disabilities – Short Version (QOL-PDD-SV) (Brown, Raphael & Renwick, 1997) and The World Health Organisation Quality of Life - (WHOQOL)-BREF, parents or caregivers were asked to identify what level of importance and satisfaction their child or adolescent placed on areas of QOL including physical health, psychological health - stress levels and coping ability, attachment to their neighbourhood, friends, family, leisure activities, community access and schooling. They were also asked to determine what level of impact the earthquakes had had on each area of their child or adolescent’s life and overall quality of life in the aftermath of the earthquakes. A total of 31 parents of 22 males and 9 females between the ages of 2.5 years to 19 years of age (mean age: 12.6 years) responded. The results were collated and analysis was run to measure for the effect of age, gender and geographical location. The results found that the earthquakes affected nearly every area of QOL for the children and adolescents. The biggest impact on the children’s psychological health and their ability to cope It was observed that younger children (<13) were more likely to record improved or lessened effects from the earthquakes in psychological health areas. However, the areas of social belonging and friendships were the least affected by the earthquakes. Female children were more likely to indicate higher scores for social belonging after the earthquakes. Many parents observed that their children developed improved coping skills over the earthquake period. The findings in this study offer a better understanding of how earthquakes can affect the quality of life children and adolescents with disabilities.
The side wall of the building on the left collapsed onto their roof, collapsing it into the stonemasons store. Several gravestones were also damaged!