A story submitted by Kathleen Himiona to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Liz to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Nicky to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Sarah to the QuakeStories website.
The Catholic Cathedral is classified as a category 1 listed heritage building constructed largely of unreinforced stone masonry, and was significantly damaged in the recent Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. In the 2010 event the building presented slight to moderta damage, meanwhile in the 2011 one experienced ground shaking in excess of its capacity leading to block failures and partial collapse of parts of the building, which left the building standing but still posing a significant hazard. In this paper we discuss the approach to develop the earthquake analysis of the building by 3D numerical simulations, and the results are compared/calibrated with the observed damage of the 2010 earthquake. Very accurate records were obtained during both earthquakes due to a record station located least than 80 m of distance from the building and used in the simulations. Moreover it is included in the model the soil structure interaction because it was observed that the ground and foundation played an important role on the seismic behavior of the structure. A very good agreement was found between the real observed damage and the nonlinear dynamic simulations described trough inelastic deformation (cracking) and building´s performance.
The clock tower of the former Railway Station, encased in plywood to prevent further damage. A banner sponsored by The Press hangs below the clock, covered with words which symbolise the September earthquake. The photographer comments, "After the September earthquake the clocked stopped at 04:35 and everyone campaigned to have this clock left as it was. At that time the building was believed to be OK. Two more earthquakes later and the possible memorial will probably end up like a lot of Christchurch's heritage buildings on a huge pile of stone and bricks in Bottle Lake Forest".
Summary of oral history interview with Hana about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes. Pseudonym used to identify interviewee.
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 7 May 2013 entitled, "My Thoughts on the Rebuild of Christchurch".
Unreinforced masonry (URM) is a construction type that was commonly adopted in New Zealand between the 1880s and 1930s. URM construction is evidently vulnerable to high magnitude earthquakes, with the most recent New Zealand example being the 22 February 2011 Mw6.3 Christchurch earthquake. This earthquake caused significant damage to a majority of URM buildings in the Canterbury area and resulted in 185 fatalities. Many URM buildings still exist in various parts of New Zealand today, and due to their likely poor seismic performance, earthquake assessment and retrofit of the remaining URM building stock is necessary as these buildings have significant architectural heritage and occupy a significant proportion of the nation’s building stock. A collaborative research programme between the University of Auckland and Reid Construction Systems was conducted to investigate an economical yet effective solution for retrofitting New Zealand’s existing URM building stock. This solution adopts the shotcrete technique using an Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), which is a polyvinyl alcohol fibre reinforced mortar that exhibits strain hardening characteristics. Collaborations have been formed with a number of consulting structural engineers throughout New Zealand to develop innovative and cost effective retrofit solutions for a number of buildings. Two such case studies are presented in this paper. http://www.concrete2013.com.au/technical-program/
A story submitted by LC to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Rose to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Chrissy Ashton to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Gary Manch to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Jenny Garing to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Paul Sterk to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Greg Cole to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Frank Hardy to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Scott Thomas to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Ali to the QuakeStories website.
Summary of oral history interview with Zara about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.
A pdf transcript of Andrea's second earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox Take 2 project. Interviewer: Samuel Hope. Transcriber: Josie Hepburn.
A photograph submitted by Anonymous to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "The demolition of our preschool opposite Cranmer Square. All children and teachers were evacuated safely with the help of builders working on the old Girl’s High building in front.".
A story submitted by Lin to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Jeremy Ellen to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Joan Curry to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Sarndra to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Elizabeth to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Bettina to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Candy Green to the QuakeStories website.
Prior to the devastating 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, parts of the CBD of Christchurch, New Zealand were undergoing revitalisation incorporating aspects of adaptive reuse and gentrification. Such areas were often characterised by a variety of bars, restaurants, and retail outlets of an “alternative” or “bohemian” style. These early 20th century buildings also exhibited relatively low rents and a somewhat chaotic and loosely planned property development approach by small scale developers. Almost all of these buildings were demolished following the earthquakes and a cordon placed around the CBD for several years. A paper presented at the ERES conference in 2013 presented preliminary results, from observation of post-earthquake public meetings and interviews with displaced CBD retailers. This paper highlighted a strongly held fear that the rebuild of the central city, then about to begin, would result in a very different style and cost structure from that which previously existed. As a result, permanent exclusion from the CBD of the types of businesses that previously characterised the successfully revitalised areas would occur. Five years further on, new CBD retail and office buildings have been constructed, but large areas of land between them remain vacant and the new buildings completed are often having difficulty attracting tenants. This paper reports on the further development of this long-term Christchurch case study and examines if the earlier predictions of the displaced retailers are coming true, in that a new CBD that largely mimics a suburban mall in style and tenancy mix, inherently loses some of its competitive advantage?