A woman takes a photograph over the top of the cordon fence at the east end of Re:Start mall. The photographer comments, "The new temporary city mall has been open in Christchurch now for a week. Buildings damaged in the earthquake have been demolished and replaced with cargo containers to create a new, temporary, Cashel Mall. I visited the mall yesterday and was quite impressed with what they have done. The cargo containers have been nicely converted, brightly painted and smartly branded to create some good looking stores ... You'd think it would be strange to stand where my old office used to be and view these cargo-container-stores, but the reality was that it was so far removed from what used to be there that it was actually quite difficult to make the connection. It was only when straying to the attractive wooden boundary fences and peering over that you're suddenly taken back to the time running right up to, and shortly after, the earthquake".
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Governance is understood to have considerable influence on the success of recoveries following a natural disaster. What constitutes good governance and successful recovery in these circumstances? This question is discussed in relation to two recent recovery processes. Sri Lanka has, for all intents and purposes, recovered from the tsunami that struck there and other parts of southern Asia in 2004. Christchurch, New Zealand was devastated by a sequence of earthquakes during 2010 and 2011 and recovery there is now well under way. The paper discusses the governance structures that have guided these two recoveries. While it is understood that the effects of disasters could potentially be life long and recovery from them complex, compatibility of the process and outcomes in relation to cultural norms and the critical issue of housing are the key issues discussed across the two cases.
Creativity that is driven by a need for physical or economic survival, which disasters are likely to inspire, raises the question of whether such creativity fits with conventional theories and perspectives of creativity. In this paper we use the opportunity afforded by the 2010-2013 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquakes to follow and assess the creative practices and responses of a number of groups and individuals. We use in-depth interviews to tease out motivations and read these against a range of theoretical propositions about creativity. In particular, we focus on the construct of “elite panic” and the degree to which this appeared to be evident in the Christchurch earthquakes context. Bureaucratic attempts to control or limit creativity were present but they did not produce a completely blanket dampening effect. Certain individuals and groups seemed to be pre-equipped to navigate or ignore potential blocks to creativity. We argue, using Geir Kaufmann’s novelty-creativity matrix and aspects of Teresa Amabile’s and Michael G. Pratt’s revised componential theory of creativity that a special form of disaster creativity does exist.
Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBFs) are a widely used seismic resisting structural steel system. Since their inception in the late 1970s, they have been a viable option with an available stiffness that is between simple braced systems and moment resisting systems. A similar concept, the linked column frame (LCF), uses shear links between two closely spaced columns. In both cases, the key component is the active link or the shear link, and this component is the objective of this study. The performance of high rise EBF buildings in the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes was beyond that which was expected, especially considering the very high accelerations recorded. As the concrete high-rises were torn down, two EBF buildings remained standing and only required some structural repair. These events prompted a renewed interest in bolted shear links, as well as their performance. While some research into replaceable shear links had already been done (Mansour, 2011), the objectives of this study were to improve on the shear link itself, with the consideration that links built in the future are likely to be bolted. The main components of this study were to: 1. Reduce or eliminate the requirements for intermediate web stiffeners, as they were suspected of being detrimental to performance. Furthermore, any reduction in stiffening requirements is a direct fabrication cost saving. Links with low web aspect ratios were found to achieve exceptional ductilities when no stiffeners were included, prompting new design equations. 2. Ensure that the stresses in the ends of links are adequately transferred into the endplates without causing fractures. Although most of the experimental links had web doubler plates included, four had varied lengths of such doubler plates from 0.0 in. to 8.0 in. The link without any doubler plates performed to a similar level to its peers, and thus it is likely that links with quality end details may not need web doubler plates at all. 3. Evaluate the performance of a link with double sided stiffeners without the use of web welds, as opposed to conventional single sided, welded stiffeners. This link performed well, and web-weld-less double sided stiffeners may be an economical alternative to conventional stiffeners for deeper sections of links. 4. Evaluate the performance of a link with thin endplates that are made efficient with the use of gusset plates. This link performed to an acceptable level and provides evidence for a cost effective alternative to thick endplates, especially considering the high overstrength end moments in links, typically requiring 16-bolt connections. 5. Examine the potential use of an alternative EBF arrangement where the collector beam is over sized, and the link section is formed by cutting out parts of the beam's web. After running a series of finite element models each with a unique variation, a number of approximate design rules were derived such that future research could develop this idea further experimentally. 6. Ensure that during testing, the secondary elements (members that are not the shear link), do not yield and are not close to yielding. None of the instrumented elements experienced any unexpected yielding, however the concerns for high stresses in the collector beam panel zone during design were warranted. The use of an existing New Zealand design equation is recommended as an extra check for design codes worldwide. The above objectives were mainly conducted experimentally, except: the data set for item 1 was greatly expanded through the use of a calibrated numerical model which was then used in an extensive parametric study; item 5 was purely finite element based; and, a small parametric study was included for item 3 in an attempt to expand on the trends found there.
A photograph of Tony's Tyre Service on Armagh Street. The tape that had cordoned the building off is no longer tied in place.
A photograph of a red sticker taped to the Government Life building in Cathedral Square, indicating that the building is unsafe to enter.
Cars parked outside two new buildings on Norwich Quay in Lyttelton. Advertisements for fencing companies hang on security fences that surround the buildings.
Mannequin legs have been placed upside down in the dirt at 183 Manchester Street to give the impression that the top half of the body is buried.
Colour photograph of a red brick building that is the rear of 146 High Street, with cars parked beside it. Photographed before the earthquakes.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "This damaged container is near the tree stumps of trees that had to be removed from Hagley Park".
Road cones along Durham Street South, photographed from Winchcombe Street. A sign to the left indicates that Winchcombe Street is closed.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The gigantic rock that destroyed the Sumner RSA as it fell from the cliff above on February 22".
A sign outside St John's Church indicating that the congregation have relocated and are still meeting at St Saviours on Sundays.
Building rubble littering the steps and footpath of the Peterborough Apartments. A red sticker on the door indicates that the building is unsafe to enter.
A vehicle that has been smashed by fallen masonry from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The traffic is so bad down St Asaph Street that someone has put up a sign to warn others".
The bridge that used to run from the Town Hall to the Convention Centre, now detached from the buildings and placed on Kilmore Street.
A batch in Taylors Mistake bay with a red sticker in the window. The red sticker indicates that the building is unsafe to enter.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Christ's College, Rolleston Avenue. New gable end replacing one that fell in the earthquake".
A document that defines the requirements and objectives of design activities for SCIRT's reconstruction of the city's horizontal infrastructure and describes how these activities should be implemented.
Gap Filler's "Dance-O-Mat" photographed at night. Somebody has put money in the washing machine so that the lights are shining.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The fence of the cordoned off Christchurch City Mission showing all the teddy bears that people have left".
A document which describes the process that SCIRT took to restore the Bridge of Remembrance and Memorial Arch.
A video taken from a vehicle showing slow-moving heavy traffic following the 22 February 2011 earthquake. Note that the audio has been removed from this video for copyright reasons.
A document created in 2012 that provides a range of ideas and examples successfully used by SCIRT to manage a site visit information day.
People viewing the Cathedral from the walkway from Gloucester Street to the Square that was opened up for a few days to allow the public a closer look.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "ChristChurch Cathedral. An inscription in the grounds reads 'Let these stones speak of a love that endures for ever'".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Reminders of the building that was on the corner of London Street and Oxford Street, Lyttelton".
A photograph of a red sticker on the side of a building. The sticker indicates that the building is unsafe to enter.
A digital photograph in PDF format with caption. A Horseshoe Lake resident emptying chemical toilet into waste tank that sits on the side of the road (Kingsford St).