
true...yesterday Haralds WAS open in spite of having half the roof missing
'nuff said
A rare glimpse of how Rutherford's Den and Christchurch's iconic Arts Centre are being restored after the earthquakes
The University of Canterbury's CEISMIC project is building a digital archive of earthquake-related information
The 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and the sewage outfall diversion have had profound impacts on the Heathcote-Avon Estuary
GNS seismologists explain why the Darfield and Christchurch earthquakes were so damaging and 'punchy'
University of Canterbury geologist Mark Quigley recalls his personal experience of the Canterbury earthquakes
Volunteers in Christchurch are collecting a huge amount of earthquake data with mini-seismometers and their home computers
Earthquake engineers at the University of Canterbury are world-leaders in designing buildings that will be better able to withstand earthquake shaking.
University of Canterbury's John Hopkins and Toni Collins explain disaster law and shortcomings in NZ's legal system highlighted by the Canterbury earthquakes.
Three seismologists from GeoNet reflect on the decade of big earthquakes that began 10 years ago with the Darfield earthquake in Canterbury.
Misko Cubrinovski is interested how the ground and the structures on - and in - it behave during an earthquake.
Liquefaction lessons from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and biotechnologists doing interesting things with plants.
Last week, Jessie’s post mentioned MacLaren’s Imperial Cheese, an early 20th century foodstuff we found in Christchurch. This cheese pot, which looked so insignificant and sounded so odd, represents one of the steps en route to our modern culinary world. Even … Continue reading →
Scientists are just beginning to understand why the recent Canterbury earthquakes 'punched above their size', and their findings could change international scientific thinking about earthquakes. Alison Ballance talks with GNS seismologists Martin Reyners and Bill Fry to find out more.
Repatriation, innovation, virtual reality and other digital opportunities and issues around earthquake strengthening buildings will all come up for debate next weekend at our museums' national conference in Christchurch. The MA18 Conference brings together several hundred museum leaders to talk about a time of rapid change in how museums display their taonga and how they reach out to their communities. Lynn Freeman spoke to Phillipa Tocker who's the Executive Director of Museums Aotearoa, and to one of the guest speakers, futurist Kaila Colbin who's curator of TEDxChristchurch and TEDxScottBase, co-founder and Chair of the Ministry of Awesome and a director of ChristchurchNZ which is responsible for tourism, major events and economic development in the city.
©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Earthquakes have been inferred to induce hydrological changes in aquifers on the basis of either changes to well water-levels or tidal behavior, but the relationship between these changes remains unclear. Here, changes in tidal behavior and water-levels are quantified using a hydrological network monitoring gravel aquifers in Canterbury, New Zealand, in response to nine earthquakes (of magnitudes M w 5.4 to 7.8) that occurred between 2008 and 2015. Of the 161 wells analyzed, only 35 contain water-level fluctuations associated with “Earth + Ocean” (7) or “Ocean” (28) tides. Permeability reduction manifest as changes in tidal behavior and increased water-levels in the near field of the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010–2011 support the hypothesis of shear-induced consolidation. However, tidal behavior and water-level changes rarely occurred simultaneously (~2%). Water-level changes that occurred with no change in tidal behavior reequilibrated at a new postseismic level more quickly (on timescales of ~50 min) than when a change in tidal behavior occurred (~240 min to 10 days). Water-level changes were more than likely to occur above a peak dynamic stress of ~50 kPa and were more than likely to not occur below ~10 kPa. The minimum peak dynamic stress required for a tidal behavior change to occur was ~0.2 to 100 kPa.
Base isolation has generally been considered an expensive system used mainly in commercial buildings to make them more earthquake resilient. Katy Gosset meets the University of Canterbury engineers who've developed a safe, low cost model that could work in our homes.
After the devastating effects on Christchurch, we are all aware of the damage earthquakes can cause. But in New Zealand, a tsunami could be just as damaging. University of Auckland engineers Asaad Shamseldin and PhD student Reza Shafiei are creating waves in the lab to work out how safe our buildings are, if a tsunami hits. Ruth Beran goes to visit them.
Using mini-seismometers which connect to home computers by a USB connection, volunteers in Christchurch are collecting a huge amount of earthquake data.
The Canterbury Earthquake Royal Commission is calling for changes to building standards as a matter of urgency.
Three years on from the earthquakes of 2011, Census data now confirms massive changes to the face and shape of Christchurch.
Workers in Christchurh already stressed by the earthquakes are pleading with MPs to stop proposed changes to employment law.
Changes are on the way for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority which from today becomes part of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's Blog for 10 April 2014 entitled, "Choked with Change".
The world is constantly changing. Christchurch, New Zealand, has recently experienced drastic changes after earthquakes struck the city. The earthquakes caused the city to physically shake, and the land to sink in some places and rise in others. Now further change is forcast and parts of Christchurch could be under water by 2115 according to experts. Climate change induced sea level rise is recognised as a international issue with potential impacts for coastal communities all over the world. The Chrischtchurch City Council is required to have a 100-year planning horizon for sea level rise and this means planning for at least one meter, and possibly up to two meters, of sea level rise by 2115. This dissertation investigates the planning response to slow onset disasters, change, and uncertainty, using the example of sea-level rise in Christchurch, and it examines the role of public participation in this. To achieve this, the ways in which planning theory and practice acknowledge uncertainty, and cope with change, were critically analysed along with the Christchurch City Council’s response to the Tonkin and Taylor predictions and modelling. Semi-structured interviews with professionals in natural hazards risk reduction, policy, and planning were conducted, and the previous and proposed Christchurch City District Plans were compared. Planning for sea level rise in Christchurch provides an example of how planners may cope with slow onset change. The results of this dissertation suggests that the favoured risk reduction strategy for coastal communities in Christchurch is an adaptation strategy, and at present there is no sign of managed retreat being employed. The results also suggests using a planning approach that involves public participation for best results when planning for change, uncertainty or slow onset disasters.
A rowdy protest was held in Christchurch yesterday over the Government's plan to revamp education in the earthquake-hit city.
For many years the Heathcote-Avon estuary was the dumping ground for Christchurch's sewage. Then, in 2010, the wastewater was diverted well out to sea, via a long pipe. David Schiel from the University of Canterbury and John Zeldis from NIWA were investigating the effects of this diversion on the health of estuary when the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes happened, re-engineering both the estuary and their experiments.
For six weeks after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake millions of litres of raw sewage - along with lots of liquefaction - poured into the Avon and Heathcote Rivers. A team of biologists quickly got to work to measure the impact of this catastrophe on life in the Heathcote River and as they tell Alison Ballance, they were surprised by what they recorded over the next few months.
A wall clock with its glass broken. The photographer comments, "A very appropriate title as the numbers are not sequential and the clock has a very odd shape".