Reports Available from the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission
October 27, 2011 by EERI Admin
Filed under General Information
The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission of inquiry will report on the causes of building failure as a result of the earthquakes as well as the legal and best-practice requirements for buildings in New Zealand Central Business Districts. An interim report is available from their website http://canterbury.royalcommission.govt.nz/ There...
Draft Central City Plan – Christchurch rebuilding proposal
August 19, 2011 by EERI Admin
Filed under General Information
Christchurch City councilors adopted a landmark draft plan to rebuild the quake-hit central city. For more information, click the link below: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5427734/Plan-to-build-a-city-in-a-garden The draft plan can be viewed online at the end of the...
Study of Unreinforced Masonry Wall Anchors in Christchurch
August 17, 2011 by Fred Turner
Filed under General Information
Art Schultz from the Univ of Minnesota recently returned from Christchurch after conducting tests on anchors in damaged unreinforced masonry buildings.
Hospital Response Survey Team in Christchurch
August 17, 2011 by Fred Turner
Filed under General Information
A team headed by Judith Mitrani-Reiser from Johns Hopkins University is in Christchurch during August 2011 to conduct a comparative survey of hospital personnel to document their facility’s preparedness and their overall performance in the sequence of recent earthquakes. A similar prior survey...
Participate in GEO-CAN Assessment of Christchurch
June 30, 2011 by EERI Admin
Filed under General Information
EERI members now have the opportunity to assess damage caused by the recent earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, by using an innovative online tool to analyze imagery — the Tomnod Disaster Mapper. This cooperative effort is the result of EERI’s partnership in GEO-CAN (Global Earth Observation-Catastrophe...
A Look at Building Stock and Insurance Impacts by Tao Lai
March 30, 2011 by Tao Lai of AIR Worldwide
Filed under General Information, Structural
Outside of Christchurch’s Central Business District (CBD), the majority of buildings generally consist of low-rise wood-frame houses with brick veneer, which generally performed well under earthquake ground shaking. However, non-structural damage such as cracks in plasterboard and toppled chimneys...
Building Safety Evaluation
March 19, 2011 by Henri P. Gavin
Filed under EERI Team Field Blog, General Information
The New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering has developed procedures and guidelines for the rapid assessment of buildings following earthquakes, Building Safety Evaluation in a State of Emergency: Guidelines for Territorial Authorities. These guidelines, originally based on ATC-20 Procedures...
Indicator Buildings
March 19, 2011 by Henri P. Gavin
Filed under EERI Team Field Blog, General Information
Concerns of progressive collapse of marginally-stable structures has raised questions regarding the need to reinspect buildings following aftershocks. The aftershock sequence has contained about 40 events greater than 4.0 and 12 events greater than 4.5 since 22 February. Most of these aftershocks...
Heritage Buildings
March 19, 2011 by Henri P. Gavin
Filed under EERI Team Field Blog, General Information
The Europeans who settled Christchurch in the 1850′s formed an “Acclimatization Society” in an attempt to establish familiar environments in Christchurch. This group advanced the introduction of European animals and plants, and the establishment of parks and architecture of their...
Communicating (and exaggerating?) Risk
March 19, 2011 by Henri P. Gavin
Filed under EERI Team Field Blog, General Information
The stream of aftershocks since 4 September 2010 has rattled people’s nerves. The major aftershock of 22 February 2011, which heavily damaged heritage and unreinforced masonry structures, was the last straw for many residents. By all accounts, tens of thousands of people have left Christchurch,...