Observations from the EERI Team
It was the last day we will be doing assessments which has been rewarding work. There is still plenty to do but the reconnaissance mission needs to be accomplished as well. The NZ engineers are a wonderful group of people doing a great job of getting the city back on its feet while maintaining the […]
Observations from the EERI Team
The day started with rain which makes taking good photos difficult and makes everything a little bit harder. We started off the day looking specifically at partially or fully retrofitted unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. Here in Christchurch there are a large number of URMs and a number of these have received some degree of retrofitting. […]
Observations on Industrial Non-Structural Damage from the EERI Team
Several of the industrial businesses were located in pre-cast concrete tilt-up buildings which were observed to have damage to their panel connection at both the roof and at adjacent panels. The industrial steel structures that were visited typically appeared to perform adequately with the exception of selected tension only bracing, which was observed to have […]
Observations on Industrial Buildings from the EERI Team
Today I spent the day entirely outside the Christchurch Business District (CBD). Nathan and I were following up on a contact given us by one of the volunteer engineers doing building assessments. The purpose of today was to look at damage to industrial facilities and how they fared during the recent event. We spent most […]
Observations on Nonstructural Damage by the EERI Team
This earthquake has provided textbook examples of non-structural damage in concrete office and commercial buildings in the Central Business District (CBD). Figure 1. Offices. Figure 2. Sprinkler pipes broken by ceiling systems dumped water in to offices. Figure 3. Pipes broken. Figure […]
Indicator Buildings
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 occured at a depth of 2-5 km and within 10 km of the central business district. In order to quickly assess the need for re-inspections, the EOC identified a sample of […]
Building Safety Evaluation
Read the Report: Building Safety Evaluation in a State of Emergency: Guidelines for Territorial Authorities (1.1 MB PDF) The meaning of the red, green, and yellow placards required explanation for some building owners, tenants, and residents. The Christchurch City Council provided extensive information on their earthquake recovery website regarding what the placards mean, and do not mean. Perhaps a lesson from […]
Cars Crushed, Stranded, and Recovered
Figure 1. Crushed car on the streets of Lyttleton March 18). Anne Wein. U.S. Geological Survey. Figure 2. Alternative vehicle recovery use of Hagley Park car park (March 14). Anne Wein. U.S. Geological Survey. […]
Post-quake Inspections Mislead Building Occupants in Christchurch
The following magnitude 6.1 earthquake in February 2011 caused the building to collapse and resulted in the deaths of 115 people. An earthquake reconnaissance team inspected the building after the earthquake and marked it with a green sticker. They were using the rapid assessment system which originated in California and has been commonly used since […]
Report on Building Damage in Northern Ibaraki Prefecture by The 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake
Read the Report: Report on Building Damage in Northern Ibaraki Prefecture by The 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake (2.0 MB PDF)