Observations on Business Resilience from the EERI Reconnaissance Team
A staged and controlled re-entry process was set up to allow property and building owners to retrieve critical items (e.g. computers and business essentials) from safe (yellow and green placarded) buildings. On subsequent re-entries during the third week, owners were going into clean up. The owner of Switch Expresso shared that he and family members […]
Photos of Ground Failure from the EERI Team
Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Learning from Earthquakes: First person reports
Observations on Social Media from the EERI Team
Armed with a “digital pick axe” these international volunteers work selflessly to monitor social media, crowdsource data, and develop useful applications for on the ground responders. They coordinate virtually around the clock and interface with official responders to identify data sources that can be mapped, translated, spread sheeted, and made into useful and actionable intelligence. […]
Observations on Social Media and Christchurch Emergency Communication from the EERI Team
Thoughtful observers who also endured that harrowing event found that local community members were turning to online social networks to organize volunteer efforts, post critical information, and communicate about the aftermath of the earthquake. The quick study from a few public information officers working for the CCC served as the impetus for the social media […]
Observations on University of Canterbury Student Association Communications
The man responding to every single comment is a twenty-something guy named Ryan. In his spare time he runs an online comedic site, similar to The Onion in the U.S. He brings levity and spirit to his work at the UCSA Facebook site as he interprets official University communications for students, bringing news to them […]
Observations on Sanitation from the EERI Team
There are differences in port-a-loos, I have learned. There is the deluxe version that can be found on the University Campus. These have flush systems, running water for hand washing and even a little mirror in the door. The next step down may be the regular port-a-loos that can be found on street corners throughout […]
Observations on Information Coordination from the EERI Team
On the flip side is the perspective of the local public, looking for information that will enable them to make decisions about protective actions such as evacuation and sheltering. Under the traditional media strategy, information flows slowly, sometimes only two or three times a day. People perceive this as an information dearth just as they […]
Understanding the Past
We took a few hours to look at evidence of the Greendale Fault Rupture from the Darfield September 2010 Mw7.1 Earthquake. While the trace was still visible in many places and kinks in roads and fences where still prominent its expression was slowly fading. The cleared fields that had once clearly shown the trace were […]
Aftershock Sequence
The period prior to 22/2/2011 contained fourteen events of magnitude 5.0 to 5.6 and forty events of magnitude 4.5 to 5.0. Since 22/2/2011 there have been five aftershocks between 5.0 and 6.3 and eighteen between 4.5 and 5.0. Figure 1. Christchurch area aftershock sequence – Sep 2010 – Mar 2011. Christchurch is built […]
Communicating (and Exaggerating?) Risk
Cantabrians have been following the meteorological and seismological predictions of Auckland-based Ken Ring, also known as “the moon-man.” Mr. Ring associates extreme meteorological and geophysical events with king tides and lunar proximity. On this basis Mr. Ring has issued predictions of major aftershocks in Christchurch. Earth-moon distance varies by about 14% on a lunar-cycle and an […]