Documenting the Performance of Retrofitted URM Buildings
In that process dozens of additional buildings were added to the list of roughly 60 buildings that appeared to have some seismic improvements visible from the exterior, or that, by word of mouth, were reportedly partially or systematically (completely) retrofitted at some time in their life. The range of partial retrofits may be from the […]
Observations from the EERI Team
Figure 1. Pyne Gould collapsed. Figure 2. Structural failure in columns. Day 1: After Triage and Observations Today I helped with the triage of buildings in the North-East Quadrant of the CBD (approximately 20+ blocks). The goal was to identify any buildings where there may still be people trapped […]
Reconnaissance observations
The Central Business District (CBD) was particularly hit hard. Indeed both earthquakes caused the collapse here of many seismically vulnerable URM buildings built between 1885 and 1920s. Unlike the first quake, which hit the city at midnight when the CBD was empty, the second quake fiercely shook the city at 12.51pm when many people were […]
Observations from the EERI Team
Today was the first full day here in Christchurch. The day kicked off at a Geotechnical Coordination meeting where rockfall/landslide hazard and risk assessment teams were coordinating their efforts. There’s an ongoing systematic effort by ~7 teams of engineering geologists and geotechnical engineers to assess the risk to homes in the eastern suburbs. This followed with a quick reconnaissance […]
Observations from the EERI Reconnaissance Team
The goal is to begin opening downtown sections of the Christchurch Business District (CBD) and to give the government a clear idea of the status of all the buildings. I was teamed with Fred Turner, Roberto Leon and Bob Gray who was our New Zealand CPEng. We also had two urban search and rescue personnel, […]
Observations from the EERI Reconnaissance Team
Locations of Casualties in the February 22, 2011 Aftershock
The majority of the deaths were in nonductile concrete frame buildings. Second were in unretrofitted URM buildings. At least one death occurred in a retrofitted URM building. More study of this with Tom Kirsch, our epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins is recommended. Figure 1. Learning from Earthquakes: First person reports
Observations from the EERI Team
Observations from the EERI Team
First, of course, it is the normal process that the Search and Rescue (SAR) folks have to rescue people who are trapped and then do the hard job of finding and recovering those who perished. Second, the City with volunteer engineers do level 1 (exterior) inspections for tagging and then come back for level 2 […]
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 […]