Photos of Mw7.1 Darfield (Canterbury), New Zealand Earthquake
Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Figure 6. Note: The Canterbury earthquake is also referred as the Darfield or Christchurch earthquake. For more information, visit the New Zealand […]
Steel Building Damage From The Christchurch Earthquake of February 22, 2011
Read the Report: Steel Building Damage From The Christchurch Earthquake of February 22, 2011 (9.0 MB PDF)
Structural Reconnaissance Observations
I arrived in Christchurch on March 1st, almost a week after the earthquake. Rescue and recovery operations were still underway so are the building assessment and critical building projects among other activities. I mostly contributed to the critical building project and gathered as much of the perishable information as possible. I have been to several […]
Geotechnical and Structural Field Observations from Christchurch, February 2011 Earthquake, in New Zealand
Read the Report: Geotechnical and Structural Field Observations from Christchurch, February 2011 Earthquake, in New Zealand (22.4 MB PDF) Read the Article submitted for the 15WCEE: Understanding the Characteristics of Understanding the Characteristics of Christchurch Earthquake by Observing SDOF Systems (0.6 MB PDF)
Christchurch Earthquake Photos and Captions
See the Images: Selected images of the M6.3 Christchurch Earthquake February 22, 2011 (5.5 MB PDF)
Christchurch Earthquake – an overview
Read the Report: Christchurch Fact Sheets – Compiled (1.0 MB PDF)
Photos of Building Damage
Figure 1. Close-up view of severely damaged. Figure 2. Christchurch Catedral- Destruction of the power. Figure 3. Christchurch Catedral- destruction of the stone masonry tower. Figure 4. Close-up view of strengthened gable wall that survived the shaking. Figure 5. Content damage. Figure 6. Damage to reinforced concrete block masonry building. […]
Observations on House Safety Evaluations
Read the Report: House Performance Report (0.070 MB PDF)
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 […]
A Look at Building Stock and Insurance Impacts
A seismogram at Heathcote Valley, which is located one kilometer from the epicenter, recorded PGA (Peak Ground Acceleration) as high as 1.4 g. However, while no complete collapses were observed, fallen chimneys were widespread. In the hillside town of Lyttleton, about four km away from the epicenter, except for the collapse of old masonry buildings and a […]