Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Learning From Earthquakes

Calling on Social Scientists to Inform Recovery Decisions

David shared the questions that are being asked of social scientists. Relevant observations and lessons learned are invited from the international research community regarding: Internal migration is the biggest ever in New Zealand since the first settlers arrived. Who and why did residents leave Christchurch after the February 22nd earthquake? How many migrants will return? […]

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 […]

Reconnaissance Reports from the Architectural Institute of Japan

Read the Reports: Quick Reconnaissance Report of East Japan Earthquake Disaster – March 20, 2011 by Reiji Tanaka (1.8 MB PDF) Quick Reconnaissance Report of East Japan Earthquake Disaster – March 21, 2011 by Reiji Tanaka (1.6 MB PDF) Quick Reconnaissance Report of East Japan Earthquake Disaster – March 25, 2011 by Reiji Tanaka and Tomohiko Arai (0.5 MB PDF) Quick Reconnaissance Report of East […]