Summmary Newsletter - 11 November

Dear Colleagues;

This summary newsletter is prepared on behalf of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) to brief technical groups on activities and resources pertaining to the Darfield (Canterbury) Earthquake of 4 September. Please visit our newsletter archive on the Canterbury Technical Clearinghouse website to view previous editions and to sign up to receive future issues. Please sign up below if you would like to receive future issues.

The NZSEE Clearinghouse has many reports to read. Please contact Quincy Ma if you have something that you would like to post on that web site for both colleagues and the public to read.

There were two combined meetings of the Canterbury Structural Group (CSG), the NZ Geotechnical Society and the NZSEE since the last newsletter. The first (see 20 Oct summary) previewed the contents of the Tonkin and Taylor Stage 1 report to EQC released on 21 Oct and introduced the tasks of the Engineering Advisory Group convened by EQC to establish engineering performance objectives for the interface between the foundation and the superstructure. Briefer presentations outlined the university research efforts, design criteria and methods of accommodating liquefaction, house relevelling trials.

The second combined meeting last week (see 4 Nov draft summary) had presentations on groundwater changes, ground improvement methods and piling. There was also a more detailed presentation on the Engineering Advisory Group's work (with draft foundation restoration details) and discussion on a wide range of geotechnical, structural and insurance issues.

There is another combined meeting scheduled for 18:00 on Wednesday 17 November in the School of Engineering, lecture theatre E1. This will attempt to shed more light on the insurance issues that need to be resolved before the engineering work can commence.

For those in Wellington at 18:00 on Tuesday 16 November, the public seminar being presented by the VUW School of Architecture may be of interest. The speakers will address the questions: Is the post-quake retention of heritage architecture feasible and who pays? How can damaged homes be retrofitted for safety in earthquakes? What opportunities and risks are there in redeveloping the inner city sites? How can we design public space to better provide places for people to congregate and shelter after a disaster? (See details or RSVP by 12:00 on Mon 15.)

GNS Science is collating the liquefaction and lateral spreading maps from a number of sources, including their own mapping of rural areas from satellite imagery. The first draft of this map is about to be circulated to contributors, and a final version will be available in the coming weeks.

Helen Grant is collating a spreadsheet of geotech investigations that have been completed and are being done. This will be posted on the Canterbury Technical Clearinghouse tomorrow, Friday.

Over one hundred researchers, from thirty organisations, are involved in social research following the earthquake. David Johnston (GNS Science) reported that many have been working in partnership with key agencies such as the Ministries of Social Development, Housing and Civil Defence & Emergency Management and the Recovery Groups. In most cases this has built on existing long-term relationships and networks.

The social science researchers have four working groups, namely Business and insurance sector response and recovery; Community resilience; Emergency response; and Recovery policy and practice. See social science for further detail.

Please forward this message to others who are not on the distribution list and sign up below if you would like to receive future issues. I welcome suggestions for information that you would find useful in future issues.

Finally, for those outside our great city, it is Show Weekend tomorrow (Friday) so those who can unteather themselves from work in order to tackle the garden probably won't be answering the phone until Monday. For those in Christchurch, don't get too sunburnt!

With regards,
Bruce Deam
Canterbury Technical Clearinghouse & Visiting Scientist Coordinator

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