the christchurch earthquake a case study

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Christchurch earthquakes of 2010–11

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• New Zealand History - Christchurch earthquake kills 185

Christchurch earthquakes of 2010–11 , series of tremors that occurred within and near the city of Christchurch , New Zealand , and the Canterbury Plains region from early September 2010 to late December 2011. The severest of those events were the earthquake (magnitude from 7.0 to 7.1) that struck on September 4, 2010, and the large, destructive aftershock (magnitude 6.3) that occurred on February 22, 2011.

The principal event, sometimes referred to as the Darfield earthquake, struck at 4:35 am on September 4, 2010. The earthquake’s epicentre was located some 25 miles (40 km) west of Christchurch near the town of Darfield, and the focus was located about 6 miles (10 km) beneath the surface. It was caused by right-lateral movement along a previously unknown regional strike-slip fault in the western section of the Canterbury Plains. The fault, later named the Greendale Fault, appeared about 50 to 56 miles (80 to 90 km) southeast of the boundary between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, and part of the fault became visible at the surface because of the earthquake. Thousands of smaller aftershocks occurred in the months that followed.

The severest aftershock occurred at 12:51 pm on February 22, 2011. In contrast to the main shock, this aftershock was generated by oblique thrust faulting (where one side of the fault is thrust upward over the other) along a different, undiscovered fault. Like the main shock, however, the February 22 aftershock stemmed from the deformation along regional plate boundaries where the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates push against one another. The focus of this temblor was relatively shallow, however, occurring only 3 miles (5 km) beneath the surface of Heathcote Valley, a suburb of Christchurch located on the Banks Peninsula . The aftershock’s depth and close proximity to Christchurch contributed to substantial shaking, surface cracking, and liquefaction (the conversion of soil into a fluidlike mass) in the city and surrounding area.

Two large tremors struck the Christchurch metropolitan area during the early afternoon on June 13, 2011. The epicentres of each of these events, which possessed moment magnitudes of 5.6 and 6.3, were located some 10 km (6 miles) east of Christchurch at depths of 9 km (5.6 miles) and 7 km (4.4 miles), respectively. The June 13 events were located farther east of the known extent of the Greendale Fault, and they appeared to have been generated by strike-slip faulting rather than by thrust faulting associated with the February 22 event. As a result, some seismologists have downplayed any direct association between the June 13 events and those of the main shock and February 22 aftershock. Other seismologists, however, suggested that stresses built up by these earlier temblors likely contributed to those of June 13, as well as to a series of shallow marine tremors ranging from magnitude 4.0 to magnitude 6.0 that shook the Christchurch area on December 23, 2011.

Buildings and roads across the Christchurch region, which had been weakened by the September event and its aftershocks, were severely damaged or destroyed in the February event. Christchurch’s city centre was hit particularly hard and was evacuated. Over the months that followed, it was established that more than 180 people had died in the quake; many of them had been killed outright as structures collapsed and debris fell in the streets, crushing cars and buses as well.

One of the worst incidents was the collapse of the Canterbury Television (CTV) building, in the city centre, which was razed almost entirely. An estimated 100 or more people had been in the building at the time of the quake. Although some were rescued on the day of the quake, the search for others was suspended because it was thought that the remaining victims could not have survived; further, it was feared that the building’s remains were too unstable to be safe for rescue workers. Efforts resumed the following day, however, after the building was secured. Both the Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals of Christchurch suffered serious damage. Church officials believed that the latter structure was beyond repair, and the spire of the Anglican cathedral collapsed.

Other towns in the area around Christchurch were seriously affected, although fewer lives were lost. The port town of Lyttelton , near the epicentre of the earthquake, sustained widespread damage to buildings, wharves, and other infrastructure . Bexley and other suburbs were flooded after water mains broke; after the waters receded, quake-damaged roads and homes remained covered with silt. Impromptu community efforts distributed food and helped dig out the property of affected residents. Continuing aftershocks in the days after February 22 further weakened structures throughout the area, and portions of several suburbs had to be evacuated.

The day after the quake, Prime Minister John Key declared a state of national emergency in the quake area, expanding his government’s powers to coordinate rescue and recovery efforts. More than 1,000 New Zealand Defence Force personnel led the response, aided by more than 100 members of the Singaporean armed forces who were in New Zealand for a joint training exercise at the time of the quake. Australia, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States , and other countries also sent hundreds of search-and-rescue workers. Rescue efforts were at times hampered, however, by the potential dangers posed by the aftershocks.

The removal of wreckage and official damage assessments were ongoing. Hundreds of buildings in the central business district and some 10,000 dwellings were deemed to be unsalvageable, and it was expected that they would have to be demolished. Further, it was predicted that because the quake had rendered the land so unstable in some places, certain areas might have to be abandoned altogether. Indeed, it was believed that by the time of the June 13 aftershocks, some 50,000 former residents of Christchurch had already moved permanently to other places in New Zealand or to Australia. In March 2012 it was announced that because of additional damage it had sustained in the aftershocks, the Anglican cathedral was beyond repair and would be demolished.

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Christchurch earthquake, 10 years on

That February 2011 earthquake, which struck during the city’s lunch hour, was the most destructive in a series . It was the one that broke so many of the Central Business District’s verticals and horizontals – its buildings and the roads, sewers, water and gas pipes. It was shallow and ferocious. Its peak vertical ground acceleration of 2.2G (more than twice the acceleration of gravity) momentarily lifted parts of Christchurch to the sort of face-distorting speeds astronauts experience when they ascend into space. 

It wasn’t the biggest quake in its series. Five months earlier, there’d been a 7.1-magnitude tremor centred 45km west of Christchurch that damaged the city. But 22 February was different. It was magnitude 6.3, smaller than the previous quake, but the epicentre was just 6km south of the city and even on an international scale it was very violent. Two multi-storey buildings in the CBD pancaked and the low-rise masonry in older parts of the city centre cascaded onto the streets. 

The steeple and bell tower of Christ Church Cathedral collapsed into the square, and its whole front face and beautiful rose window – the spiritual and symbolic face of Christchurch itself – teetered, and would later collapse onto the entrance portico, opening the nave to wind and weather, and the pigeons of Cathedral Square.

The February quake killed 185 and triggered an immediate state of local emergency that gave top-down control to civil defence. Then emergency legislation in April 2011 changed it to a state of national emergency that shifted top-down control to a Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, and appointed a Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA). 

That absolute control by the minister and his department proved to be right and proper, for as the years went by, the government would spend more than $14 billion of New Zealand taxpayers’ money on the Christchurch recovery and rebuild. 

Yet it was the people of the city, not its appointees, who’d laboured by the thousand amid wreckage to help each other in those post-quake days. It was therefore equally right and proper that the emergency legislation of April 2011 didn’t just set up the top-down authority of a minister and his department, but decreed a bottom-up approach. It called for the people of Christchurch to be given 90 days to prepare a draft plan for building their new city.

Three months. It wasn’t long but the population was already primed. The post-quake days watchword was “When a city falls apart, the people come together” and the people had done that. They’d formed neighbourhood teams to knock down each other’s chimneys. They’d hooked electrical feeds over neighbours’ fences, shared toilets and shovelled the product of liquefaction off each other’s doorsteps. Many had a wage subsidy but no job to go to and their kids had no schools to be taken to. They had time on their hands, and they’d bonded into adult groups that sat around drinking and gossiping. 

Then came the invitation to “Share an Idea”. The newly social Christchurch population clinked its glasses, took another sip and clocked up the highest level of community response to city planning NZ had ever seen. The submissions were rendered down to 106,000 separate ideas, broken into themes by council planners and organised into a draft plan that was dispatched to the minister. The mythology of that time has it that the people of Christchurch redesigned their city on a visionary flush of alcohol. 

CERA took the plan, set down five-year confidentiality agreements for its planners to sign, then closeted itself for a 100-day rewrite. What emerged came to be called the Blueprint and it specifically acknowledged the first plan of the city laid out in 1850 by surveyor Edward Jollie. Across Christchurch’s flat land the 25-year-old Jollie had laid out a uniform, regular street grid loyal to cardinal directions. At its centre was a cruciform square, with the Avon River – now the Otakaro/Avon – left to wind its own eccentric path across it all. 

The Blueprint channelled Jollie’s orthogonal spirit. It took the logic of the grid and enhanced it with a conceptual frame that defined straight-line boundaries to the CBD on three sides. The frames defined precincts – each as wide as a city block, and most six city blocks long. To the north lay the arts and culture precinct. The long inner-city residential precinct was east. To the south was the innovation and health precinct. Then, to complete the western precinct on what was otherwise a strictly rectangular template, the Blueprint gave itself over to the Avon’s meanderings and became the precinct for river-sitting, riverside strolling and on-river punting. 

The Blueprint also proposed 13 Anchor Projects – new builds that would buttress the separate identities of each frame. There was a large playground, for example, at the end of the residential precinct and a huge indoor pool and sports complex alongside the health precinct. The Avon precinct would feature a 2km riverside walkway from the Christchurch Hospital through to the big playground, with dark basalt terraces en route that stepped down to touch the river. And just upstream of those terraces, curving gently to follow a bend in the river, there’d be the white marble wall of Oi Manawa Canterbury Earth-quake National memorial, with the names of the 185 earthquake dead inscribed. 

The frame enclosed the 74ha space of the CBD, and within that space the Blueprint set out various specialist spaces. The locally beloved Ballantynes Department store would anchor a new retail mall. Justice and Emergency Services would be housed close together. There’d be a new library, a new bus exchange, a big space for a new Convention Centre right next to the Avon, and, at the centre as always, Jollie’s Cathedral Square. 

It would be a green city, a walking city, a living city, an intimate city, a market city, a city turned to the river, a city with a height limit of seven storeys – aside from those few high-rise buildings that survived the quake. 

These were all features of the draft plan, and Hugh Nicholson, the council’s design leader for the draft plan, was pleased with the Blueprint overall. As for many others, once it came before the public, he’d push back against the Convention Centre site. By its nature it was an introverted building that would be better located further out, but they quickly found it was not their place to say so. “The issue is not what was done,” Hugh says now, “but how it was done. It was done to us. So rather than Christchurch people being invited into the rebuild after Share An Idea, they were cut out.” 

The damaged Christchurch Town Hall didn’t figure in the CERA blueprint. It was a Brutalist structure of the 1970s, revered as an avant-garde architectural antidote to old Christchurch’s decorative gothic style. Its concert hall had the best acoustics of any performance space in the land. Its big front pillars stood in reflective pools of water right on the riverbank.

In the 2011 quake its subsurface had liquefied as the quake struck, and those front pillars and other foundation columns had sunk at variable rates and twisted the superstructure above. 

CERA wanted the Town Hall’s performance functions transferred to two proposed theatres in the Blueprint’s arts and culture precinct. The council came under pressure to demolish the Town Hall and put its $68 million insurance money into those theatres. But at the end of 2012, the council voted to keep it. 

It was the first push-back against CERA’s control of the rebuild. The structure was strong enough to survive nuclear attack but not, suggested CERA and the minister, lateral spread, the slow slide of its unstable footings towards the river. “Broken and unusable”, claimed the minister in a June 2013 opinion piece in the Christchurch Press daily newspaper. And the minister, everyone knew, had power to override the council. 

Ten years on, Gerard Smyth, filmmaker, sits in the extensively quake-damaged then exquisitely rebuilt Isaac Theatre Royal.  When the earthquake first struck, he grabbed his Sony EX3 and walked straight into the debris to film, one hand pressing into place a lens that had broken away from its mount. He filmed his approach to the fallen dome, shattered masonry, unstable pillars and stone angels of the Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, sobbing as he progressed. In the opinion of many, the basilica had been a finer building than the Anglican cathedral, though tucked away in Barbadoes Street, far from the CBD.

Gerard produced the quake documentary When a City Falls .  For the 10-year anniversary in 2021, he produced a follow-up documentary – When a City Rises . One of the film’s protagonists, mental health worker Ciaran Fox, divides up the 10-year recovery period so far into three distinct phases – first a heroic period of rescue, then a honeymoon period of participation, but now a period of disillusionment. It’s a big claim to make amid a $14 billion spend, but as CERA folded up its tent in 2016, the New Zealand auditor-general – the gold standard for unbiased government reportage – investigated CERA’s five-year record, and suggested why that might be true. 

The auditor-general reported CERA’s satisfactory performance on its initial demolition agenda and on its housing clearances from areas in the Red Zone (the hub of the damage to the CBD). It had not, though, said the auditor-general, liaised well with the local community during the rebuild, remaining too distant. Nor had it managed the anchor projects in its charge with sufficient rigour. 

True, the anchor projects had fallen behind. The Margaret Mahy Playground, named after a NZ children’s author, was the only anchor that hit its delivery date. Still, the bus interchange, the Oi Manawa memorial and the Otakaro/Avon River Precinct, though late, engendered such delight that it didn’t seem to matter. 

Other delays, though, had an effect on morale. The new sports stadium, originally slated to open in 2017, remains on hold. The Convention Centre’s opening has been put back four years to 2021. The Metro Sports Facility’s opening is deferred by six years to 2022. 

The eastern frame’s medium density residential living is paced according to demand – 172 apartments to date, with another 68 under construction with prices ranging from $399,000 for one-bedroom apartments to three-bedroom terrace designs at $1.25 million. Three-quarters of the estimated build – 660 units – still lies ahead. The eastern frame doesn’t impress Gerard. It’s too expensive for families, he says, and its likely buyers, he believes, will be those in their 60s and older and not the young.  

“If the city is peopled, it’s successful,” he says. “If you can look down the streets and there’s nobody there, the buildings can be as lovely as you like, but if they’re not being used, the city is a failure. Well, the city’s empty. It’s not working because retail is not what it was. So the question becomes how to get people back into the city.”

At the premiere of his movie, Gerard received a standing ovation. “It’s a home movie for the home crowd,” he said later. “It was done for us. Let’s say it’s half-time now and the government has done all their stuff and it’s gone quiet. What’s the next act? So the film hopefully enlivens us to all consider that we have choices. We still do because there’s lots of empty land, and the choices made will have to be for individual expression. That fine grain, it’s time for that now. Organic growth. Bottom-up growth.” 

The mayor of Christchurch, Lianne Dalziel, is a quake veteran. During the Darfield quake of 2010, she jumped out of bed at 4.35am followed by her husband, Rob Davidson, and they were literally tossed downstairs at their two-storey Bexley townhouse, straight into open space where they stood naked under the stars. After the Christchurch quake she walked from a city office to her home and found it awash with liquefaction.

The mayor meets us alongside the Otakaro/Avon River in the bustling Riverside Market, opened in 2019. Short-order kitchens compete for custom here with a range of ethnic menus. Stalls dispense local farm produce, or newly baked bread. There’s a cocktail bar if you’re inclined. Looking down on the happy chaos below is the repurposed clock that once presided over the demolished Christchurch Railway Station; upstairs in the same building the Riverside Kitchen is one of the city’s innovative startups. It offers Masterchef-style cooking stations for hands-on ethnic cooking classes, or bonding cooking sessions for corporate teams. 

Lianne sits down in that same kitchen and champions the city’s new experimental sense of self. “It’s the perfect size. The airport company chief executive always refers to it as the 

Goldilocks city – not too hot, not too cold, just right. But for me, I’d frame that in terms of Goldilocks innovation – small enough that you can try stuff and if it doesn’t work, then okay, you move on and try something else. But at the same time for whatever does work, the city’s big enough to build to scale. 

“It’s now got the facilities that wouldn’t be available to a city our size anywhere else, so that’s been the advantage of central government investment in us rather than the cost of that. It’s got everything and it’s going to be the city of the future rather than a city reflecting so much on the past.”

During the long quake sequence of 2010–12, the city’s urban population fell by more than 20,000 as people moved out. The city only returned in 2017 to its pre-earthquake population of 376,000, a total that’s since increased to about 385,000. 

Lianne is pushing for more and is marketing Christchurch as a great place to live for Aucklanders. “If you offered them what they could buy here, and what they could buy in Auckland, there’s just a world of  difference – a better quality of life, less travel time, and good schools, and the South Island environment to play in.” 

Later, we inspect the Christchurch Town Hall. Christchurch City Council (CCC) won the fight to save it, although it cost $167 million, and it was reopened in February 2019. The refurbished concert hall is once again an acoustic jewel with regular performances by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. The mayor stands in the big resonant space that was saved and you can sense her pride.

Out in the old Red Zone, to the east of the city, Diana Madgin stands at the site of her demolished house. Within the strangeness of the zone, her garden is as neat and manicured as it always was. She saw to that herself, for years, and now pays others to keep it. The cherry tree planted to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary still holds central place in the garden and, like so much else around here, a central place in her memory.

The Otakaro/Avon flows past what was once her front door en route to the sea. The eastern suburbs of Richmond, Bexley and Dallington all flourished along this river corridor before the 2011 quake. The liquefaction sand beneath these suburbs is weight-bearing when it’s stable, but any earthquake acts like a giant pump. The river corridor sank during the 2011 earthquake by about a metre, and the silt burst through and ruined, or put at risk, 6000 homes. 

CERA’s response was to Red Zone wide swathes of land on both sides of the river, buy out the homeowners and demolish their houses. That left an apocalyptic landscape serviced by damp roads to nowhere with leaning lampposts and cul-de-sacs of silted neglect. The sections they served are still populated by backyard fruit trees and delineated by border hedges, but the houses and people have gone. 

Diana Madgin was a gardening columnist. Her staple weekly column was a “caulis and cabbage” affair, discussing what vegetable suited what season, but after the quakes she wrote about what supplements and growing techniques suited what types of soil – the differences perhaps between the alluvial soils of this eastern delta and the clay of the Port Hills – because people were shifting around en masse and wanted to know. Then she started to write about trees, and what they meant for the people who’d had to leave them behind. The fruit trees that marked the seasons, the trees planted to mark an anniversary, or to mark a buried pet, or the trees that guarded the ashes of a cremation.

 “It was all written on the garden page – a whole collection of those memories,” Diana says. “People would say I can’t bear to leave this because Dad’s ashes are under the trees in the corner of the garden, or under the beech tree by the river. And they’d express their feelings, and why they felt like that. In a way it helps you to know, and it also helps you to leave, because the more you know, the more you can carry away with you. Not that it’s easier to leave but you need to be better informed because leaving is also an act of courage.”

The Crown (the national government) spent more than $1.5 billion acquiring 8000 properties in the various Red Zones of Christchurch. In 2019, when the government negotiated its final global agreement with Christchurch as part of handing all rebuild control back to the city, it sold this 640ha of river corridor to the council for $1. Volunteer groups use it now for community gardens. Those who know the location of the fruit trees use it for foraging. Fitness trails have emerged and plans exist for further recreational development, but fundamentally it’s being given over to flood control, protecting another 20,000 suburban houses on its borders. 

The 2011 quake was unusually violent. The filmmaker who embodies a city’s determination to retain its spirit, the mayor who embodies the city’s political will and the gardener who embodies a love of place are characters arisen from a city’s extraordinary travail. And all are pleased, after a year-long vacillation between retaining or demolishing Christ Church Cathedral, that restoration is at last underway.

Cranes pick away at it and engineers figure how to quake-proof without compromising the heritage. A restored cathedral seems likely to be the final capstone of the recovery, but it’s still many years off, and perhaps the man who most closely embodies the reality of it all is Hugh Nicholson. 

“With any major city in the world if you do one major work in 10 years you’re doing okay. Big projects take a long time and we were trying to do 10 of them, probably more when you take into account all the repairs at the same time. It was madness.

“Occasionally I get to show people around and suddenly I see gaps and think, ‘My God, they’ll think we’ve been doing nothing. But remember maybe 80 per cent of the CBD came down. It was huge, and I’m really proud of what we’ve done.”

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Geography Revision

Revision materials to support you in preparing for your GCSE Geography exams. 

GCSE | AQA |  The Challenge of Natural Hazards | Case Study – HIC Earthquake

• What is a natural hazard?
• Types of Natural Hazards
• Hazard Risk
• Plate Tectonics
• Why do tectonic plates move?
• The global distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes
• Destructive plate margins
• Conservative plate margins
• Constructive plate margins

Causes of earthquakes

• Measuring Earthquakes

What are the effects of earthquakes?

• Responses to Earthquakes

Case Study – HIC Earthquake

• Case Study – LIC Earthquake
• Why do people live in tectonically active areas?
• Managing Tectonic Hazards
• Global Atmospheric Circulation

Revision Notes

Measuring earthquakes

Responses to earthquakes

Case Study – LIC/NEE Earthquake

Interactive Revision

• On 24 August 2016, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit central Italy near Norcia.
• The earthquake’s epicentre was shallow, at a depth of 5.1 km.
• It was the strongest quake in Italy since the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, which killed over 300 people.
• The Amatrice earthquake was felt over 100 miles away, including in Rome.
• Amatrice, the town closest to the epicentre, suffered significant social, economic, and environmental impacts.
• Italy’s seismic activity is due to its location on the Eurasian and African plate collision border, creating multiple fault lines.
• Two major fault lines, north-south and east-west, contribute to the country’s geological instability.
• The Apennines are stretching northwest at about 3 mm per year, causing pressure buildup along faults, leading to earthquakes when released.

Primary Effects

The  primary effects  of the Amatrice earthquake include:

• Two hundred ninety-nine people died, 400 were injured, and 4454 were homeless.
• 293 historic buildings were damaged or destroyed, including the Basilica of San Francesco in Amatrice
• Over half the buildings in Amatrice were damaged or destroyed. Despite their reinforcements, 80 per cent of the buildings in the old town were affected.
• Although the government allocated €1 billion for building improvements since the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, many properties did not meet seismic building standards. The uptake of the funding had been low.
• Despite being restored in 2012, the school in Amatrice collapsed, indicating substandard building practices.

Secondary Effects

The secondary effects of the Amatrice earthquake include:

• Landslides blocked roads, making access to the area difficult.
• Local residents suffered psychological damage.
• Individuals were reported to have been involved in looting.
• Unsafe buildings led to the town centre being cordoned off. This had a negative impact on  tourism .
• Ninety per cent of barns and stalls for sheep, goats, and cattle in the affected area were destroyed, alongside the mechanical milking systems. As a result, farmers struggled to milk by hand, leaving their cattle at risk of mastitis, an udder-tissue disease. Farmers struggled to make a living in the aftermath of the earthquake.
• The earthquake resulted in an estimated $11 billion in economic losses.

Immediate Responses

• Ten thousand homeless people were accommodated in 58 tent camps.
• Sports halls were converted to provide shelter, and hotels on the Adriatic coasts were used to home people temporarily.
• Many rescue workers arrived within an hour of the earthquake. Five thousand soldiers, alpine guides, and the Italian Red Cross were involved in searching for survivors, providing food and water, and supplying tents. Seventy dog teams and twelve helicopters were involved in the rescue effort.
• Six of the Vatican’s 37 firefighters have travelled to Amatrice to help civil  protection  workers look for survivors.
• A temporary hospital was set up, and patients at Amazatrice Hospital, severely damaged during the earthquake, were transferred to a nearby hospital in Rieti.
• Appeals were made by the national blood donation service to ensure demand was met.
• Facebook activated safety check features so local people could inform family and friends they were safe.
• Locals removed passwords from Wi-Fi at the Italian Red Cross’s request so rescue teams could communicate more effectively.
• The Italian Government announced a €50 million emergency response. Taxes for residents were cancelled, and reconstruction work began immediately.

Long-term Responses 

• Students were educated in neighbouring schools, while 12 classrooms were constructed in prefabricated buildings in Amatrice.
• Six months following the earthquake, the government promised to move people from temporary camps into wooden houses.
• The cost of rebuilding was reduced by tax incentives, allowing 65 per cent of total renovation costs to be used as tax breaks.
• Villages were rebuilt, with the building of the same character through a €42 million government initiative called ‘Italian Homes’.
• A year on, 2.4 million tons of debris and rubble remained in the areas affected by the earthquake.
• At 3:34 am on 27 February 2010, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of central Chile.
• The earthquake happened at a destructive plate margin , where the Nazca Plate subducts the South American plate.
• A series of smaller aftershocks followed it.
• Tsunami warnings were issued due to waves travelling from the epicentre across the Pacific Ocean at speeds of about 800 km/h.
• Around 500 people died, and 12,000 people were injured. Over 800,000 people were affected.
• Two hundred twenty thousand homes, 4500 schools, 56 hospitals, and 53 ports were destroyed.
• Santiago Airport and the Port of Talahuanao were severely damaged.
• The earthquake disrupted power, water supplies and communications across Chile.
• The cost of the earthquake is estimated to be US$30 billion.
• Tsunami waves devastated several coastal towns.
• The  tsunami  struck several Pacific countries; however, warnings prevented a loss of life.
• A fire at a Santiago chemical plant led to the local area being evacuated.
• Landslides destroyed up to 1500 km of roads, cutting off remote communities for days.
• Emergency services responded quickly.
• International support provided field hospitals, satellite phones and floating bridges.
• Within 24 hours, the north-south highway was temporarily repaired, allowing aid to be transported from Santiago to areas affected by the earthquake.
• Within ten days, 90% of homes had restored power and water.
• US$60 million was raised after a national appeal, which funded 30,000 small emergency shelters.
• Chile’s government launched a housing reconstruction plan just one month after the earthquake to help nearly 200,000 families.
• Chile’s strong economy reduced the need for foreign aid to fund rebuilding.
• The recovery took over four years.

Christchurch

• The earthquake struck New Zealand’s South Island, 10km west of Christchurch, at 12:51 pm on 22nd February 2011, lasting just 10 seconds.
• It measured 6.3 on the Richter Scale and had a shallow depth of 4.99 km.
• The quake occurred along a conservative margin between the Pacific and Australasian plates.

The  primary effects  included:

• Christchurch, New Zealand’s second city, experienced extensive damage
• 185 people were killed
• 3129 people were injured
• 6800 people received minor injuries
• 100,000 properties were damaged, and the earthquake demolished 10,000
• $28 billion of damage was caused
• water and sewage pipes were damaged
• the cathedral spire collapsed
• liquefaction  destroyed many roads and buildings
• 2200 people had to live in temporary housing

The  secondary effects  included:

• five Rugby World Cup matches were cancelled
• schools were closed for two weeks
• 1/5 of the population migrated from the city
• many businesses were closed for a long time
• two large aftershocks struck Christchurch less than four months after the city was devastated
• Economists have suggested that it will take 50 to 100 years for New Zealand’s economy to recover
• 80% of respondents to a post-event survey stated that their lives had changed significantly since the earthquake

The  immediate responses  included:

• around $6-7 million of aid was provided
• International aid was provided
• The Red Cross and other charities supplied aid workers
• rescue crews from all over the world, including the UK, USA, Taiwan and Australia, provided support
• more than 300 Australian police officers flew into Christchurch three days after the earthquake. They were sworn in with New Zealand policing powers and worked alongside New Zealand officers, enforcing law and order and reassuring the people of Christchurch
• 30,000 residents were provided with chemical toilets

The long-term responses included:

• the construction of around 10,000 affordable homes
• water and sewage were restored by August 2011
• the New Zealand government provided temporary housing
• Many NGOs provided support, including Save the Children
• Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority was created to organise the rebuilding of the region. It had special powers to change planning  laws and regulations.
• A 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s northeast coast, 250 miles from Tokyo, at a depth of 20 miles on March 11, 2011, at 2:46 pm local time.
• Occurred 250 miles off the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island.
• The earthquake resulted from the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate, a destructive plate margin.
• Built-up friction over time led to a massive ‘megathrust’ earthquake.
• Energy release was 600 million times the energy of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.
• Post-earthquake studies found a thin, slippery clay layer in the subduction zone , which allowed a significant plate displacement of 164 feet and contributed to the massive earthquake and tsunami.
• The combination of the earthquake’s shallow depth and high magnitude generated a devastating tsunami.
• 15,894 people died, and 26,152 were injured.
• 130,927 displaced, with 2,562 missing.
• 332,395 buildings, 2,126 roads, 56 bridges, and 26 railways damaged or destroyed.
• 300 hospitals damaged, 11 destroyed.
• Over 4.4 million households in northeast Japan were without electricity.
• Significant disruptions to Japan’s transport network.
• Coastal land subsidence by over 50 cm in some areas.
• Due to tectonic shifts, North East Japan moved 2.4 m closer to North America.
• Pacific plate slipped westwards by 20 to 40 m.
• Seabed near the epicentre shifted by 24 m; off Miyagi province by 3 m.
• Earthquake altered Earth’s axis by 10 to 25 cm, shortening the day by 1.8 microseconds.
• Liquefaction damaged 1,046 buildings in Tokyo’s reclaimed land areas.
• The earthquake cost was estimated at US$235 billion, making it the most expensive natural disaster in history.
• Tsunami waves up to 40m high caused widespread devastation, killing thousands and causing damage and pollution up to 6 miles inland; only 58% heeded tsunami warnings.
• Fukushima nuclear power station experienced a meltdown in seven reactors; radiation levels spiked to over eight times the norm.
• Transport networks in rural areas were severely disrupted; the tsunami destroyed major roads and railways and derailed trains.
• The ‘Japan Move Forward Committee’ suggested young adults and teenagers could aid in rebuilding efforts.
• Coastal changes included a 250-mile stretch of coastline dropping by 0.6m, allowing the tsunami to travel further inland.
• The Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings three minutes after the earthquake.
• Scientists had been able to predict where the tsunami would hit after the earthquake using modelling and forecasting technology so that responses could be directed to the appropriate areas.
• Rescue workers and around 100,000 members of the Japan Self-Defence Force were dispatched to help with search and rescue operations within hours of the tsunami hitting the coast.
• Although many search and rescue teams focused on recovering bodies washing up on shore following the tsunami, some people were rescued from under the rubble with the help of sniffer dogs.
• The government declared a 20 km  evacuation  zone around the Fukushima nuclear power plant to reduce the threat of radiation exposure to local residents.
• Japan received international help from the US military, and search and rescue teams were sent from New Zealand, India, South Korea, China and Australia.
• Access to the affected areas was restricted because many were covered in debris and mud following the tsunami, so it wasn’t easy to provide immediate support in some areas.
• Hundreds of thousands of people who had lost their homes were evacuated to temporary shelters in schools and other public buildings or relocated to other areas.
• Many evacuees came from the  exclusion zone  surrounding the Fukushima nuclear power plant. After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, those in the area had their radiation levels checked, and their health monitored to ensure they did not receive dangerous exposure to radiation. Many evacuated from the area around the nuclear power plant were given iodine tablets to reduce the risk of radiation poisoning.
• One month post-disaster, Japan established the Reconstruction Policy Council for National Recovery, focusing on tsunami-resilient communities.
• The government allocated 23 trillion yen for a ten-year recovery plan, introducing ‘Special Zones for Reconstruction’ to attract investments in Tohoku.
• Coastal protection policies involving seawalls and breakwaters were adopted to withstand tsunamis with a 150-year recurrence interval.
• Enacted ‘Act on the Development of Tsunami-resilient Communities’ prioritizing human life and promoting infrastructure and defence measures against major tsunamis.
• Post-earthquake, Japan faced economic challenges, with the disaster impacting stock market values and raising concerns about economic recovery.
• Infrastructure repair included 375 km of the Tohoku Expressway and Sendai Airport runway, with significant efforts from the Japanese Defence Force and the US Army.
• Reconstruction efforts also focused on restoring energy, water supply, and telecommunications infrastructure, achieving significant restoration rates by November 2011.

L’Aquila

• A 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit L’Aquila, central Italy, on 6 April 2009, resulting in 309 fatalities.
• The main shock occurred at 3.32 am, causing extensive damage to the 13th-century city, situated approximately 60 miles northeast of Rome.
• This event was Italy’s most severe earthquake since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.
• The earthquake’s cause was normal faulting on the northwest-southeast-trending Paganica Fault, influenced by extensional tectonic forces from the Tyrrhenian Basin’s opening.
• L’Aquila experienced several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, with over thirty exceeding a 3.5 Richter magnitude.
• The L’Aquila earthquake damaged or collapsed 3,000 to 11,000 buildings, injuring around 1,500 people, and made approximately 40,000 homeless.
• Twenty children were among the 309 fatalities, and around 40,000 individuals were displaced, with 10,000 housed in coastal hotels.
• The European Union estimated the earthquake’s total damage to be US$1.1 billion.
• Historic buildings sustained severe damage, leading to widespread abandonment. Streets were blocked by fallen masonry, and a significant aftershock damaged the local hospital.
• The Basilica of Saint Bernardino, a major Renaissance church, and its campanile were severely damaged.
• Modern structures, including the earthquake-proof wing of L’Aquila Hospital, also suffered extensive damage, leading to its closure.
• Displaced persons found temporary shelter in tented camps and hotels along the coast.
• Aftershocks from the L’Aquila earthquake triggered landslides and rockfalls, damaging homes and transportation infrastructure.
• A burst main water supply pipeline near Paganio caused a landslide and mudflow.
• Student enrollment at L’Aquila University declined post-earthquake.
• The scarcity of housing led to increased house prices and rents.
• Much of the city’s central business district was cordoned off due to unsafe buildings, resulting in some areas remaining as ‘red zones’.
• These ‘red zones’ have negatively impacted business, tourism , and income in the area.
• Hotels sheltered 10,000 people; 40,000 tents were distributed to the homeless.
• Some train carriages were repurposed as shelters.
• Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi offered his homes for temporary shelters.
• Italian Red Cross, supported by dog units and ambulances, searched for survivors and set up a temporary hospital.
• The Red Cross distributed water, meals, tents, and blankets; the British Red Cross raised £171,000.
• Mortgages, Sky TV, gas, and electricity bills were suspended.
• Italian Post Office provided free mobile calls, raised donations, and offered free delivery for small businesses.
• L’Aquila declared a state of emergency, facilitating international aid from the EU and USA.
• EU granted US$552.9 million from its Solidarity Fund for rebuilding efforts.
• Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) did not provide aid, deeming Italy capable with its resources and EU support.
• A torch-lit procession and Catholic mass are held on the anniversary for remembrance.
• Residents were exempt from taxes in 2010.
• Students received free public transport , discounts on educational equipment, and an exemption from university fees for three years.
• Home reconstruction took years; historical centres may take 15 years to rebuild.
• Six scientists and one government official were initially convicted of manslaughter for not predicting the earthquake, sentenced to six years in prison, and fined millions in damages.
• In November 2014, the convictions of the six scientists were overturned by Italian courts.

New Zealand 2016

• A magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit New Zealand’s South Island on November 14th, 2016, at 00.02 am, resulting in at least two fatalities.
• The quake was felt up to 120 miles away, including in Wellington, the capital on the North Island.
• A tsunami warning was issued two hours post-quake, advising people on the eastern coast to move inland or higher ground.
• Two people died.
• Fifty people were injured.
• Sixty people needed emergency housing.
• Over 190km of roads and 200km of railway lines were destroyed
• Twenty thousand buildings were damaged or destroyed.
• Water, sewerage & power supplies were cut off.
• Total damage is estimated at US $8.5 billion.
• One hundred thousand landslides blocked roads and railways.
• A landslide blocked the Clarence River, causing flooding. Ten farms were evacuated.
• The earthquake triggered a tsunami of 5m, leaving debris up to 250 metres inland.
• A tsunami warning was issued, and residents were told to reach higher ground.
• Hundreds were housed in emergency shelters.
• Two hundred vulnerable people were evacuated by helicopter.
• Power was restored within hours. International warships were sent to Kaikoura with food, medicine and portable toilets.
• Temporary water supplies were set up.
• Other countries sent food and medicine.
• $5.3 million from the District Council for repairs and rebuilding.
• Road and rail routes reopened within two years.
• A relief fund was set up to provide basic supplies.
• By March 2017, a permanent water main had been laid in Kaikoura. the new pipe was designed to move with any future earthquakes so it wouldn’t break

Case study – LIC/NEE earthquake

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Earthquake Preparedness in Christchurch, New Zealand

On February 22, 2011, residents of the then-second-largest city in New Zealand – Christchurch, located on the South Island's Canterbury Plains – were hit hard by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake. Outside of New Zealand, the earthquake became known as the "Christchurch Earthquake", and it resulted in the deaths of 185 people and injuries of several thousand. The epicenter of the quake was approximately 3 miles from the city center of Christchurch. The earthquake occurred more than five months after the September 4, 2010 earthquake of a 7.1 magnitude (in which no one died), and is considered to be an aftershock. Within New Zealand, the September 2010 earthquake and its aftershocks are thus also known as the Canterbury earthquakes.

Every year, thousands of earthquakes occur in New Zealand that are too small to be felt, although more serious quakes have occurred. For example, between 1992 and 2007, New Zealand experienced over 30 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more. However, prior to the two seismic events in September 2010 and February 2011, Canterbury Plains likely had not experienced a major earthquake in thousands of years. In fact, scientists did not even know there was a geologic fault there until the September 2010 earthquake. Christchurch was understandably unprepared for activity on a fault that was previously unidentified.

Additional factors exacerbated the damage of the February 2011 earthquake. For one, the proximity of the epicenter to the downtown area limited the amount of energy the quake dissipated before reaching Christchurch. Two, the quake was comparatively shallow (the aftershock struck only about 2.5 miles in depth below the city, whereas the September 2010 temblor originated about 25 miles outside of the city and was approximately 6.2 miles deep). As a result, the rock on either side of the fault accelerated almost three times as fast as in a typical quake, producing extra violent shaking. This shaking was significantly greater than the levels Christchurch's structures had been designed to withstand. And, the February 2011 quake brought down many structures that had been damaged the preceding September. Third, liquefaction was much more extensive than in the September 2010 earthquake, with the shaking turning water-saturated layers of sand and silt beneath the surface into sludge, burying properties and streets in thick layers of silt, and wrecking the foundations of homes. Finally, the timing of the earthquake contributed to the damage and the number of casualties: the February 2011 quake happened at 12:51pm, in the middle of a busy weekday, with correspondingly more lethal consequences.

See more Real-world Example Collection »

Case Study: Christchurch, New Zealand Earthquake

Earthquake case study - christchurch, new zealand.

Two earthquakes hit the city of Christchurch, on New Zealand's south-east coast, in late 2010/early 2011. The second one hit the city centre, killing 185 and destroying much of the CBD.

1st earthquake (4/9/10)

• Magnitude 7.1.
• People were asleep and the streets mostly empty.
• Buildings were weakened, which became an issue in the 2nd earthquake.
• E.g. 'Turtle safe' - an earthquake safety resource aimed at preschool children which encourages them to act like a turtle during an earthquake.

2nd earthquake (22/2/11) facts

• Magnitude 6.3, hit closer to the CBD than the first earthquake.
• Thousands of people were out and about at work and school.
• The city centre was busy.
• 130 deaths caused by the collapsing of the Canterbury TV and Pyne Gould Corporation buildings.

2nd earthquake damage

• The Provincial Council Chambers and the Anglican Christchurch Cathedral were completely destroyed.
• Over half of the buildings in the central business district have been (intentionally) demolished since as they were no longer safe, including the Hotel Grand Chancellor.
• Liquefaction sludge moved upwards through cracks in residential streets.
• Water and sewage from broken pipes flooded the streets.
• Several thousand homes in the 'red zone' were demolished because they could no longer be safely inhabited.

2nd earthquake responses

• State of emergency declared by national government on 23rd February.
• Christchurch's CBD was cordoned off until June 2013 in some locations.
• 75% of power reinstated within 96 hours.
• Local residents and the creative community have been taking over the 'empty spaces' in the CBD with art installations and street art.

1 Geography Skills

1.1 Mapping

1.1.1 Map Making

1.1.2 OS Maps

1.1.3 Grid References

1.1.4 Contour Lines

1.1.5 Symbols, Scale and Distance

1.1.6 Directions on Maps

1.1.7 Describing Routes

1.1.8 Map Projections

1.1.9 Aerial & Satellite Images

1.1.10 Using Maps to Make Decisions

1.2 Geographical Information Systems

1.2.1 Geographical Information Systems

1.2.2 How do Geographical Information Systems Work?

1.2.3 Using Geographical Information Systems

1.2.4 End of Topic Test - Geography Skills

2 Geology of the UK

2.1 The UK's Rocks

2.1.1 The UK's Main Rock Types

2.1.2 The UK's Landscape

2.1.3 Using Rocks

2.1.4 Weathering

2.2 Case Study: The Peak District

2.2.1 The Peak District

2.2.2 Limestone Landforms

2.2.3 Quarrying

3 Geography of the World

3.1 Geography of America & Europe

3.1.1 North America

3.1.2 South America

3.1.3 Europe

3.1.4 The European Union

3.1.5 The Continents

3.1.6 The Oceans

3.1.7 Longitude

3.1.8 Latitude

3.1.9 End of Topic Test - Geography of the World

4 Development

4.1 Development

4.1.1 Classifying Development

4.1.3 Evaluation of GDP

4.1.4 The Human Development Index

4.1.5 Population Structure

4.1.6 Developing Countries

4.1.7 Emerging Countries

4.1.8 Developed Countries

4.1.9 Comparing Development

4.2 Uneven Development

4.2.1 Consequences of Uneven Development

4.2.2 Physical Factors Affecting Development

4.2.3 Historic Factors Affecting Development

4.2.4 Human & Social Factors Affecting Development

4.2.5 Breaking Out of the Poverty Cycle

4.3 Case Study: Democratic Republic of Congo

4.3.1 The DRC: An Overview

4.3.2 Political & Social Factors Affecting Development

4.3.3 Environmental Factors Affecting the DRC

4.3.4 The DRC: Aid

4.3.5 The Pros & Cons of Aid in DRC

4.3.6 Top-Down vs Bottom-Up in DRC

4.3.7 The DRC: Comparison with the UK

4.3.8 The DRC: Against Malaria Foundation

4.4 Case Study: Nigeria

4.4.1 The Importance & Development of Nigeria

4.4.2 Nigeria's Relationships with the Rest of the World

4.4.3 Urban Growth in Lagos

4.4.4 Population Growth in Lagos

4.4.5 Factors influencing Nigeria's Growth

4.4.6 Nigeria: Comparison with the UK

5 Weather & Climate

5.1 Weather

5.1.1 Weather & Climate

5.1.2 Components of Weather

5.1.3 Temperature

5.1.4 Sunshine, Humidity & Air Pressure

5.1.5 Cloud Cover

5.1.6 Precipitation

5.1.7 Convectional Precipitation

5.1.8 Frontal Precipitation

5.1.9 Relief or Orographic Precipitation

5.1.10 Wind

5.1.11 Extreme Wind

5.1.12 Recording the Weather

5.1.13 Extreme Weather

5.2 Climate

5.2.1 Climate of the British Isles

5.2.2 Comparing Weather & Climate London

5.2.3 Climate of the Tropical Rainforest

5.2.4 End of Topic Test - Weather & Climate

5.3 Tropical Storms

5.3.1 Formation of Tropical Storms

5.3.2 Features of Tropical Storms

5.3.3 The Structure of Tropical Storms

5.3.4 Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina Effects

5.3.5 Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina Responses

6 The World of Work

6.1 Tourism

6.1.1 Landscapes

6.1.2 The Growth of Tourism

6.1.3 Benefits of Tourism

6.1.4 Economic Costs of Tourism

6.1.5 Social, Cultural & Environmental Costs of Tourism

6.1.6 Tourism Case Study: Blackpool

6.1.7 Ecotourism

6.1.8 Tourism Case Study: Kenya

7 Natural Resources

7.1.1 What are Rocks?

7.1.2 Types of Rock

7.1.4 The Rock Cycle - Weathering

7.1.5 The Rock Cycle - Erosion

7.1.6 What is Soil?

7.1.7 Soil Profiles

7.1.8 Water

7.1.9 Global Water Demand

7.2 Fossil Fuels

7.2.1 Introduction to Fossil Fuels

7.2.2 Fossil Fuels

7.2.3 The Global Energy Supply

7.2.5 What is Peak Oil?

7.2.6 End of Topic Test - Natural Resources

8.1 River Processes & Landforms

8.1.1 Overview of Rivers

8.1.2 The Bradshaw Model

8.1.3 Erosion

8.1.4 Sediment Transport

8.1.5 River Deposition

8.1.6 River Profiles: Long Profiles

8.1.7 River Profiles: Cross Profiles

8.1.8 Waterfalls & Gorges

8.1.9 Interlocking Spurs

8.1.10 Meanders

8.1.11 Floodplains

8.1.12 Levees

8.1.13 Case Study: River Tees

8.2 Rivers & Flooding

8.2.1 Flood Risk Factors

8.2.2 Flood Management: Hard Engineering

8.2.3 Flood Management: Soft Engineering

8.2.4 Flooding Case Study: Boscastle

8.2.5 Flooding Case Study: Consequences of Boscastle

8.2.6 Flooding Case Study: Responses to Boscastle

8.2.7 Flooding Case Study: Bangladesh

8.2.8 End of Topic Test - Rivers

8.2.9 Rivers Case Study: The Nile

8.2.10 Rivers Case Study: The Mississippi

9.1 Formation of Coastal Landforms

9.1.1 Weathering

9.1.2 Erosion

9.1.3 Headlands & Bays

9.1.4 Caves, Arches & Stacks

9.1.5 Wave-Cut Platforms & Cliffs

9.1.6 Waves

9.1.7 Longshore Drift

9.1.8 Coastal Deposition

9.1.9 Spits, Bars & Sand Dunes

9.2 Coast Management

9.2.1 Management Strategies for Coastal Erosion

9.2.2 Case Study: The Holderness Coast

9.2.3 Case Study: Lyme Regis

9.2.4 End of Topic Test - Coasts

10 Glaciers

10.1 Overview of Glaciers & How They Work

10.1.1 Distribution of Glaciers

10.1.2 Types of Glaciers

10.1.3 The Last Ice Age

10.1.4 Formation & Movement of Glaciers

10.1.5 Shaping of Landscapes by Glaciers

10.1.6 Glacial Landforms Created by Erosion

10.1.7 Glacial Till & Outwash Plain

10.1.8 Moraines

10.1.9 Drumlins & Erratics

10.1.10 End of Topic Tests - Glaciers

10.1.11 Tourism in Glacial Landscapes

10.1.12 Strategies for Coping with Tourists

10.1.13 Case Study - Lake District: Tourism

10.1.14 Case Study - Lake District: Management

11 Tectonics

11.1 Continental Drift & Plate Tectonics

11.1.1 The Theory of Plate Tectonics

11.1.2 The Structure of the Earth

11.1.3 Tectonic Plates

11.1.4 Plate Margins

11.2 Volcanoes

11.2.1 Volcanoes & Their Products

11.2.2 The Development of Volcanoes

11.2.3 Living Near Volcanoes

11.3 Earthquakes

11.3.1 Overview of Earthquakes

11.3.2 Consequences of Earthquakes

11.3.3 Case Study: Christchurch, New Zealand Earthquake

11.4 Tsunamis

11.4.1 Formation of Tsunamis

11.4.2 Case Study: Japan 2010 Tsunami

11.5 Managing the Risk of Volcanoes & Earthquakes

11.5.1 Coping With Earthquakes & Volcanoes

11.5.2 End of Topic Test - Tectonics

12 Climate Change

12.1 The Causes & Consequences of Climate Change

12.1.1 Evidence for Climate Change

12.1.2 Natural Causes of Climate Change

12.1.3 Human Causes of Climate Change

12.1.4 The Greenhouse Effect

12.1.5 Effects of Climate Change on the Environment

12.1.6 Effects of Climate Change on People

12.1.7 Climate Change Predictions

12.1.8 Uncertainty About Future Climate Change

12.1.9 Mitigating Against Climate Change

12.1.10 Adapting to Climate Change

12.1.11 Case Study: Bangladesh

13 Global Population & Inequality

13.1 Global Populations

13.1.1 World Population

13.1.2 Population Structure

13.1.3 Ageing Populations

13.1.4 Youthful Populations

13.1.5 Population Control

13.1.6 Mexico to USA Migration

13.1.7 End of Topic Test - Development & Population

14 Urbanisation

14.1 Urbanisation

14.1.1 Rural Characterisitcs

14.1.2 Urban Characteristics

14.1.3 Urbanisation Growth

14.1.4 The Land Use Model

14.1.5 Rural-Urban Pull Factors

14.1.6 Rural-Urban Push Factors

14.1.7 The Impacts of Migration

14.1.8 Challenges of Urban Areas in Developed Countries

14.1.9 Challenges of Urban Areas in Developing Countries

14.1.10 Urban Sustainability

14.1.11 Case Study: China's Urbanisation

14.1.12 Major UK Cities

14.1.13 Urbanisation in the UK

14.1.14 End of Topic Test- Urbanisation

14.1.15 End of Topic Test - Urban Issues

15 Ecosystems

15.1 The Major Biomes

15.1.1 Distribution of Major Biomes

15.1.2 What Affects the Distribution of Biomes?

15.1.3 Biome Features: Tropical Forests

15.1.4 Biome Features: Temperate Forests

15.1.5 Biome Features: Tundra

15.1.6 Biome Features: Deserts

15.1.7 Biome Features: Tropical Grasslands

15.1.8 Biome Features: Temperate Grasslands

15.2 Case Study: The Amazon Rainforest

15.2.1 Interdependence of Rainforest Ecosystems

15.2.2 Nutrient Cycling in Tropical Rainforests

15.2.3 Deforestation in the Amazon

15.2.4 Impacts of Deforestation in the Amazon

15.2.5 Protecting the Amazon

15.2.6 Adaptations of Plants to Rainforests

15.2.7 Adaptations of Animals to Rainforests

16 Life in an Emerging Country

16.1 Case Studies

16.1.1 Mumbai: Opportunities

16.1.2 Mumbai: Challenges

17 Analysis of Africa

17.1 Africa

17.1.1 Desert Biomes in Africa

17.1.2 The Semi-Desert Biome

17.1.3 The Savanna Biome

17.1.4 Overview of Tropical Rainforests

17.1.5 Colonisation History

17.1.6 Population Distribution in Africa

17.1.7 Economic Resources in Africa

17.1.8 Urbanisation in Africa

17.1.9 Africa's Location

17.1.10 Physical Geography of Africa

17.1.11 Desertification in Africa

17.1.12 Reducing the Risk of Desertification

17.1.13 Case Study: The Sahara Desert - Opportunities

17.1.14 Case Study: The Sahara Desert - Development

18 Analysis of India

18.1 India - Physical Geography

18.1.1 Geographical Location of India

18.1.2 Physical Geography of India

18.1.3 India's Climate

18.1.4 Natural Disasters in India

18.1.5 Case Study: The Thar Desert

18.1.6 Case Study: The Thar Desert - Challenges

18.2 India - Human Geography

18.2.1 Population Distribution in India

18.2.2 Urabinsation in India

18.2.3 The History of India

18.2.4 Economic Resources in India

19 Analysis of the Middle East

19.1 The Middle East

19.1.1 Physical Geography of the Middle East

19.1.2 Human Geography of the Middle East

19.1.3 Climate Zones in the Middle East

19.1.4 Climate Comparison with the UK

19.1.5 Oil & Natural Gas in the Middle East

19.1.6 Water in the Middle East

19.1.7 Population of the Middle East

19.1.8 Development Case Studies: The UAE

19.1.9 Development Case Studies: Yemen

19.1.10 Supporting Development in Yemen

19.1.11 Connection to the UK

19.1.12 Importance of Oil

19.1.13 Oil & Tourism in the UAE

20 Analysis of Bangladesh

20.1 Bangladesh Physical Geography

20.1.1 Location of Bangladesh

20.1.2 Climate of Bangladesh

20.1.3 Rivers in Bangladesh

20.1.4 Flooding in Bangladesh

20.2 Bangladesh Human Geography

20.2.1 Population Structure in Bangladesh

20.2.2 Urbanisation in Bangladesh

20.2.3 Bangladesh's Economy

20.2.4 Energy & Sustainability in Bangladesh

21 Analysis of Russia

21.1 Russia's Physical Geography

21.1.1 Russia's Climate

21.1.2 Russia's Landscape

21.2 Russia's Human Geography

21.2.1 Population of Russia

21.2.2 Russia's Economy

21.2.3 Energy & Sustainability in Russia

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Consequences of Earthquakes

Formation of Tsunamis

Christchurch Case study

The Christchurch earthquake of February 2011

• The earthquake occurred on New Zealand’s South Island 10km to the West of Christchurch, Canterbury. It lasted only 10 seconds.
• The earthquake happened on a conservative plate margin between the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate.
• The epicentre of the quake was just 2km west of the port town of Lyttelton
• It measured 6.3 on the Richter Magnitude scale.
• Christchurch is New Zealand’s second largest city and suffered extensive damage
• Killed 185 people
• The earthquake was only 5 km deep
• The earthquake struck at 12:51 pm on Tuesday, 22 February, 2011
• 6 months earlier on 4th September 2010 another massive magnitude 7.1 earthquake caused significant damage to Christchurch and the central Canterbury region, but with no direct fatalities.

Tectonic setting & Cause

The earthquake was created along a conservative plate margin where the Pacific Plate slid past the Australian Plate in the opposite direction. Where the plates move like this strain energy builds up as the plates lock in place, it reaches a critical level then is breaks, releasing seismic energy. The earthquake occurred on a fault running off this major plate boundary. It was a strike slip event along the fault, mostly horizontal movement with some vertical movement upwards. The earthquake generated its own significant aftershocks;

• 2 Hours after the main earthquake - Largest aftershock of magnitude 5.9
• The first week post event - 361+ aftershocks (magnitude 3+ foreshocks) in the first week

EFFECTS OF THE FEBRUARY 2011 EARTHQUAKE

Primary effects (caused directly by the earthquake)

• 185 people were killed in the earthquake. Over half of the deaths occurred in the six-storey Canterbury Television (CTV) Building, which collapsed and caught fire in the quake.
• 3,129 people injured
• April 2013, the total estimated cost had ballooned to $40 billion
• Significant liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, producing around 400,000 tonnes of silt
• Building damage to the central city and eastern suburbs of Christchurch. The damage was made worse by buildings and infrastructure already being weakened by the 4 September 2010 earthquake and its aftershock. Up to 100,000 buildings were damaged and about 10,000 buildings needed to be demolished.
• 3.5 m tsunami waves in Tasman Lake, following quake-triggered glacier calving from Tasman Glacier
• Water pipes, roads, bridges, power lines, cell phone towers and ordinary phone lines were broken or damaged.
• 50% + of Central City buildings severely damaged including the city’s cathedral which lost its spire

Secondary effects (things that happen after the primary effects but often as a result of them)

• Some economists have estimated it will take the New Zealand economy 50 to 100 years to completely recover.
• 80% of the water and sewerage system was severely damaged
• An additional 1,293 people were injured in the aftermath
• Psychological impacts – in a survey post event (2013) 80% of respondents stated their lives had changed significantly since the earthquakes. Almost a third said the earthquakes had caused them financial problems, while 64% said they felt guilty that other Cantabrians were more affected by the earthquakes.
• Outmigration of a fifth of the city population
• The population, which had been growing for decades, declined in the years after the quake 
• Damage to roads through liquefaction made it difficult for people and emergency services to move around
• Christchurch could no longer host Rugby World Cup matches so lost the benefits, e.g. tourism and income
• Schools had to join together

• Rescue crews from all over the world came to help. There were crews from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Australia and other countries.
• Aid money poured in – Australia gave $5 million (Aus $) in aid.
• The government declared a state of national emergency, which stayed in force until 30 April 2011
• Domestic help was available - The Farmy Army was made up of 800 farmers who brought their farm machines and muscle to help clean up the city.
• The most vulnerable people were cared for and people were kept safe away from dangerous buildings
• Chemical toilets were provided for 30,000 residents
• The Red Cross and other charities supplied aid workers
• More than 300 Australian police officers flew into Christchurch three days after the earthquake.
• The government provided temporary housing and ensured all damaged housing was kept water tight
• Water and sewerage was restored for all residents by August
• Roads and houses were cleared of silt from liquefaction by August and 80% of roads & 50% of footpaths were repaired
• Many Non-government organisations including Save the Children helped with long term recovery efforts
• Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority was created to organise the REBUILD of the region. It had special powers to change planning laws and regulations.

    Green Zone land was undamaged and could be built on again.     Orange Zone more checks were needed before the land could be built on.     White Zone was the area that had not been checked at all yet.     Red Zone areas were very unstable: building on it safely would be difficult.

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Christchurch earthquake case study

Subject: Geography

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

4 February 2020

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A comprehensive one page case study of the Christchurch earthquake. Perfect for any specification, but written specifically for the AQA GCSE 9-1 course.

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Post-earthquake Demolition in Christchurch, New Zealand: A Case-Study Towards Incorporating Environmental Impacts in Demolition Decisions

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A Case Study on the Effect of Multiple Earthquakes on Mid-rise RC Buildings with Mass and Stiffness Irregularity in Height

• Research Paper
• Published: 17 September 2024

Cite this article

• Pavan Kumar Thippa 1 ,
• R. K. Tripathi 1 &
• Govardhan Bhat 1  

Irregularities present in buildings play a crucial role when subjected to earthquake loads. In this study, an existing Reinforced Concrete (RC) structure is considered, which is designed and constructed without considering irregularity and seismic load effect. Due to functional requirements and usage of the floor for other occupancy purposes, columns were removed, which resulted in stiffness irregularity, and the imposed load difference resulted in mass irregularity at the same storey level. Three types of structures were analyzed and compared to understand the seismic effects and collapse probability of induced irregularity in existing RC structures. The main goal of this study is to find out how multiple earthquakes affect the induced irregularity in structures. To assess the performance of the structures, Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) is performed, and fragility relationships are generated with and without irregularities for both single and multiple earthquakes. The results are compared in terms of Inter-storey Drift Ratio (IDR), roof displacement, and probability of collapse for three framed structures. The analytical study identifies that the effect of multiple earthquakes has a crucial impact on irregular structures. The irregular structure’s median storey drift has been observed to have attained the maximum drift threshold of 4% as per FEMA 273.The findings highlight the importance of analyzing the structures subjected to multiple earthquakes. The results indicate that multiple earthquakes are significant and should be considered in the analysis phase to avoid the collapse of regular and irregular structures. Introducing irregularity into structures already constructed should be avoided.

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(Source: Earthquake Engineering Association Turkey)

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Acknowledgements

The writers express their profound gratitude to the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the National Technology Institute Raipur (NITRR), India, for providing essential assistance in carrying out their research.

The authors affirm that they had no financial assistance from outside for the purpose of conducting the research work.

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Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Raipur, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, 492010, India

Pavan Kumar Thippa, R. K. Tripathi & Govardhan Bhat

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Every author has enriched the current study at every step of the paper. Pavan Kumar Thippa handled the data collecting, analysis, and preparation of paper. Dr. R K Tripathi and Dr. Govardhan Bhat provided the guidance and resources required for the investigation. The final version has been approved by all writers.

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Appendix A. Validation of Numerical Model

The current work predicted the seismic response of reinforced concrete frame buildings using a concentrated nonlinear two-dimensional numerical model. Utilizing Sap2000, an analytical model is developed. For beams and columns, the member modelling use a degrading hysteretic model, and the P-Δ effect has been considered. Models of flexural hinges for beams and columns elements have been generated. The nonlinear analytical model has been validated using experimental data from Filiatrault et al. ( 1998 ) on a moment-resisting frame subjected to seismic load. Further information about the section properties, applied loading of the frame, and material properties can be obtained from Filiatrault et al. ( 1998 ). The Western Washington earthquake of April 13, 1949, time history component N04W of the accelerogram recorded in Olympia, Washington, is used in performing time history analysis. The reported peak horizontal acceleration of 0.16 g is scaled up to 0.21 g to calculate the seismic responses.

Base shear, and drift ratio from the numerical model has been compared with the experimental observations in Tables 16 and 17 . The percentage difference in base shear is found to be decreased by 8.31% for analytical results in comparison with experimental results. The percentage difference in storey drift is found to be increased by 8.59% on the first floor and 9.09% on the second floor for analytical results in comparison with experimental results. It is observed that there is a significant correlation between the numerical and experimental results, indicating that the nonlinear analytical model employed in this study is capable of accurately predicting nonlinear responses.

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Thippa, P.K., Tripathi, R.K. & Bhat, G. A Case Study on the Effect of Multiple Earthquakes on Mid-rise RC Buildings with Mass and Stiffness Irregularity in Height. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Civ Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-024-01625-0

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Received : 02 June 2024

Accepted : 07 September 2024

Published : 17 September 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-024-01625-0

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