2010 Darfield Earthquake
It’s 4:35 AM local time on September 4th 2010, and you're awoken by the gradually intensifying shaking of the ground. You get up and walk down the corridor to find that picture frames that were once hanging have fallen and shattered on the ground, then you turn on the TV and it sinks in that you are in an Earthquake. This is exactly how it must of waking up in the epicentre of the Darfield earthquake in New Zealand. Reaching a magnitude of 7.1, luck was somewhat on their side as there was not loss of life. Named ‘the most damaging earthquake since Hawke's Bay Earthquake in 1931’ the epicentre was 40 km west of Christchurch City, and the depth of the quake was at 10 km below the surface of Canterbury Plains. The epicentre was close to a small town named Darfield (hence the name), but the powerful earthquake was felt throughout the South Island and lower North Island, with a few scattered reports from as far north as Auckland.
Damages:
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Although there were no deaths by the Darfield earthquakes, there were 377 people injured and over 1000 people injured in it’s aftermath. This could equate that this was a massive earthquake with a massive clean up bill. In spite of the fact that finding the exact amount used to restore the towns, we can accurately suggest that the government has spent around 10 billion NZD. Even with the government picking up the bill of 10 billion dollars, the economy of Darfield and the surrounding areas have see little loss and the wider New Zealand communities has see to of been little affected. Disturbance to the industrial productions, exportation and commercial trade seems to be short lived as the districts manufacturing centre was lucky enough to escape major damage. But it was Christchurch’s tourist gateway to the south islands that bore the brunt of the quake as the accommodation has been damaged and tourist numbers had greatly reduced.
Improvement of Building regulations:
People have been saying for years that ‘Earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do.’, and the New Zealand Government and people have listened. Earthquakes experienced as far back as the mid 1800s have not gone past without having an impact on todays society. During the 1848 quake, buildings made of masonry and brick collapsed which led to the rebuild using wood which was more effective. To reduce the effects of earthquakes, more attention was focused on the weaknesses of buildings, especially the lack of strict building regulations and lack of provisions of earthquake building standards. This led to the eventual creation of building code in 1935 which stated that recommended that houses be built to the level in which it can resist horizontal motions created by ground movement. From then times have changed, New Zealanders don’t have to rely as heavily on finding specific materials to meet regulations as there is a wide ranged market to meet all laws. There have been inventions of jolt proof joints which are able to withstand intense shaking which have been trailed and tested. There are base isolation pads that absorb the vibrations and limit the damage to your home and flexible hosing designed to contort to the formation of the walls. All of these items have been created in the last 50 years, who knows what else there is to come?
Heritage or Hazard:
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A must see when you come to New Zealand is the beautiful heritage buildings. But if they were built between the years of 1880 - 1930, they were not designed to withstand the forces of earthquakes and therefore may collapse. Thanks to modern day technology, we are able to re-enforce these heritage sites ensuring the memories live on. Measures such as re-enforcement doe not meant that the building is up to modern contraction standards, but it simply means that the risk of the building subsiding is reduced in the event of an earthquake.
Protection of essentials:
In the event of an earthquake, the rush to get the essentials up is always a struggle. This is where lifeline engineering comes in. This form of engineering strives to find ways in both minimising the damage and the time required to reinstate services such as water, sewerage and drains, gas, electricity, telecommunications and transport networks. Over the past couple of years, there have been measures put in place to help protect utilities, these include; flexible joints or ductile pipes have been used for water pipelines across unstable ground to prevent bursts. In similar fashion, gas pipes have been have been welded to prevent ruptures or have been replaced by polythene
Discovery of the Greendale Fault:
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Due to the Darfield Earthquake, a previously unknown fault has been discovered which has been named the Greendale Fault. Intense movement along the fault has opened a fault trace that continues for 30km West from Rollenston. Roads, rences and irrigation channels that have been previously built on the fault has been offset either way of the fault which displaces it up to 5m with up to 1.3m vertical offset. The fault has created such movement that areas north of the fault has moved eastwards and the area to the south has moved westwards. Aftershocks after the Darfield earthquake have been recorded with some even strong enough to cause more destruction to already weakened buildings. many aftershocks were recorded along the Greendale Fault indicates the readjustment process of the earth’s crust to a major fracture.
As we can see, earthquakes can cause mass amounts of destructions from loss of life and injuries to damages to buildings. But this can all be minimised through preparation such as re-enforcing weaken buildings, installing the latest in earthquake building materials and making sure that the essentials have been properly protected. At the end of the day earthquakes are natural and there isn’t much we can do to prevent them, we can only do our best to minimise the negative effects.
Article written by Lisa Gunawan
As we can see, earthquakes can cause mass amounts of destructions from loss of life and injuries to damages to buildings. But this can all be minimised through preparation such as re-enforcing weaken buildings, installing the latest in earthquake building materials and making sure that the essentials have been properly protected. At the end of the day earthquakes are natural and there isn’t much we can do to prevent them, we can only do our best to minimise the negative effects.
Article written by Lisa Gunawan