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Geotechnical and Structural Aspects of the 2010–2011 Christchurch (New Zealand) Earthquakes

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Earthquakes and Health Monitoring of Civil Structures

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Abstract

In 2010 and 2011, the city of Christchurch (New Zealand) was hit by a sequence of strong, local and devastating earthquakes. The 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake was the most devastating causing 185 fatalities, collapse of two multi-storey reinforced concrete buildings, collapse or partial collapse of many unreinforced masonry buildings, and widespread and very damaging liquefaction throughout the city. The total economic loss caused by the 2010–2011 earthquakes is estimated at about 25–30 billion New Zealand Dollars, or 15–18% of New Zealand GDP. This paper summarizes the characteristics of the earthquakes and discusses the impacts of liquefaction on buildings and infrastructure, and building structural performance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Earthquake Commission (EQC), New Zealand, Natural Hazards Research Platform (NHRP), and the significant contribution of many colleagues and postgraduate students, and in particular to Wang Kam, Beca, New Zealand (formerly University of Canterbury), Umut Akguzel, Merrick Taylor, Matthew Hughes and Simona Giorgini (all University of Canterbury, Christchurch) for their work on the reconnaissance and analysis of the observations from the 2010–2011 earthquakes.

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Correspondence to Misko Cubrinovski .

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Cubrinovski, M., Pampanin, S., Bradley, B. (2013). Geotechnical and Structural Aspects of the 2010–2011 Christchurch (New Zealand) Earthquakes. In: Garevski, M. (eds) Earthquakes and Health Monitoring of Civil Structures. Springer Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5182-8_1

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