Another earthquake.

[rusticdog]

@RD - definitely sounds like "Terra Non-Firma"
With that kind of forecast I would think it would impede most companies/developers from mounting a rebuild effort.

Probably one of the biggest gripes so far is that process. We've got whole streets that need to be abandoned but the land analysis and reports aren't yet complete, unfortunately this means plenty of folk who had their houses totalled and unliveable still haven't had their full insurance payout, most insurance policies only allow for 12 months of alternate accommodation, so come September there will be people who still have mortgages, and still paying their council rates on a property that's uninhabitable and need to find somewhere to live....all while while the government/council decide which land can be repaired and which just has to be reclaimed.

As far as the central city goes, that too will have some areas not being built upon...plus we're not keen on any high buildings either Christchurch has plenty of land available, so we don't need to squeeze in like sardines.

[AlphaCentauri]

If you look at the video clips from Japan's recent earthquake, the tall steel frame buildings did just fine. Buildings that tall are so heavy any land would be unstable, so they are built on pilings driven into the bedrock. They just swayed back and forth. (I'm sure everything inside was falling over, of course.) There are plenty of buildings built on piers over water, which seems like a good model for what you need to do when the land has a tendency to liquefy.

[racker]

If you look at the video clips from Japan's recent earthquake, the tall steel frame buildings did just fine. Buildings that tall are so heavy any land would be unstable, so they are built on pilings driven into the bedrock.

Holland (the western province of the Netherlands) where I live, is mainly former swampland. Only those picturesque wooden buildings that show so well on "greetings from Holland" postcards were built here originally - that is, before more sophidicated building methods were developed. As wood is a light material and will bend instaed of collapse when the soil sets under the weight of a building ,those buildings remained over the years. While castles and mansions made of stone either would crumble or sink away..

My "modern" three story redbrick house, like most here, is built on 7 odd Mtrs. long pilings, driven through the instable mud onto a thick layer of sand (former seabed) that's lying there. For bigger buildings, like the thirteen story appartmentbuildings on the edge of town, that isn't enough, they are built on pilings that have been "hammered" through the first sandlayer onto an even older one lying some over 6 mtrs deeper. To reach the bedrock, you'd have to drill through some 2 Kms of mud, sand, sandstone and clay...

So Christchurch needn't despair.. In most cases just changing the way of building will do. There's one thing though: when building on instable ground, having to drive in all those piles and laying the mere foundations will certainly more than double the building costs.

[rusticdog]

What seems to have caught us by surprise is the amount of ground acceleration, the liquefaction was all within the realms of what they thought would happen in a large quake, but experiencing 1.8g of peak ground force acceleration in the city I don't think was anticipated, Tokyo, for example had 0.16g. Some areas of the eastern suburbs had a PGA of 2.2g...if you need any comparison a Formula One car accelerates at 1.45g




Given we're going to experience a longer period of aftershock activity than you can usually expect, many people simply don't feel comfortable. No point building 20 stories up, when no-one wants to live or work above 5, even that's a stretch, my limit is probably 3

[racker]

What seems to have caught us by surprise is the amount of ground acceleration,[...] Some areas of the eastern suburbs had a PGA of 2.2g...if you need any comparison a Formula One car accelerates at 1.45g

Wow... any wooden building, even if it surves that amount of ground acceleration, will loose it's rooftiles and chimneys at least! Never realized such Gpowers could be caused by a quake!

Note: As a -now former (sold the machine last year)- motorcyclist I do know something about accelerating powers... and so does my sister, since her first ride with me, many years ago.
Me: "Are you steady??"
Sister: "yeah"
Me: "hold on tight!"
Sister: "yep" (me opening the throttle full blast )
Sister: "AUCH @##^%#$^#%!#%"
Well ehrmmm she had a pretty sore backside after she felt the bike (including the luggagerack) pull off from under her and she landed on the street.. And she DID hold on tight on subsequent rides!

Given we're going to experience a longer period of aftershock activity than you can usually expect, many people simply don't feel comfortable. No point building 20 stories up, when no-one wants to live or work above 5, even that's a stretch, my limit is probably 3

I think you're quite right there!

[QuietOne]

What seems to have caught us by surprise is the amount of ground acceleration,[...] Some areas of the eastern suburbs had a PGA of 2.2g...if you need any comparison a Formula One car accelerates at 1.45g

Wow... any wooden building, even if it surves that amount of ground acceleration, will loose it's rooftiles and chimneys at least! Never realized such Gpowers could be caused by a quake!

Note: As a -now former (sold the machine last year)- motorcyclist I do know something about accelerating powers... and so does my sister, since her first ride with me, many years ago.
Me: "Are you steady??"
Sister: "yeah"
Me: "hold on tight!"
Sister: "yep" (me opening the throttle full blast )
Sister: "AUCH @##^%#$^#%!#%"
Well ehrmmm she had a pretty sore backside after she felt the bike (including the luggagerack) pull off from under her and she landed on the street.. And she DID hold on tight on subsequent rides!

Arrgghh!! Damn near fell outta me chair!!
Have you reminded her that you warned her to "hold on tight!"?????
I can see it now. Your sister standing there rubbing her ...... and shaking her fist at ya and
Don't know about you Racker but I think all I'd be able to manage is a very large grin!!!
Ya just gotta love it!!! (as I just shake my head and cackle like a crazy man!)

[rusticdog]

Slightly interesting PDF showing some pics and other info, it's not dated but it does some minor contrasting between the September and February quakes

[racker]

I can see it now. Your sister standing there rubbing her ...... and shaking her fist at ya and
Don't know about you Racker but I think all I'd be able to manage is a very large grin!!!

So did we... and even she can manage a smile, talking about that incident now. What must have softened the pain for her somewhat BTW, could be the fact that I forgot to unlock my steeringlock next day. Just jumped on the bike, kicked it alive and went down to earth full throttle in front of the whole family...

[QuietOne]

I can see it now. Your sister standing there rubbing her ...... and shaking her fist at ya and
Don't know about you Racker but I think all I'd be able to manage is a very large grin!!!

So did we... and even she can manage a smile, talking about that incident now. What must have softened the pain for her somewhat BTW, could be the fact that I forgot to unlock my steeringlock next day. Just jumped on the bike, kicked it alive and went down to earth full throttle in front of the whole family...

Yep! Turnabout's always a great equalizer.

[racker]

Slightly interesting PDF showing some pics and other info, it's not dated but it does some minor contrasting between the September and February quakes

Just took the time to look at this file... what a whallup! Thankgawd there's still some folks that didn't lose their sense of humor...

Gallowshumor.jpg (44.43 KiB) Viewed 15536 times

[rusticdog]

Heh....yeah I did chuckle at that. Been having a few decent aftershocks lately...a 5.3 a few hours ago which rattled some folk (ranks 16th biggest since these started), thankfully I was driving so barely noticed there was a quake at all.

[rusticdog]

It's getting interesting what 7500 aftershocks does to a persons mental state, my sleep patterns are so broken it's not uncommon for me lately to sleep all day and work through the night with movies on in the background. I never thought I'd do a graveyard shift, yet here I am Sadly though too the annoyance of not being able to sleep means too I struggle to sleep in bed, I get to sleep much easier on the couch which has become something of another limb.

You can tell though it's getting on folks nerves, people are tired of waiting for their insurance money, tired of the government not yet releasing which land won't be repaired, tried of being tired.


What's been most unwelcome is the financial hit, boozy days (aka therapy sessions) ended months ago

[Sidewinder]

RD, I struggle to imagine what you all are going through down there. Just the whole issue of the massive destruction that remains around you every day as a reminder and the constant shaking of the terra not-so-firma" can unravel anyone. Maybe a few days out of the area might help. I have watched the destruction in our country in New Orleans and all of the Tornado locations this year with utter amazement of the strength that people have to rise up. The day after one of the large tornadoes here they had an elderly gentleman (my age) on the tube and were testing the warning sirens and he said "what for - there are no places to seek shelter left". Quite profound. Hang in there! I think of you guys every day and still watch the web sites counting the "shake, rattle and roll" counts.

[QuietOne]

It's getting interesting what 7500 aftershocks does to a persons mental state, my sleep patterns are so broken it's not uncommon for me lately to sleep all day and work through the night with movies on in the background. I never thought I'd do a graveyard shift, yet here I am Sadly though too the annoyance of not being able to sleep means too I struggle to sleep in bed, I get to sleep much easier on the couch which has become something of another limb.

You can tell though it's getting on folks nerves, people are tired of waiting for their insurance money, tired of the government not yet releasing which land won't be repaired, tried of being tired.


What's been most unwelcome is the financial hit, boozy days (aka therapy sessions) ended months ago

I know what you mean about not being able to sleep ... easily at least. And then being able to get better sleep in the strangest places. Been there myself but for far different reasons.

I also can understand why you all are getting so tired of waiting on the gov'mint. They always think they have a better idea and/or a reason for what they're doing but it never quite compensates for all the grief and hardship the people have to put up with as a result. Wish I could give you some alternatives.

All I can say is that my thoughts are with you all and just "Keep On, Keepin' On!" I have faith in ya. Every single one of ya!!!

[rusticdog]

Some interesting bail outs being offered. Areas of the city are being zoned....green, land OK....red, land no good.....if you're in the red zone, govt is offering to buy peoples land and houses for their Registered Valuation (RV). Or people can opt for the govt to buy the land, and the persons regular insurer will handle the house claim.

Currently there is 5100 homes in the Red Zone....there's another 10,000 in the Orange Zone...which means the land is yet to be fully assessed if it's stable for residential buildings. So these will either go green or red....

But....and there is always a but....for people who have homes that were relatively undamaged, but their land is in the red zone, their insurance companies are refusing to pay total home replacement instead only offering the cost to repair the home....people can obviously still take the offer from the govt for the homes RV, but it sounds like there will be a few folk who may end up losing out.


Still, pretty generous offer in the whole scheme of things, as this land in the red zone could take >10 years to become stable/repatriate


Edit : Red zone map http://file.stuff.co.nz/thepress/quakel ... nd-cs3.swf
Note the river