Christchurch, New Zealand, Earthquakes of 2010 and 2011

Sponsored by the Infrastructure Resilience Division of ASCE

During 2010 and 2011, a sequence of strong earthquakes affected two communities in the province of Canterbury on the South Island of New Zealand. Christchurch, which is the second largest city in New Zealand, and Kaiapoi, in the Waimakariri District, suffered the greatest damage. Tens of thousands of buildings required demolition or significant reconstruction. Soil liquefaction, which was the leading cause of damage to lifelines, dictated that some areas of Christchurch could never be rebuilt. This report describes in detail the performance of lifeline systems in the Christchurch area, as observed during visits by an Earthquake Investigation Committee sent by ASCE's Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering (TCLEE).

This TCLEE Monograph discusses the following lifelines with recommendations for improving performance: electric power systems; telecommunications systems; water and wastewater infrastructure; gas and liquid fuel facilities; the port of Lyttelton; and transportation infrastructure, including the airport, roads and bridges, and railways. General seismology of the event, geotechnical features of the area, and applicable seismic codes are described. Other relevant issues, such as fire following the earthquakes, levees, lifeline interdependence, effects on building stock, damage to nonstructural building components, and debris management are considered.

TCLEE 41 will be of interest to civil engineers, emergency managers and planners, and government officials charged with improving resilience of lifeline infrastructure systems during earthquakes, especially those characterized by significant soil liquefaction.