Opportunity
The vast majority of earthquake-related deaths occur due to building collapse, and therefore the most direct way to minimise fatalities and injuries is to first identify then remediate or demolish the nation’s earthquake-prone building stock. In March 2014, the Earthquake-prone Buildings Bill passed its first reading in Parliament, with the express purpose to establish a nationally consistent approach to addressing the risk posed by earthquake-prone buildings (EPB). Considering the number of EPB throughout NZ, the high costs of remediation, and the heritage value of many EPB, this legislation has broad implications for the NZ economy, owners of earthquake-prone buildings, and all members of the community.
There is a window of opportunity for QuakeCoRE researchers to significantly inform this national debate with leading-edge multi-disciplinary research that seeks a balance between heritage, safety, and economics. This Flagship will pursue three interconnected families of research needs all linked by case studies. Conventional economic decision-support tools will be advanced in order to address the current failure to recognise the complexities of low-frequency high-consequence events with community-wide impacts and the value of cultural heritage. Drawing upon multidisciplinary community datasets, the scope of the EPB ‘problem’ in NZ will be quantified rigorously for the first time. This ‘baseline’ will then be used in the development of robust multi-scale models for prototypical building systems, providing an improved understanding of their seismic response characteristics and reduce current excessively conservative structural assessments which may lead to unnecessary demolition or overly-conservative remediation strategies. Finally, QuakeCoRE will build on its proven track record related to the assessment and mitigation of URM buildings to develop cost-effective and aesthetically-acceptable methods for seismic strengthening of pre-1970’s concrete structures and other non-ductile buildings. These efforts will be linked using community case studies for Auckland and Wanganui.
Impact
The vast majority of earthquake-related deaths occur due to building collapse, and therefore the most direct way to minimise fatalities and injuries is to first identify then remediate or demolish t
Current Projects
- 16014 - The evolution of New Zealand earthquake safety policy - Ann Brower and David Johnston.
- 16058 - Shake table testing of simple and practical securing solutions for face loaded unreinforced masonry walls - Dmytro Dizhur and Jason Ingham.
- 16012 - Quantifying the economic impact of New Zealand’s earthquake-prone building policy on commercial property markets - Olga Filippova.
- 16074 - Exemplar retrofits: Celebrating Success - Jason Ingham and Dmytro Dizhur.
- 16075 - Stronger buildings via precinct upgrades: Understanding lessons learnt from past precinct approaches - Vivienne Ivory, Jason Ingham and Chris Bowie.
- 16076 - The cost of seismic retrofits: Case studies from Auckland Council - Reza Jafarzadeh, Jason Ingham and Karen McAulay.
- 16077 – Insurance for EQP buildings – Incentives, premiums, and contracts – Ilan Noy, Miles Parker, Olga Filippova, Erica Seville and John Vargo.
- 16008 – Where perceptions and policy meet: Understanding pathways to improving mitigation for earthquake prone buildings - Julia Becker, Temitope Egbelakin, David Johnston, Caroline Orchiston and Jason Ingham.
Related Efforts
- Advancements in Engineering Guidelines and Standards: Seismic Assessment and Improvement of Existing Buildings. Part of negotiated Natural Hazards Research Platform (NHRP) project (2015-UOC-PC-01).
Video Workshop Meetings
- 16 May 2016, 11.00-12.30pm – Webconference agenda (ZOOM Video Link)
- 7 June 2016 - Webconference agenda – Webconference agenda (ZOOM Video Link)
- 5 July 2016 - 11.00-12.30pm – Webconference agenda (ZOOM Video Link)
- 2 August 2016 - 11.00-12.30pm – Webconference agenda (ZOOM Video Link)
- September 2016 - Workshop in conjunction with QuakeCoRE Annual Meeting
Other Meetings
Meetings that are outside monthly Video Workshops
Presentations
Future conference presentation slides or other material for sharing