Post-earthquake building safety inspection: Lessons from the Canterbury, New Zealand, earthquakes

Earthquake Spectra
By: , and 

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Abstract

The authors discuss some of the unique aspects and lessons of the New Zealand post-earthquake building safety inspection program that was implemented following the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010–2011. The post-event safety assessment program was one of the largest and longest programs undertaken in recent times anywhere in the world. The effort engaged hundreds of engineering professionals throughout the country, and also sought expertise from outside, to perform post-earthquake structural safety inspections of more than 100,000 buildings in the city of Christchurch and the surrounding suburbs. While the building safety inspection procedure implemented was analogous to the ATC 20 program in the United States, many modifications were proposed and implemented in order to assess the large number of buildings that were subjected to strong and variable shaking during a period of two years. This note discusses some of the key aspects of the post-earthquake building safety inspection program and summarizes important lessons that can improve future earthquake response.

Study Area

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Post-earthquake building safety inspection: Lessons from the Canterbury, New Zealand, earthquakes
Series title Earthquake Spectra
DOI 10.1193/1.4000151
Volume 29
Issue 3
Year Published 2013
Language English
Publisher Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Publisher location Berkeley, CA
Contributing office(s) Geologic Hazards Science Center
Description 17 p.
First page 1091
Last page 1107
Country New Zealand
State Canterbury
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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