Quake facts
Clear and concise fact sheets about the deadly Christchurch earthquake have been prepared by the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ with help from the Geotechnical Society and the Society of Earthquake Engineering.
The earthquake arose from the rupture of an 8 x 8km fault running east-northeast at a depth of 1-2km depth beneath the southern edge of the Avon-Heathcote Estuary and dipping southwards at an angle of about 65 degrees from the horizontal beneath the Port Hills.
GNS Science believes the amount of slip between the two sides of the fault was up to 1.5m. The Port Hills have risen by about 40cm, the mouth of the estuary has moved westward by a few tens of centimetres, and the land just north of the estuary by tens of centimetres to the east.
The facts sheets include:
- Overview of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake
- Performance of engineered systems
- Building safety evaluation process
- Design of buildings for earthquakes
- Observed performance of buildings in the Christchurch CBD
- Post-earthquake evualation
- Building safety evaluation
- Liquefaction (including diagram).
The fact sheets have been compiled into a downloadable, printable .pdf file (1MB).