Events

Maule, Chile, 27 Feb 2010

A M 8.8 Earthquake rocked Maule, Chile on 27 Feb 2010 and prompted tsunami warnings throughout the Pacific. ... more

Presentation on the Lessons for New Zealand from the Padang M7.6 & M6.2 Earthquakes of 30th September 2009 West Sumatra, Indonesia

A M7.6 earthquake, with depth 80 km, occurred near Padang City, Sumatra, Indonesia on September 30. A Project Team of New Zealand engineers is working along side Indonesian engineers to providing post earthquake building safety evaluations for the 250 damaged government buildings (schools, hospitals, and offices). ... more

The Project Team are giving presentations illustrating the experience and the practical lessons for New Zealand, such as managing large volumes of rapidly generated field data, along with some recommended enhancements to the New Zealand Building Safety Evaluation processes. Dates (see Presentation Schedule):

February: 16-Auckland, 23-Christchurch;
March: 9-Queenstown, 25-Wellington, TBA-Napier.

2010 NZSEE Annual Technical Conference and AGM

26-28 March 2010, Wellington

The 2010 conference, with the theme "Earthquake Prone Buildings: how ready are we?" will be held at the iconic Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Professor Michele Calvi will deliver the keynote address on the 2009 L’Aquila Earthquake in Italy. A panel forum will stimulate discussion on New Zealand’s readiness for the ‘big one’ and a special session will honour the lifetime achievements of Professor Tom Paulay. Field trips on the Saturday afternoon will showcase Wellington’s assets, faults, hazards, and their mitigation. Papers may now be submitted here.

Please visit the 2010 conference page for more information.

ATC & SEI Conference on Improving the Seismic Performance of Existing Buildings and Other Structures

December 9-11, 2009, San Francisco, California

This inaugural conference, organized by the Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (SEI-ASCE), is dedicated to improving the seismic performance of existing buildings and other structures. The program focused on new information on the seismic evaluation and seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings, including case studies, new discoveries, innovative use of new technologies and materials, implementation issues, needed improvements to existing standards and methods, and socio-economic issues. The conference aimed to provide an opportunity to advance understanding of the tools, techniques and innovations available to assist in meeting the challenges of seismic evaluation and rehabilitation.

The March 2010 issue of The Bulletin has an overview of the conference. The official conference web site provides more information.

Displacement-Based Seismic Design Seminar Series

Professor Nigel Priestley introduced participants to performance-based seismic design and showed how it can be implemented in the design office as a simple and rational alternative to current seismic design. ... brochure The seminar was presented in Christchurch Wellington and Auckland in April and May 2009.

Wenchuan Post-Earthquake Investigation Seminars

On 12 May, 2008 a large earthquake occurred in the Wenchuan County of the Sichuan Province of China. There was severe damage over an area of 30,000 square km. It displaced over 5 million people and killed more than 70,000. A five member NZSEE team visited the area in November 2008 to observe the effects of the earthquake and the recovery effort.

Members of the NZSEE team presented their observations and the lessons relevant to New Zealand in Auckland, Napier, Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington in April-May 2009.

The team provided regular reports during the trip ( Report 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and also made a presentation to the 2009 NZSEE Conference.

The Society is grateful for the additional sponsorship provided by the team members organization's who provide their time for the trip and the subsequent reporting and presentations.

L'Aquila, Italy Earthquake

The Learning From Earthquakes Programme is not planning to send a team to investigate the magnitude 6.3 earthquake close to L'Aquila, Italy. While the event has relevance to New Zealand in terms of seismology and geotechnical aspects, the NZSEE is not sending a team unless reports from other investigators indicate that there would be a positive benefit to New Zealand. See L'Aquila for details and links that may be useful for NZSEE members.

As for all destructive earthquakes, The Society is concerned for the safety and well being of the survivors

2009 NZSEE Annual Technical Conference and AGM

3-5 April 2009, Christchurch

The conference theme was "Why do we still tolerate buildings that are unsafe in earthquakes?"

The proceedings and presentations are now available for you to read.

2009 NZSEE and Conference Awards

Les Megget was made a life member of the Society.

The Otto Glogau Award was presented to G.H. Lindup for his NZSEE Bulletin Paper Adapting the structural design actions standard for the seismic design of new industrial plant

The Research Scholarship was awarded to Thomas Algie for research on Numerical and Experimental Modelling of Rocking Foundations Subjected to Seismic Loadings at the University of Auckland.

The Best Research Paper was by John Wood for his paper on Resistance from Bridge Abutment Passive Soil pressure in Earthquakes.

The Best Practice Paper was by Kevin McManus on Earthquake Resistant Design of Tied-Back Retaining Structures

The Best Student Paper was by Michael Newcombe, D. Carradine, S. Pampanin, A. Buchanan, B. Deam, W.A. van Beerschoten and M. Fragiacomo on In-plane experimental testing of timber-concrete composite floor diaphragms

The Best Poster was by Ben Leslie, D. Bull and S. Pampanin on The development and validation of a non-tearing floor precast concrete structural system for seismic regions

Wenchuan Post-Earthquake Investigation Team

Report1 from 3 Nov 2008 by Philip Yong & Jiashun Yu

The NZSEE team all arrived safely in Chengdu on Monday, 3 Nov 2008 and met up with Jiasun Yu, a co-leader of the mission. Jiashun was based in Chengdu over the last few weeks, he has been co-ordinating the detailed arrangement for the mission with our host the Chengdu University of Technology.

Their activities are as follows, subject to weather:

4 Nov (Tue)	Wenchuan District, travelling from Dujiangyan to Yin Xiu: covering the Zipingpu Dam, Bei Hua Bridge that was severely damaged, buildings in Dujiangyan and Yin Xiu, landslides effects. Report ...
5 Nov (Wed)	Beichuan District, covering principally landslides and ruptures Report ...
6 Nov (Thur)	Workshop Report ...
7 Nov (Fri)	Hanwan Township: will see buildings, quake lakes, subject to final arrangement: the base isolated hospital. Report ...
8 Nov (Sat)	Highway Design Institute, Chengdu City Mayoral Office.
9 Nov (Sun)	Back up day
10 Nov (Mon)	Sichuan Seismological Bureau.
11 Nov (Tue)	Leaving Chengdu.

The EERI have many useful links. [The PEER Wenchuan Earthquake Seminar (San Francisco, Aug 2008) presentations are available from their available from the PEER website.]