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FRASER THOMAS ASSISTS WITH CANTERBURY EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY

OCTOBER 2010 - ONGOING

The Christchurch earthquakes, from the first devastating shake on Saturday 4 September 2010 with a registered a magnitude of 7.1, through to the latest with a 6.3 magnitude on Monday 13 June 2011, are the most significant New Zealand seismic events in 80 years.

Wanting to assist in the Canterbury earthquake recovery, Fraser Thomas deployed a team of four engineers to Christchurch to support the initial damage/safety investigation.  This work was undertaken out of the Christchurch office of an associate firm, Davis Ogilvie & Partners Ltd (DOP) who have resident structural engineering staff working primarily in the group housing sector.  The initial 6 weeks saw our team produce some 200 reports, with 600 overall from the office.  Currently, Fraser Thomas have made available 12 staff, all of whom are commuting regularly in order to assist with structural and geotechnical related remediation work.

We are involved with several substantial commercial/industrial "earthquake damage" reinstatement projects, and have already met with Christchurch City Council (CCC)/Building Control officials on some of these.  We are familiar with current CCC policy framework towards repair/reinstatement of damaged EPBs, particularly the most recent permitting resumption of occupancy via repairs under the direction of CPEng qualified structural engineers.

Fraser Thomas Structural and Geotechnical Engineering Groups have been actively involved in the "on the ground" response to the event by:

• Structural Director (Barry Brown) involvement in the Earthquake Commission (EQC)/Department of Building and Housing (DBH) Emergency Advisory Group, to produce various Guidelines documentation 'Guidance on House Repairs and Reconstruction following the Canterbury Earthquake'.
• Deploying its "CPEng" qualified Structural Directors and staff to Christchurch to service owners', regulators', and insurers' requirements for damage reinstatement
• Assisting particular insurers and loss adjusters in servicing their recovery response initiatives, at various levels within their organisations
• Geotechnical staff undertaking land damage assessments for the EQC on a "rolling resource" basis over the past 6 months (on-going)
• Providing 'leading edge' advance to the Department of Building and Housing, and other regulators, or earthquake response initiatives.

Pedestrian bridge across Avon River, buckled during the earthquake

Structural support enables this property to be inspected and assessed for remedial works

(Hover over images to enlarge)