Christchurch 1996 Quake Doco - why buildings collapse

[korahaplayas]

4:11 when he says "there are hundreds of old buildings which havent been strengthened at all"

I remember seeing that building on the news :\ its gone now

[ken73ken73]

Christchurch needs rebuilt by Japanese tech, I really thought it. as a I am Japanese.

[makeiteasyable]

love that building

[jamecolte]

Actually the video does mention older brick buildings, Bryan Bluck, CCC Building Control Manager was very concerned about them ... more so in the full doco. 

[liang8231]

It is obvious from this video that the Chch council was aware that things could go devastatingly wrong in asevere quake but went ahead with the subdivision at Bexley which is just a few mwtres above sealevel and on very soft soil. I hope they show some sense anddo not alow any rebuilding on the Bexley site.

[65734731]

@liang8231 Actually I'm pretty sure the Council tried to stop Bexley, but were sued by the developers and lost. I have no proof, does anyone else out there?

[65734731]

@kopi5896 It was demolished well before the quake...

[minami935]

You would hope that this is a wake up call for all local government around NZ ?....I guess as usual, nothing will be done. When Wellington or Dunedin is reduced to a pile of rubble, they will simply say afterwards

[gezkah]

Omg, Bob Park, I knew him my whole life Rip Bob

[TheNomieDixon]

Woop! Thats great you reached 100,000!!!

[TheNomieDixon]

Woop! Thats great you reached 100,000!!!

[proudkiwi21]

@blackazdiamond yea nz split the atom and best at rugby how are we a dump?

[pubuman]

@proudkiwi21 NZ didnt split the atom... a NZer working in GB with British labs did.

[Evaese]

Anyone seen the doco on the Japanese earthquakes and buildings recently ? real interesting concepts and what not on prevention, unlucky with the tsunami doubling up the problem tho

[65734731]

@Evaese And good to see their civil defence. We still haven't seen ours...

[Mr2pint]

damn this place was built with absolute shit material, you guys a third world country?

[pammenjk2]

@Mr2pint A lot of the older stuff was built before earthquake standards were properly enforced.

we didn't build with shit, we built ON shit :D

[elmsvd]

Somehow the comments made agree Gerry Brownlee's opinion that some of the buildings would have to come down (at 5:33) as they became weaker and weaker as each earthquake happen. Like all the aftershocks that are happening right now. Losing part of history is really tragic but looking to the future is not really that bad at all.

[EnemyoftheFuture]

ken ring is a douche. this guy predicted it

[vientorio]

where does somebody get a copy of the full doco?

[WeAndWeR1]

This video is nothing like a prophecy at all. Apart from stating that the eastern areas are more likely to be affected with liquefaction it doens't imply anything else than one would expect if an earthquake happened. In fact it doesn't even mention older brick buildings which have really been severely damaged in the recent quake. BUT (nothing to do with this video) the CCC made a big mistake letting homes be built on soils out east

[Longbayman]

@WeAndWeR1 Actually the video does mention older brick buildings, Bryan Bluck, CCC Building Control Manager was very concerned about them ... more so in the full doco. The video also foresaw sewerage spilling into the Heathkit & Avon Rivers, broken pipes and roads, and it taking up to 2 years before toilets are fully functional again (we'll see how long it takes ...), as well it foretold of tipping tall buildings because of liquefaction, and buildings being destroyed because of soil resonance.

[WeAndWeR1]

@Longbayman OK, I haven't seen the full doc re: brick buildings. But all those other issues would be expected in any large quake, regarding tipping of tall buildings, there is only one case of this in this instant. Regardless I wont comment any more, it's not a matter of predictions nor the past but HERE AND NOW AND THE FUTURE, I live in CHCH but am luckier than most, lets get together like we,ve seen and help ourselves...

Peace out - P

[ndog37]

it was also on stuff since yesterday

[Grunzaa]

lol i loaded this video at around 6pm refreshed at 6.30pm and there was an extra 11k views. Apparently it was mentioned on news

[useYOURbrainNOOB]

GF CHCH

[arrowmint12]

 How can Parker and his ilke ignore this and say, lets rebuild ..... what a pack of pricks

[divynem]

@arrowmint12 They have to say something to the people ...

[ingridbb6]

this is very interesting

[wydeye]

Your prescient film is having a real impact, but I bet "I told you so!" is not nearly as satisfying as the knowledge that it made some difference to policy and practice back then. And who knows? Maybe it did. I am sure your film raised the consciousness of many people in the 1990s, though it would probably impossible to draw straight lines between your film and actual decisions made. I certainly know it impacted me.

[wydeye]

Your prescient film is having a real impact, but I bet "I told you so!" is not nearly as satisfying as the knowledge that it made some difference to policy and practice back then. And who knows? Maybe it did. I am sure your film raised the consciousness of many people in the 1990s, though it would probably impossible to draw straight lines between your film and actual decisions made. I certainly know it impacted me. --

[georgellabus]

It is obvious from this video that the Chch council was aware that things could go devastatingly wrong in asevere quake but went ahead with the subdivision at Bexley which is just a few mwtres above sealevel and on very soft soil. I hope they show some sense anddo not alow any rebuilding on the Bexley site. There may never be another major quale in the city but a 4.4 yesterday is not a good sign!!!

[divynem]

@georgellabus - Christchurch is actually below sea level...

[daninz77]

wow that give me the heeby jeebys got goose bumps now...

[KillaDose]

whoever thought of putting a city on a marsh clearly wasn't winning

[blamepower]

Interesting everyone blames only the council...look at 4:38

David Sargent (CEO - Insurance Council of NZ)referring to older buildings that need to be strengthened for the safety of the tenants - "insurers essentially wont touch them" I wonder how many lives could have been saved if insurers had been more proactive. Of course they only worry about avoiding extra cost and mending things on the cheap...now they have to pay more...and they still risk our lives for it!

[blamepower]

Interesting everyone blames only the council...look at 4:38

David Sargent (CEO - Insurance Council of NZ)referring to older buildings that need to be strengthened for the safety of the tenants - "insurers essentially wont touch them" I wonder how many live could have been saved if insurers had been more proactive. Of course they only worry about avoiding extra cost of mending things on the cheap...now they have to pay more...and they still risk our lives for it!

[paulthebassguy]

I hope that people now look at experts' warnings about other main centres around the country and actually start doing something about it ASAP.

[arrowmint12]

@paulthebassguy ... right on Paul, think I will move to another country

[Battleneter]

You can make a car 100% safe where no one will ever die but they will probably cost $5 million each.

Its always about cost /risk. and the risks were known. California has similar problems in certain areas and even there they don't have the money to do what some are suggesting in these comments.

The one big positive from all this, Christchurch will emerge a ton stronger. New buildings will use technologies developed in the last 10-20 years.

New Zealand will learn from these events

[basilbrushnz]

Money over lives I guess is the only explaination.

[piklener]

I can't be the only one watching this in utter disbelief...

[NZAyles]

@blackazdiamond So bugger off - Maybe try Libiya - see if you can get them to stop fighting and causing the increase in the price of oil, then our petrol won't cost $2.50 a litre.

[blackazdiamond]

@NZAyles you are a dump new zealander i guess. the fuel price hasnt gone up bcoz of libya..its gone up to balance the economy of nz bcoz of the chch earthquake.. idiots

[sunshinesammy24]

@blackazdiamond The fuel price went up long before the earthquake happened.

[Pricklyhedgehog72]

Disturbingly prophetic. Hopefully NZ can learn from this, there really aren't too many places in the country that are truly safe from eq's and other forms of seismic events, say tsunamis on the coast or even volcanoes in the Nth Island. It's always been a matter of when not if, if you live in Welly', create your emergency supply list and action plan that's for sure.

[comandernuf]

lol cant say we didnt know maybe we didnt care

[hoofehearted]

Someone wasn't listening....the council should be held accountable for this disaster.....

[lette12100]

@hoofehearted Not only did they not listen a smart-arse mayor declaring "heads would roll" slashed and burned all the wise leaders at the CCC and replaced them with a Ph D who left for $ soon as and immigrants and ignorants from SA and Scotland.

[xDoubleHardBastardx]

@hoofehearted Yeah suuure they shouldn't have pressed the earthquake button.

[zealman79]

goneski, all those old buildings are rubble now...

[NZsquadron]

lol at the building graphics of the resonance clip

[dclate62]

You would hope that this is a wake up call for all local government around NZ ?....I guess as usual, nothing will be done. When Wellington or Dunedin is reduced to a pile of rubble, they will simply say afterwards.." Lessons have been learn't"....Sadly,in reality it's cheaper to clear away a pile of rubble and start from new, than to spend money on old structures that might still fall anyway !..Not nice if your the one who gets crushed beneath it all.......

[mattnz1000]

Will we wake up now and take more personal responsibility? I don't buy the 'we don't listen' and 'the government should do something' themes here. When I bought a house (in Wellington) it was a requirement that it wasn't brick, tile roof, on poles, under a cliff, on top of a cliff, in a shake zone, or at sea level. I got the council shake zone maps. And I have turned down a job because the building was crap.

[goldsharktooth]

@mattnz1000 Hi :) can u post the shake zone maps u have ?? or links on how to procure them please

[cresc]

campbell live

[kiwiboy1]

It is sad how it takes a disaster to make change. New Zealand building codes need to be looked at seriously we have the leaky home syndrome now shody up-keep. When will the government realise that regulation actually protects people from greedy people that don't have peoples safety and best interests in mind

[Turitea]

The Turitea wind farm in Palmerston North has just been approved. Too bad its right next to the Pahiatua fault line. Why isn't the media picking this up??

[sunshinesammy24]

@Turitea There are fault lines every flippin where in NZ there is probably not a place that isnt near one, can't live life being worried and scared. Earthquakes will happen no matter what but people still need to live and resources to come from somewhere.

[kiwivikings]

What did happen to the Chch Women's Hospital under the quake?

[ANB229]

@kiwivikings ChCh womans hospital was bulldozed well before the current series of quakes have hit Canterbury over the past 8 or so months...

[kiwiboy1]

@kiwivikings It wasn't the same building shown in the Doco it had since been renovated and in some parts re built

[Mii5TiiK]

FML im moving out of Nz i hope we dont get more Bullshit im sick of power cuts keeping me off black ops -.-

[honestly22]

@Mii5TiiK your such a twat xD ,

[Mii5TiiK]

@honestly22 i am from christchurch tho ?

[honestly22]

@Mii5TiiK yes. you are

[spadgm]

Wow, thanks for uploading!.



[vzclubbie]

Christchurch is and always will be pretty :) Love it there.

[JayJeanie]

I thought after the Sept quake that the people responsible for moving Chch Women's Hospital should be given a medal, let alone the Feb one. I recall the papers talking about areas subject to liquefaction and learning about it at school.

[jumblyman]

Where is the rest of the documentary please?

[SteveWrathall]

To be fair they were talking of the damage from a 7.5 rupture on the Nth Canterbury or Alpine faults. That is 4 x the energy of the 7.1 quake- and hence less frequent. They didn't know about the much closer Darfield/Chch fault system that is revealing itself with this series, and hence the probability of smaller, but much closer quakes.

[kiwiwifi]

Really good doco, but still just a TV program! At the end of the day who takes responsibility for these issues ? The CCC?

[mainelymagic]

Interesting though that the buildings that collapsed and led to the greatest loss of life were NOT heritage buildings but "modern" as in 1960's and 1970's buildings.

[sprinklerhose]

I think we all knew all of this. We were just very unlucky that a hidden fault happened to rupture right under the port hills causing immense localised ground acceleration. Truly a worst-case scenario.

[theShacklet0n]

Crikey.....if this level of knowledge existed about Christchurch, where is the same level of information for the rest of this fragile little country?

[HarmonizaXF]

WE DIDN'T LISTEN!!!!

[rlmrdl]

@HarmonizaXF We NEVER listen. It was Cassandra's curse that she would foretell the destruction of Troy but that NOBODY would believe her.

Apparently it is never convenient to receive bad news.

[redpictures]

I would like to see the rest of the doco if you can?? cheers

[danielworksforyou]

this shit's intense!

[nztramper]

The greatest death toll was from a building put up in the 1980s. And the second highest was from one built in the 1960s and extensively remodelled in the 80s. And what about Bob Jones's 1980s Forsyth-Barr building. Who signed off that stairway as adequate? Also there are half a dozen high-rise towers built since the 1980s that are tipping over. Chrischurch's biggest problem is with its newer buildings, not its old heritage (they're easily and relatively cheaply repaired.)

[ianjohnsonnz]

@nztramper yes but that's only because the September quake and subsequent aftershocks meant many of the shoddy old buildings red stickered.

If we had not had that quake, and those buildings had been populated (Manchester Courts building is a prime example) ... well ... the toll would have been a lot higher wouldn't it?

While I'm at it - heritage buildings cheap and easily repaired? Are you serious?

[Taiakun]

@nztramper New structures are designed for life safety. That is, no one is killed during the earthquake, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the structure will not be heavily damaged. This was relatively well achieved, considering just 2 actually collapsed during the earthquake itself out of hundreds. There are a lot of heritage buildings which have been significantly damaged, but we don't hear of it as the death toll in one specific location is not as high.

[Gobe1kenobi]

@Taiakun Correct loss of property not life

[ThisAintCamiIsIT]

wow, everything they stated... happened. how scary 

[dalittlebabejezuz]

Of course in 1996 most of New Zealand was preoccupied less with earthquakes than with the massive eruption of Mt. Ruapehu happening at the time!

[Longbayman]

Yes, that was taken from another doco I made at this time ... it would really bankrupt NZ if that happened!

[poshmum]

@Longbayman It's ironic that the fotage shows the very buildings that fell on 22/2/11 and are no longer standing, I can rememeber seeing this at the time and I am sure that most of us felt it was scare-mongering or that it would never happen to us. Some big questions need to be asked and answered before re building takes place.

[hamfish225]

@Longbayman in that case i WOULD move to auzzy.

[packhorsecray]

And have we all seen the Inside NZ doco about the volcanoes in Auckland?

[studiotdes]

Holy shit ...

[2ndtuenon]

Eerie watching this & knowing what would happen within the next 15 years.

[nzdesignagirl]

so freaky! the building he's talking when on lichfield/high/manchester st about having strengthening being done properly is our office building (which didn't crumble) unlike the other ones ..

[clancostello11]

well....they think 2 years just for infrastructure , hate to think how long it will be till family life is back to normal

[jaycasey1]

Gosh...this doco was like a prophecy. To see some of those buildings and to know now what actually happened to them. Even seeing the Grand Chancellor, with it's roof half off...must have been actually building or renovating it. The problem is that back in 1996, this doco would have been seen as scare-mongering, even 7 months ago I would have believed that too. Thanks for putting this on...advertise it, more people need to see it.

[orsumincc]

mad 80s vibes, nice

[vzclubbie]

@orsumincc 90's bro.

[pptk101]

Thank you for uploading

[pete8811]

Thanks for this Longbayman. Full credit to you.

[Mrsmatlis]

Thank you, this was very interesting to watch! My daughter was born at Chch Womens hospital in 2000 and I sure would not have wanted to be in there in an earthquake.

[poetview]

many thanks to the person and people who made this video possible and available to view

[ApeDaveNZ]

When a few of the bad suburbs were being built, the council said no to building there because of the land. But the developers took them to court and won, now we are in this situation.

[sublocal]

the 90s were an ugly time in new zealand haha, buzzy to see the womans hospital standing!

[vzclubbie]

@sublocal LOL yeah but back then we wouldn't have known any better :P

[midsta]

If you want to own a building that wasn't up to scratch you had a moral duty to ensure it was safe. Most owners were after the dollars and never put it back in. Should be charged

[kjf66]

I find it interesting that the so-called success stories, were badly damaged in the September earthquake such as the Normal School.

[goonbob]

Very interesting thanks

[Longbayman]

Yes, it's quite apparent that the Council has long known about the soil problems, but I guess nobody was going to run for office on a policy of doubling rates to make buildings safe ... sadly it's going to cost a lot more now ...

[criggie]

Imagine the death toll had Christchurch womans still been in use at the Colombo Street site.

Easily double the current count.

Find a bright side and think of what could have been.

[redpictures]

@criggie is that building still there, and if so, how did it cope with the EQ?

[criggie]

@redpictures Chch womans hospital was levelled a couple years ago and all services were integrated with the main hospital by Hagley Park. The rubble was used in the new southern motorway.

[criggie]

@redpictures, Chch womans hospital was levelled a couple years ago and all services were integrated with the main hospital by Hagley Park. The rubble was used in the new southern motorway.

[petenztube]

hey, thanks for posting. It will be interesting to see how the modern earthquake-resistant buildings actually stood up to the shaking.

[richardoconnor]

when they talk about "there are hundreds of old buildings that haven't been strengthened at all" I see that metal dome that came down in the february quake (at 4:10).