From disaster to opportunity: Reviving urban function after the Canterbury earthquakes
Edited by Pierre Filion, Gary Sands, Mark Skidmore
Contributions by Joanne Stevenson, Sonia Giovinazzi, Erica Seville, Charlotte Brown, Yan (Alice) Chang-Richards and Suzanne Wilkinson et al
Cities at risk : planning for and recovering from natural disasters, 2015
Abstract
During 2010 and 2011, Canterbury, New Zealand experienced two major earthquakes and several significant aftershocks, which changed the region in profound and permanent ways. The earthquake series unfolded with separate faults rupturing at different points in time, creating an uneven landscape of disruption and recovery. Prior to 2010, experts were aware that an estimated 50 percent of Canterbury’s seismic hazard was due to unknown faults (Stirling et al., 1999). However, public awareness of the region’s seismic risk focused on the known and active Alpine fault about 150 km west of the Canterbury region’s largest city, Christchurch. While Canterbury has experienced disruptive earthquakes on other faults throughout its recorded history, before 2010 there had been relatively little seismicity for nearly 100 years.