GOD HATES CHURCHES

[snousle]

Got into Christchurch yesterday. Life seems surprisingly normal despite widespread, if spotty destruction. We were in town less than an hour before the first noticeable aftershock - there are still several table-rattlers per day. There has been very little crime and disorder. Soldiers are present all along the perimeter of the downtown cordon and an imported Australian police force occupies the art gallery. Most citizens seem pretty chipper, But some older people still seem a little shell shocked.

Older stone buildings have the most visually dramatic damage, and here that means churches. The sometimes-successful attempt to remove the steeples intact hints at an intention to repair them. Less visible, but more devastating, is that nearly all high rises have been condemned and will have to be demolished. Most single family homes seem OK, but exceptions are numerous and sometimes dramatic.

Comments

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

I suspect the relevant people in NZ will be looking at the seismic building standards for high-rises from Japan and/or California before they rebuild....

[h0gwash.livejournal.com]

While it is sad to see exuberant unreinforced masonry buildings crumble, since they generally can't be rebuilt after such a quake, I am still stunned that many modern high rises totally failed. Such investment in structure is usually protected quite well by very, very conservative building standards. Once you spend tens of millions on a multi storey building, what's another $1 million to make it last twice as long?

One would assume seismic requirements were not as tough as Japan's. The swaying skyscrapers in Tokyo is costly but makes for great video. It would be also be interesting if something like outdated soil analyses practices were at fault, or if building inspections during construction were never done in the last couple decades.