The Christchurch Earthquakes – Our Recovery Story

______2011/EPWG/WKSP3/008

Workshop on School Earthquake and Tsunami Safety in APEC Economies: Reducing Risk and Improving Preparedness Taipei, Chinese Taipei 17-19 October 2011

New Zealand presentation on The Christchurch Earthquakes – Our Recovery Story

to the Workshop on Earthquake and Tsunami Safety in APEC Economies: Reducing Risks and Improving Preparedness

17 – 19 October 2011 Chinese Taipei OUTLINE The Event The Impact The Response 1) Emergency Management 2) Key Interfaces 3) Communications 4) Flight plans 5) Welfare 6) Student movement 7) Long term considerations 8) The Way Forward 9) Lessons Learnt New Zealand New Zealand

New Zealand Area 270,500km2 Population 4.3 million GDP NZ$126.68 billion/US$100billion # of schools 2,300 School land 18,000 hectares School property 6.5 million sqm New Zealand risk profile One magnitude 4 New Zealand is a earthquake per day seismically active country on the edge of two Two magnitude 5 tectonic plates earthquakes per month

Two magnitude 6 New Zealand has: earthquakes per year • 50 to 80 earthquakes per day One magnitude 7 earthquake • Approximately 15,000 every three years earthquakes per year One magnitude 8+ earthquake per century THE EVENT

New Zealand has recently experienced two major earthquakes in the Canterbury region

4 September 2010 Time: 4:35am Magnitude: 7.1 Depth: 10 km Deaths: 0

22 February 2011 Time: 12:51pm Magnitude: 6.3 Depth: 5 km Deaths: 181 Canterbury Earthquakes Canterbury Earthquakes Record peak ground accelerations – 4 September 2010 Canterbury Earthquakes Record peak ground accelerations – 22 February 2011 IMPACT Education in Canterbury is a $2.5 billion industry.

Table: Governmental Responsibilities for Education

Sector Property Responsibility Early Childhood Home-based services Private (423) Playcentres Private Kindergartens Crown/Council/Private Schooling State schools Crown (217) State-integrated schools (Integrated) Proprietors Independent schools (Private) Private Tertiary Universities Crown (124) Institutes of Technology and Crown Polytechnics (ITP) Private Training Private 4 September 2010 22 February 2011 Time 4:35 am Saturday 12:51 pm Tuesday Implication Weekend, early hours of the Weekday, near midday – most morning - no students in lessons students on site or at lunch Priority Assess property damage and Confirm the safety of students isolate areas of concern and staff Next steps Gain engineering assessments Assess property damage and & confirm utilities prior to isolate areas of concern reopening Resumption • 96% of schools open 1 week • 17% of schools open 1 of Education later week later • 100% of schools open 2 • 32% of schools open 2 weeks later weeks later • 100% of schools open 5 weeks later Extent of Damage

Christchurch Cathedral Hazard: Falling masonry

Rock fall

City Streets Hazard: Subsidence and liquefaction Fatalities - 182

Nearly 75% of the fatalities occurred in two buildings

Pyne Gould Building Occupants: 200 people Fatalities: 15 deaths

CTV Building Occupants: 300 people Fatalities: 118 deaths 1) Education Emergency Management

• Emergency Management Overview Group (EMOG)

• Deputy Secretary leading Recovery Team on the ground

• Local response team  Specialists were brought in from around the country to lend their expertise  7 engineering consortia  Co-located with the Ministry’s damaged Christchurch offices to maximise local knowledge speed of response Key skills sought for local response team

• Database expertise • Media/Communications specialist • Project management experience • Sturctural engineers • Geotechnical engineers • Geospatial mapping • Planning experts • Senior educationalists • Trauma specialists • Counsellors/psychologists • Experienced principals (operating as mentors) • Pool of relief teachers 2) Key Interfaces

• Civil Defence (state of emergency) • Chief Health Officer • Welfare agencies • Local councils 3) Communications • Information about schools to parents and the community as soon as possible • http://www.minedu.govt.nz advised key information incl. school closures and openings • Established call centre • Used email, texting, outbound calling, visiting schools and newspaper advertising, community forums 4) Flight Plans – Infrastructure A key aspect of ensuring safety and preparing for reopening was confirmation of infrastructure Access Access:Water:Sewerage:Electricity: • Road and footpath access AbilityAvailabilityConfirmation for students of ofsafetoilet Potable water todrinkingfacilitiespower safely supply waterattend school • Addressing pipes and plumbing ConfirmationAddressing of of Abilitysafeseweragedamaged mains to isolate electricallines water Sewerage hazardsfittings • Confirming waste management Electricity and gas • Ensuring safety 4) Flight Plans – School damage All schools were assessed for damage. The stability of education buildings reflects: • when they were built • what the perceived biggest risks were • what they were made from

Pre-1935 1935-1976 Post-1976 Masonry resists Concrete resists Timber flexes in fire, flood & wind fire, flood & wind earthquakes Timber flexes in Timber flexes in Steelwork flexes earthquakes earthquakes in earthquakes Though the Canterbury earthquakes involved violent shaking, most education property damage was related to land instability

• Rockfall • Cracks and fissures • Subsidence and liquefaction • Flooding Liquefaction

Tall reinforced buildings in CBD

Hill shaking & rockfall Assessments

The Ministry undertook a number of property assessments throughout the Canterbury region

1. Site: Site visit/assessments 2. Buildings: Structural assessments 3. Land: Geotechnical reports Buildings and structures that were seriously damaged were isolated – pending decisions on how to proceed

• 29 schools had structures with major damage (requiring Council re-building consent)

• 49 schools had structures with medium damage (requiring repair) • 136 schools had minor damage that could be repaired without disrupting school operation Site sharing • 7 damaged schools relocated to Transport: Site-sharing created existing school sites SiteRe-locatables: Sharing: a need to transport 152 intermediate temporary • Initially, 55% of all secondary a large number of schoolclassrooms (am) werehosted students across a students were double shifting anotherdelivered (pm) to 10 compromised schools 5roading secondary network schools Temporary Accommodation (am)Some hosted classrooms 5 guest An additional 98 secondarytraveled nearly schools 500 • 52 re-locatable classrooms busses were (pm)km to new schools • 3 temporary schools established needed to transport 7,100 students across Christchurch New transport arrangements 5) Welfare The earthquake had a large impact on the welfare of people throughout Christchurch

Children and Young People SocialStudent Needs: Needs: • Information – Seminars, web tip Community10 temporary sheets, parent training (via web Q&As), briefingslearning hubsfor over 3000established people prior to email advisory services, connecting schools reopening Over 700 direct families to services (through contactsSchool site-sharing with navigators) schoolswas used within to return 1 • Social workers and counsellors monthteachers and students to full • Community service hubs and learning environs learning hubs • Out of school sport and recreation programmes 5) Welfare Staff Resources: • Counselling and support 30-40 specialist • Principal support and mentoring staff deployed to Christchurch 20 schools requested extra support and advice An additional 35 teachers and principals deployed 6) Student Movement

Movement of Canterbury Students

Still in new TLA Moved back to ChCh

6,637

8000

7000

6000

Students5000 of

4000 Number

3000 5,241

2000

1000

0 24 25 28 1 2 3 4 7 8 9 10 11 14 15 16 17 18 21 22 23 24 25 28 29 30 31 1 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 19 21 3 5 10 12 17 19 24 26 31 2 7 9 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 24 28 30 5 7 13 20 5 11 18 24 2 8 15 22 29

Date (February/March/April/May/June/July/August/September) 7) Long term considerations

• Land • Geotechnical instability • Buildings • Building standards, requirements and design • Population • Population concentration and distribution • Opportunities • Innovation in network design Financial Estimates

• Total bill = NZ$15 billion (8% of GDP) • Worst natural disaster to hit a developed nation relative to the size of its economy • Total bill for schools = NZ$350 - NZ$450 million • Insurers = NZ$100 million approx • Looking to innovative financing arrangements gor government schools 8) The Way Forward

Government established the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) to: • Provide leadership and coordination for the ongoing recovery effort across all sectors in Christchurch • Focus on business recovery • Enable an effective and timely rebuild • Work closely with Councils and engage with local communities of greater Christchurch, including Ngāi Tahu, the private sector and the business sector • Keep people and communities informed Network Planning – the CERA zoning report

Schools are located to respond to areas with high numbers of young people As populations change the demand for schools also changes The relocation of people from the red zones will change the school network Earthquake Recovery Plan

Currently developing a future vision for education in Canterbury: • Education seen as key to recovery • Education will lead to a distinctive and advantaged Christchurch socially, economically & culturally

We are looking for opportunities for innovation 9) Lessons Learnt • Business continuity preparation & readiness Be prepared (e.g. updated phone numbers/call trees (own and school staff)) • Specialists identified beforehand • Established EMOG process • Accessible data on schools including condition, land, student catchments and buildings • Throw out the rules! • While approach to building standards has been to ensure no loss of life, continual aftershock events are impacting resilience physically and psychologically Key Successes

Though the earthquakes caused considerable disruption to compulsory education: • no school buildings collapsed • no students were injured or killed at school • 85% of students back in school within 3 weeks • 100% of students back in school within 5 weeks Resources