Design Flaws Caused Christchurch Earthquake Collapse

Design flaws, poor construction methods and a building permit issued in error were all responsible for the New Zealand building collapse that occurred during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, say government officials.

Canterbury Television's premises was completely destroyed when the earthquake - rated at 6.1 on the Richter scale - struck one of New Zealand's major cities on 22 February last year. 115 people lost their lives - the majority of those killed by the earthquake. 16 of these were Canterbury Television employees, while the remainder included 70 foreign students.

Seven people survived the collapse, while, by May 2011, the last remaining pieces of the building itself were completely demolished.

During the intervening months, a New Zealand Government-ordered commission has been looking at just what went wrong that day. Their verdict is that the CTV (Canterbury Television) structure, built in 1986, fell short of the standards of the day. In particular, it employed substandard concrete and columns, they say, thereby pointing fingers of blame both at Alan Reay Consultants Ltd - for producing a sub-par design - and Christchurch city officials, for seemingly being oblivious to the problems at hand.

Christchurch Building Collapse Report

‘The engineering design...was deficient in a number of respects', explains the Christchurch building collapse report. It continues: ‘While there were elements of the applicable codes that were confusing, a building permit should not have been issued for the building as designed. The design process led to a building that was under-engineered in a number of important respects.'

Referring to the report, John Key - New Zealand's Prime Minister - described its content as "grim and sobering", adding: "We recognise this news will be of little comfort to the friends and families of the 115 people who lost their lives in the CTV building on that fateful day. Nothing will ever bring their loved ones back and we cannot dull their pain. My thoughts are with them as they continue to try to come to terms with their loss."

Image copyright Gabriel - Courtesy Wikimedia Commons