Casualties, Damages and Other Effects
3 000 buildings in total were inspected, of that total 45% were deemed unsafe and were given a yellow or red sticker. As the earthquake struck at a busy time and at the town centre, a busy place more, damage and casualties happened then the previous 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 2010 than the 6.3 magnitude earthquake in 2011, more people were killed, a total 185 deaths and 2 000 to 5 000 injured, 164 serious injuries.
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Liquefaction
Impacts of the EarthquakesAll earthquakes have devastating impacts, some of the effects last longer than others, and other effects may only last minutes.
Effects of an earthquakes are identified as primary and secondary impacts. A primary effects is a straight forward result of the ground shaking such as, collapsing building. While secondary effects happen due to the primary effects such as fires. Social Impacts (short-term)
Impacts of Christchurch EarthquakeIn total, the 'rehabilitation' costs $15.1 billion dollars worth of damage, Many businesses needed to fire employees due to the heavy re-building fee. Though the government supplied money for those who were fired, businesses that needed re-building and injured employees.
100 000 homes were damaged in the earthquake while 10 000 homes were claimed unsavable. 185 people died in the earthquake many lost in the CNN station building (below). Though the earthquake did no significant damage to any natural landscapes it did significant damage to the aquatic eco-system, tainting the water and leaving waste everywhere. |
Liquefaction is when water-saturated sediment temporarily loses it's strength and acts like a liquid. A good example of liquefaction is, when you are at the beach and are standing near the shore, if you move your toes in the wet sand you will sink and a puddle forms around you.
As eastern part's of the city, where the earthquake struct were built on an old swamp, there was already a large amount of contained water in the solid, so when the earthquake shook the water mixed with the minority (solids) and rose to the top to create a fluid. Many Homes and roads were buried in dense layers of silt (fluid), this left cars, like the one to the left, abandoned on the roads quickly sinking in a thick liquid. |