Canterbury Earthquake Recovery

At 4:35am on 4 September 2010, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck near Darfield, Canterbury. It marked the start of a devastating sequence of major earthquakes and more than 10,000 aftershocks. The most destructive was the magnitude 6.2 earthquake on 22 February 2011, centred near Christchurch’s CBD.

The earthquake sequence caused:

• Building collapses in the CBD, with a large proportion of central city buildings later demolished or rebuilt

• Widespread liquefaction across the eastern suburbs

• Rockfalls and landslides across the Port Hills

• Over 650,000 insurance claims , including approximately 168,000 to private insurers

The scale of property damage and land instability required rapid, defensible engineering assessments to support repair, rebuild and insurance decisions. Cook Costello mobilised a large team of geotechnical and structural engineers to support the recovery effort. We worked with insurers, claim providers, and private property owners to:

• Assess more than 10,000 residential properties

• Carry out structural damage assessments and design repairs or strengthening works for hundreds of commercial and industrial buildings

• Deliver several thousand geotechnical and structural reports to help progress insurance claims

• Provide site-specific recommendations for land and building repairs

• Design and observe the repair of more than 1,000 residential properties.

Where properties could not be economically repaired, our team designed practical rebuild solutions that responded to the increased seismic hazard and changing regulatory environment. We also undertook Detailed Seismic Assessments and designed strengthening works to support earthquake-prone building requirements.

By combining engineering expertise with project management, Cook Costello provided:

• Clear, defensible assessments for insurers and property owners

• Safe and compliant repair solutions tailored to site conditions.

• Technical support for claim resolution during one of New Zealand’s largest natural hazard recovery programmes

• Seismic strengthening and rebuild designs that responded to updated standards and expectations

Few New Zealand engineering consultancies have assessed and designed repairs on this scale. Our work through the Canterbury earthquake recovery is a major part of how Cook Costello developed its expertise in land, buildings and infrastructure affected by natural hazards.