The Star: March 29, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday March 29 2018 5
News
Quake sensors to monitor building safety
• By Bridget Rutherford
THE CITY council
will be the first in the
world to install sensors
to determine how its
buildings have stood
up to earthquakes and
whether they are safe
to occupy.
As part of its Smart
Cities programme, it
is looking to install
its own sensors which
would feed into a
city-wide network that
measures ground shaking.
The network would provide
accurate data on ground shaking
levels to determine how
buildings have
fared based
on their individual
design
limits and
what action is
needed.
The city
Teresa
McCallum
council will
also install
sensors in its
“critical” buildings to directly
measure how they respond to
the shaking, which would be
immediately sent to the building
manager’s phone.
Its sensors will link with a
network of more than 100 other
Canterbury Seismic Instruments
sensors scattered around
the city.
The information will be
shared with building owners,
Civil Defence and research
agencies.
Smart Cities programme
manager Teresa McCallum said
it was a “global first” for a city
council to install the instruments
in its buildings.
“We hope to become the most
seismically-prepared city in the
world.”
Soil and ground conditions
meant earthquake shaking
levels across the city were
“hugely variable”.
Ms McCallum said existing
GeoNet stations were too far
SMART: The
sensors would
show whether city
council buildings
have been
damaged, like
the former civic
offices were on
Tuam St.
apart to measure
exact shaking
levels. The
sensor network
would deliver
ground shaking
information on a
block by block, and
building by building, basis.
When an earthquake hit, the
sensors would identify the most
affected areas and resources
could be prioritised there, she
said.
Ms McCallum said the
ground shaking sensors would
be installed in the central city
first, followed by Papanui, Addington
and Sydenham and other
residential suburbs.
An installation date, the cost,
and the “critical” buildings were
yet to be determined, she said.
Last week, Harcourts real
estate agent Christopher Chapman
was cleared of disgraceful
conduct by the Real Estate
Agents Disciplinary Tribunal
after a tenant and customer in
the building he managed were
killed by falling masonry in the
February 22, 2011 earthquake.
Apprentist tattooist Matthew
McEachen and customer Rachel
Conley were killed as they tried
to flee the Colombo St building
that housed Southern Ink.
The building was not structurally
sound to be occupied after
the September 2010 earthquake,
but Mr Chapman never informed
Southern Ink owner
Matt Parkin.
City councillor Deon Swiggs
said peoples’ lives were reliant
on the buildings they occupied
being structually sound.
The sensors meant they could
be assessed by science rather
than an after the fact investigation,
he said.
“It’s about constantly improving
buildings and making them
safer and safer, because we never
want what happened in the
February earthquake to happen
again.”
Local
News
Now
• By Bridget Rutherford
Fire rages, homes at risk
More using app
to report issues
REPORTING maintenance issues
through a phone app has grown in
popularity since it was launched
nearly three years ago.
City council figures show since
the Snap Send Solve app was
launched in June 2015, it had been
used 35,796 times to report maintenance
problems.
In 2016, it was used to report
13,393 issues, while last year that
figure grew to 16,900. That worked
out to be about 46 reports a day.
So far this year, 5503 issues had
been reported through the app.
The most common reported issue
has been graffiti. Last year, graffiti
complaints made up 42 per cent of
all complaints.
That was followed by roading or
street problems at 28 per cent and
rubbish and recycling at 13 per
cent.
The city council was the first in
New Zealand to start using Snap
Send Solve.
It allows people to report issues
such as potholes through the app
by taking a photo that is forwarded,
with the GPS location, to the
relevant city council department to
be dealt with.
A city council spokeswoman said
the majority of complaints were
still made via the call centre.
Inland Revenue 39 Durham Street,
Sydenham has moved
Our new office at
74 Moorhouse Avenue,
Addington is open
for business
Our 74 Moorhouse Avenue office hours are:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9.00am-4.30pm
Wednesday 9.30am-4.30pm
To make an appointment, or for general
enquiries, please call our Contact Centre on
0800 775 247 or call 0800 377 774 for business
enquiries or use your myIR account,
ird.govt.nz/myIR.
Have you checked your
underfloor repairs?
This is the sort of ‘repair’
we are finding.
We will go under your house and give you
peace of mind for free.
NO WIN
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Ph: 03 377 8855 | 130 Ferry Road, Christchurch
E: reception@earthquakeservices.co.nz | W: www.earthquakeservices.co.nz