Abstract
This paper describes the performance of (or damage to) ceilings in buildings during the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks. In buildings that suffered severe structural damage, ceilings and other non-structural components (rather expectedly) failed, but even in buildings with little damage to their structural systems, ceilings were found to be severely damaged. The extent of ceiling damage, where the ceilings were subject to severe shaking, depended on the type of the ceiling system, the size and weight of the ceilings and the interaction of ceilings with other elements. The varieties and extent of observed ceiling damage are discussed in this paper with the help of photographs taken after the earthquake.
Highlights
A significant portion of the estimated 16 billion dollars loss incurred in the M6.3 22nd February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks can be attributed to non-structural components and contents damage
This is in agreement with outcomes of previous seismic loss estimation studies [1, 2] which have shown that in buildings non-structural and content damage can contribute a major share of the total loss in an earthquake
This paper reports some of the ceiling damage sustained in the M6.3 Christchurch earthquake on the 4th of February 2011
Summary
This paper describes the performance of (or damage to) ceilings in buildings during the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks. In buildings that suffered severe structural damage, ceilings and other non-structural components (rather expectedly) failed, but even in buildings with little damage to their structural systems, ceilings were found to be severely damaged. The extent of ceiling damage, where the ceilings were subject to severe shaking, depended on the type of the ceiling system, the size and weight of the ceilings and the interaction of ceilings with other elements. The varieties and extent of observed ceiling damage are discussed in this paper with the help of photographs taken after the earthquake
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