‘Adrenaline’ mollifies earthquake’s impact

On Saturday 4 September this year at 04.35 hrs Christchurch in New Zealand was awakened by the full force of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, the most damaging such event in a highly populated area of the country since the deadly magnitude 7.8 Hawke’s Bay (Napier) earthquake in 1931. There was, however, one very important, and fortuitous difference this time – there was no loss of life. This was partially due to luck, as the earthquake occurred at a time when most people were in bed, and the streets were sparsely populated. However, the lack of casualties was mainly due to New Zealand’s strict building code, which aims to ensure that buildings do not become death-traps in a major earthquake. The event, although only 40 seconds in duration, seemed to last for much longer, and created massive amounts of damage to roads, infrastructure, sub-divisions, and commercial buildings, within the city’s central business district and outlying suburbs and townships. The epicentre was located 30 kms west of Christchurch near Darfield at a depth of 10 km. It was felt throughout the South Island, and as far north as New Plymouth in the North Island. As I write (in late September) there have been in excess of 1,000 aftershocks, and the University of Canterbury has calculated that, on average, an earthquake of magnitude 2.0 or above has happened every 29 minutes since “the big one” on 4 September. The 7.1 event has, it has been calculated, been responsible for 97% of the total released energy, with all of the after-shocks to date accounting for the other 3%. Some of these after-shocks have also been quite severe in nature, and have caused further damage to already weakened structures.

Extensive area to cover

As facilities and engineering manager at Canterbury District Health Board, my responsibilities encompass the entire building portfolio, from the major metropolitan hospitals in Christchurch to many smaller hospitals and clinics throughout the region – which, in turn, encompasses an area from Ashburton in the south to as far north as Kaikoura. My team is spread over the sites, and numbers 64 in total, and I have eight direct reports. We utilise a mixture of inhouse staff and external contractors and consultants to meet the varying aspects of the workload. Although we have plans in place for such events, the “real thing” was quite unexpected, testing not only the structural integrity of the buildings and infrastructure, plant, and equipment, but also proving quite a test for the staff. I am not sure that any of us could have predicted how our team would react to such a situation; in the event I can only describe the response as “magnificent”. It is testament to the character of the staff working in this sector that, by nature, they do a lot with little, are problem-solvers, and manage risk on a daily basis. It is during times of emergency that their amazing capacity to get things done and make things work again, sometimes by ingenious means, comes to the fore. The magnitude of this earthquake was the largest experienced in a densely populated area of New Zealand for nearly 80 years, and it is thanks to the strict building codes, good standard of construction, efficient installation and maintenance of plant and equipment, and quick reaction of the staff, that the various healthcare facilities not only stood up, but continued to remain fully operational, in most cases, despite localised damage.