Recent Earthquakes

A M7.6 earthquake, with depth 80 km, occurred near Padang City, Sumatra, Indonesia on September 30. A Project Team of New Zealand engineers is working along side Indonesian engineers to providing post earthquake building safety evaluations for the 250 damaged government buildings (schools, hospitals, and offices).

Building Safety Evaluation in a State of Emergency

The Guidelines for Building Safety Evaluation in a State of Emergency have been revised. The guidelines are to help Building Control Managers within Territorial Authorities to prepare for, implement and manage building structural safety evaluation activities after major earthquakes or other disaster events. They also provide guidance for engineers and others assisting with the process in the field.

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Events

The 2010 conference, with the theme Earthquake Prone Buildings: how ready are we? will be held at the iconic Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Professor Michele Calvi will deliver the keynote address on the 2009 L’Aquila Earthquake in Italy. A panel forum will stimulate discussion on New Zealand’s readiness for the ‘big one’ and a special session will honour the lifetime achievements of Professor Tom Paulay. Field trips on the Saturday afternoon will showcase Wellington’s assets, faults, hazards, and their mitigation. Please submit abstracts by 12 October

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The ATC & SEI Conference on Improving the Seismic Performance of Existing Buildings and Other Structures is being held in San Francisco, California from December 9-11, 2009. This inaugural conference, is dedicated to improving the seismic performance of existing buildings and other structures.

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The proceedings and presentations from the 2009 NZSEE Annual Technical Conference are available. During the conference, Bulletin editor Les Megget was made a life member of The Society. G.H. Lindup was presented the Otto Glogau Award, Thomas Algie was awarded the Research Scholarship. John Wood, Kevin McManus and Michael Newcombe won best paper awards and Ben Leslie won the best poster award.

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'Legend of Earthquake Engineering' Passes Away

Professor Tom Paulay passed away on 28 June 2009 at the age of 86.

The gentlemanly scholar, with a passion for both research and education, was an internationally recognised researcher and educator. He was a former president of both the NZSEE and the Internatioal Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) and was honoured as one of 13 international legends of earthquake engineering in 2008 by the Asian-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research ANCER. His scholarly contributions to The Bulletin and his memorable presentations (always 'in Hungarian with an English accent') will be sadly missed by many.

Reconnaissance teams applications

The Society is updating its database of members for Reconnaissance teams for post earthquake Inspections. If you are interested in being considered please download and complete the form. (32kB MSWord)

This database will supersede all previous ones, so a new application is requested please. Applications completed at the Conference are already in the database.

The Society:

Is managed by a 12 member management committee, publishes a quarterly Bulletin of approximately 30 technical papers per annum and hosts a weekend technical conference in April each year.

Interested in joining?

Please read our brochure and complete an application form. If you have any questions please contact our Executive Officer.

Contact:

Please address all correspondence regarding the Society to:

The Executive Officer
PO Box 2193
WELLINGTON New Zealand
Phone and Fax: 64 4 565 3650