Following 22 February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, a great many stories were rightfully directed to the search and rescue mission and the immediate needs for coping with the crisis. The 6.3 magnitude quake left more than 180 dead and damaged roughly 100,000 homes (10% of which were damaged beyond repair). More than 900 buildings are expected to be demolished.
Geotechnical engineers have been heavily involved in the recovery process from initial evaluation of retaining walls, roads, and slopes immediately after the quake–the National Science Foundation-sponsored Geo-engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) reported the region, for example–to the many safety measures than that needed to be instituted in the hills within and around Christchurch.
Solutions 2 Access Ltd., for example, was contracted to perform rockfall hazard control above the residential areas of Bowenvale Valley. Utilizing rockfall netting (from Maccaferri), chain link and carefully placed explosives, the team set about controlled demolition in various zones to essentially "collapse" the threatening rock into the hillside. A video captures work on one of the portions:
While this project video is not an example of geosynthetic engineering, the rockfall netting used here is commonly used by companies with a specialty in geosynthetics in various slope stabilization and hazard management applications. (Maccaferri itself is well-known for its geosynthetics in addition to its rockfall netting products.)
Special thanks to Geofabrics Australasia for sharing this link with Geosynthetica.
