A moment magnitude Mw 7.0 earthquake struck the Canterbury Plain on September 4, 2010 occurred on a strike slip fault, approximately 30 km from Christchurch, causing $4 billion in damages but no casualties. On February 22, 2011 a Mw 6.1 aftershock occurred on a blind thrust fault, 5 km south of Christchurch, causing $20 billion in damages and hundreds of casualties. This presentation will focus mainly on the impacts of the Mw 6.1 earthquake to the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The Christchurch Central Business District (CBD) suffered serious damages including the collapse of some high rise structures and severe damage to hundreds of other buildings. The CBD has been cordoned off as a militarized zone, severely impacting the local economic systems. Much of the Christchurch area suffered extensive liquefaction, including the CBD, causing damages to structures and critical lifeline systems. Water, sewer, power, and other critical services were lost, inhibiting the response and restoration process. Many bridges were damaged by lateral spreading, but all remained usable. Water deliveries were completely restored in about 6 weeks but with significantly reduced reliability. Sewer services were severely impacted by liquefaction. About 60% of the sewage is released directly into rivers and estuaries and this disposal method is expected to continue for over a year. Power services are restored, but the network is vulnerable and outages continue to result from smaller events. A recent Mw 6.0 aftershock located northeast of the February 2011 event re-liquefied large areas and caused even greater damages to the Cities' critical services. An overview is presented on the catastrophe being experienced in Christchurch New Zealand.

CRAIG A. DAVIS, Ph.D., PE, GE is the Geotechnical Engineering Manager for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Water System and is responsible for managing geotechnical engineering, contract management, and project management groups for LADWP geotechnical projects and overseeing a $700 million dam and reservoir development program and the Water System seismic improvement program. He is a California licensed Civil and Geotechnical Engineer and received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University in San Louis Obispo, CA, an M.S. in Civil Engineering with emphasis in structural earthquake engineering from the University of Southern California in 1991, and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with emphasis in geotechnical earthquake engineering from the University of Southern California in 2000. He has worked for the LADWP since 1987 where he has investigated and evaluated numerous dams, managed several multimillion dollar projects, and implemented unique and innovative designs.

Dr. Davis is actively involved in earthquake, geotechnical, and lifeline engineering research, developing a number of case studies from the 1971 San Fernando and 1994 Northridge earthquakes and performing evaluations on the seismic performance of dams and reservoirs, pipelines and underground structures, the effects of ground deformations on water system facilities, and seismic resiliency of lifeline systems. Dr. Davis has published over 60 papers in technical journals and conference proceedings and has co-organized national and international workshops on water systems and earthquake related aspects. He is on the executive committee for the ASCE Technical Council for Lifeline Earthquake Engineering and the Lifeline steering committee for the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program. Dr. Davis is an adjunct professor at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Recently, Dr. Davis joined the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative, an international not-for-profit organization, to work on the Mumbai, India project as an expert in water lifeline networks.