New Zealand: Project underway to identify future liquefaction hazard

Environment Canterbury reports that a project is currently underway to gather large amounts of data about liquefaction susceptibility to guide future development in the greater Christchurch area through the compilation of maps.

Environment Canterbury Geological Hazard Analyst, Helen Grant, says: "We are taking all the existing and new information and using a consistent methodology to produce liquefaction hazard information, which will be useful not only for building consenting, but also for infrastructure asset management and emergency management planning."

"The technical categories recently released by CERA and DBH primarily address rebuilding of houses damaged in the earthquakes. Our project incorporates that information, but takes it further to look at future development over a wider area," added Ken Taylor, Environment Canterbury Director of Investigations and Monitoring.