2016 7.8 Mw Kaikoura Earthquake
The 2016 7.8 Mw Kaikoura Earthquake was a powerful earthquake that struck the South Island of New Zealand, causing widespread damage to infrastructure, landslides, and ruptures on several faults, resulting in the deaths of two people and costing billions in recovery and repair efforts. Researchers are still learning from the effects of the Kaikoura earthquake, as it has provided valuable insights into fault rupture behavior, seismic hazard assessment, and the impacts of earthquakes on infrastructure and society.
In the spring of 2019, OSU Professor Michael Olsen traveled to the Kaikoura region of New Zealand to take part in a training offered to graduate students and young professionals from around the world. Hosted by EERI and New Zealand’s Centre for Earthquake Resilience (QuakeCore), this was an opportunity for people to gain hands-on experience while using RAPID instrumentation. Participants collected lidar data and tracked the evolution of landslides triggered by the 2016 earthquake using RAPID’s long-range scanner (Maptek I-Site XR3), survey GPS receivers (Leica GS18T), and short-range scanners (Leica BLK360).
Later in the fall, researchers Lucas Hogan and Max Stephens at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, documented the structural damage sustained in a building following the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake. The team used the BLK360 laser scanner and a structure sensor through an international collaboration between the RAPID Facility and QuakeCoRE.
