After the earthquake

Tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, floods, forest fires. Rarely, it seems, does a month go by without another devastating natural disaster hitting the headlines. Whether you blame 'global warming', 'El Niño' or simply the vagaries of the earth's weather systems doesn't change the huge levels of devastation and loss of life.

In some parts of the world, these 'events' have become a somewhat predictable annual occurrence -- such as hurricanes and tornadoes that rip through America's Midwest -- and the local residents and support services are as generally well prepared for their arrival.

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) estimates the economic loss suffered across the Asia-Pacific region in 2011 at $294bn.

In our 24/7 media overload society, it sometimes seems that the "on the spot" live coverage of these weather events has become sensationalized. Not only do these events impact the lives of countless millions of people, the economic consequences are similarly devastating. While the main focus must always be on those directly, often tragically, affected, the enormous role played by emergency services and by the construction and equipment supply industries that support government agencies often elude proper recognition. For not only do emergency services find themselves rushed off their feet but also for equipment and machinery service providers this means 24/7 non-stop working both to save lives and recover, repair or demolish buildings and infrastructure. In many cases equipment and labour are donated and long shifts of over-time pass without a thought of remuneration.

Obviously all work in disaster zones is especially hazardous but whereas some types of earthmoving machinery such as excavators and loaders are often found travelling and digging on undulating and even uncertain ground conditions, using a crane in such conditions is quite a different proposition. Virtually all mobile crane load charts are calculated and predicated upon the machine being located on firm and level ground - conditions that rarely exist in disaster zones. Yet, often to save lives, work must be done against the clock, often under various levels of mayhem and sometimes without a pause, night and day. In the immediate aftermath of a major disaster, it's all hands to the pump, without a thought of cost, personal or financial. Probably for sheer scale, nothing in recent history can compare with the Sichuan earthquake where locally-based Terex Changjiang dispatched a convoy of 105 truck cranes from its Luzhou factory while Sany, XCMG, Zoomlion and others also deployed huge numbers of cranes and earthmoving machinery.

With events of a mammoth scale, recovery work generally involves years of major reparations and the massive sourcing of men and machinery that can only be performed on a sound commercial basis. Two on-going examples of natural disasters on a huge scale, where remedial work will extend for forward for several years are 2011's Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand and the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

Making Christchurch safe
New Zealand's Southern metropolis of Christchurch remains in the news for the worst possible reasons as for more than two years the series of earthquakes that sparked off in September 2010 has shown no signs of quelling. The 'immense jolt' caused by the 6.3 magnitude quake at 12.51pm February 22nd last year threw people to the ground and ultimately caused an estimated damage estimated at NZD 20bn ($15.5bn) and the loss of 182 lives. The magnitude of destruction was exacerbated by the shallow depth of the quake. On July 2nd this year a 7.0 magnitude quake struck some 170km (107 miles) northwest of Wellington at a depth of 236 km (147 miles) but caused only minor surface damage though light to moderate aftershocks remain a daily fact of life for New Zealanders.

At one stage it was felt that 20% of Christchurch's population of 390,000, i.e. 65,000 people, would be forced leave the city. Such was the level of destruction and the concerns over the future insurability of properties. Since then the New Zealand Government has conceived of numerous innovative schemes to renew the faith of its citizens. A symbol of this resolve followed the announcement in March that since insurance couldn't cover rebuilding, it had been decided that Canterbury's iconic 132-yr old Anglican Cathedral, badly damaged in the quake, must be demolished. The subsequent public outcry caused a re-think. Then the New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineers joined others in a 100-signature petition to halt demolition of the Unesco World Heritage listed cathedral. Still today, a final decision has yet to be made.

Work in Christchurch's 'Red Zone' earthquake area has many challenges, including danger of the collapse of buildings, structures, roads and bridges not necessarily readily identifiable as hazards. Certainly the potential of damaged footings should mean that crawler cranes - lattice and tele boom-would offer safety benefits due to reduced ground bearing pressures and point loads. Nevertheless accidents do happen, as was the case in March when a 50t-class lattice crawler crane rented by Smith Crane & Construction tipped straight over the end while removing exterior precast panels from a demolition site in the Red Zone. It dropped the panel on the far side of the building, crushing a pick-up truck, but fortunately no one was hurt.

New Zealand's crane hire community put in countless hours in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes. The earlier and much less-severe September 2010 earthquake had seen no less than 17 cranes from Smith Crane & Construction involved for three weeks with 43 operators and riggers turning in 15-hour days. The 2011 quake was on a completely different level to anything ever seen in the country. Along with other locally-based crane hire firms, Smith cranes and staff worked around the clock. Typical jobs included the totally-collapsed Pyne Gould building upon which Smith had a Grove GMK 5130, Kato NK 500 and Kobelco 7055 working 24-hour days for a full week. The tragic loss of life at the aforementioned CTV Building saw Smith's Grove GMK 5100 and 6220 again working 24-hour days with operators and riggers putting in 12-hour shift rotations.

Damage to nearby Lyttleton Port Berth saw Daniel Smith Industries deploy their 400 and 280t capacity Liebherr LR 1400 and LR 1280 cranes, supported by a 110t Manitowoc M 12000 and Grove RT 760. Using a Nissha NH 70 hydraulic vibro hammer, the Liebherr crawlers installed new 600mm diameter piles up to 60m length at extended radii as great as 45m. The LR 1400 subsequently worked on damage inspection work on the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

Another of Christchurch's landmarks, the Grand Chancellor Hotel, was severely damaged during the quake. The first challenge was to extricate guests and for this Smith Crane & Construction deployed their Grove GMK 5130 and GMK 6220. Working with fully extended booms on the 68m (242ft) tall building, the cranes used suspended man-boxes to lower 146 people to safety. Subsequently the hotel was completely dismantled under a project awarded to Fletcher Construction and Ward Demolition with Daniel Smith Industries deploying their 250t Kobelco CKE 2500 equipped with 61m main and 61m luffer which the crane hirer believes to be the tallest combination ever operated in New Zealand.

The largest crane employed to date has been the 550t capacity Liebherr LG 1550 lattice boom truck crane that was acquired by Smith Crane & Construction and immediately put to work on the deconstruction of the Clarendon Towers. Smith's civil contracts manager, Clive Baddeley, said, "It's a de-construct rather than a demolition so we are literally cutting a building into pieces and craning it down." For the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), time is the enemy. As lead engineer Carl Devereaux explained, in order to prepare for rebuilding work, "we need to get these buildings down as quickly as possible".

Naturally, earthquake destruction also extended below ground. Canterbury-based G&T Construction worked on several damaged pipelines and immediately after the quake used its 25t Komatsu LW 250 rough terrain with a vibro-hammer to drive 455m of sheet piling between two oxidization ponds to address fears for the stability and integrity of the banks during subsequent aftershocks.

Local crane hire companies Smith Crane & Construction (run by Tim Smith) and Daniel Smith Industries (run by brother Daniel) were not only amongst the first on the scene but have continued to be fully engaged in the mass of ongoing recovery, dismantling and demolition projects that have filled the city's skyline with crane jibs. The highest profile project, the Anglican Cathedral "demolition" saw Daniel Smith's 30t capacity IHI CCH 300T tele boom crawler crane amongst the first on the scene. Subsequently Smith Crane's Grove GMK 4100 100t all terrain as well as Daniel Smith's Tadano GT 800 80t truck crane, 110t Manitowoc 12000 crawler, 25t Tadano TR 250 rough terrain, 70t Grove RT 880E rough terrain and a new 100t Liebherr LTR 1100 tele boom crawler crane have participated in the clean-up and recovery work.

In April, Daniel Smith Industries took delivery of a new 275t Hitachi Sumitomo SCX 2800-2 crawler complete with 61m main and 61m luffer to fill the gap in the fleet caused by so many of its larger cranes having now been shipped to projects in Australia. The firm's Liebherr LR 1280, LR 1300 And LR 1400 have been employed at the Haypoint Coal Terminal in northern Queensland while its 250t Kobelco CKE 2500, two 550t Kobelco SL 6000s and 750t Liebherr LR 1750 have been working on McConnell Dowell projects in Port Hedland, WA. Daniel Smith also took delivery of its first Liebherr LTR 1100 100t crawler crane to operate on the dismantling of the Christchurch Cathedral. Indeed the LTR 1100 is becoming quite the fashion in New Zealand with Ian Roebuck taking delivery of his second unit after finding that his first machine had become his most profitable investment.

2012 is proving to be a bumper year for crane sales in New Zealand. Lower Hutt, North Island-based Titan Cranes has taken delivery of four new cranes - headed by a 350t capacity Liebherr LTM 1350-6.1 which arrived in June and was immediately put to work on a dual lift unloading a 115t transformer from a ship in Auckland Ports. Titan's CEO, Gordon Stone said that thanks to being only "3.1m wide the crane is able to travel New Zealand's roads with fewer constraints and will all four outriggers attached". Other cranes purchased by Titan were a 30t Kato NK 300VR truck crane, together with a 60t AC 60/3L and a 100t AC 100 purchased from Terex Australia.

Meanwhile long-established Manitowoc distributor TRT has had huge success with the latest top-end Grove all terrains. The 300t Grove GMK 6300L with its 80m boom has already proved to be a massive worldwide success with over 100 units sold to date. Pollock Cranes and Waikato Auckland Cranes have each purchased the long boom 300tr with another just ordered by Smith Crane & Construction for October delivery. Having taken delivery of the GMK 6300L in March, Pollock is now awaiting delivery of New Zealand's first 400t GMK 6400. Upon arrival this will be the largest telescopic crane roadable in New Zealand with its four outriggers installed.

In addition New Zealand Cranes has taken delivery of Grove's top of the line 450t GMK 7450 that has been employed on wind turbine projects. Meanwhile at the smaller end of the spectrum TRT has so far ordered five 35t Grove GBT 35 truck-mounted cranes. Three of these units have already been delivered, mounted on Scania trucks and sold to local crane hire companies with the first going to Blue Skies.

At the smaller end of the spectrum, the Canterbury region's largest Hiab fleet owner, Mackley Carriers has been kept extraordinarily busy. Their fleet spans from small Nissan Diesel 4x2 trucks with back-of-cab XS series loaders up to 4-axle Scania's equipped with 12t 40-44tm capacity XS-477 loaders capable of up to 21m reach.

A clear indication of the fortitude of the citizens and businesses of New Zealand is the program that Gough Group established to gather relief donations for victims of the quake. Within three-months of the earthquake, Caterpillar and Palfinger distributor Gough Group, including its shareholders and employees, donated the enormous sum of NZD262,521 ($218,500) while the Caterpillar Foundation and Caterpillar dealers worldwide collected NZD141,752 ($116,600) for a staggering total of NZD404,273 ($330,000). Meanwhile the Government's 'Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority' is proving a real success. It offers owners of residential properties located in the Earthquake 'Red Zone' a choice of two approaches under which The Crown pays them the most recent rating valuation and takes over all insurance claims for the property. On June 15th the 5,000th sale and purchase agreement was signed, representing some 70% of the total at a cost of almost NZD750m ($620m).

Economic growth in New Zealand was stronger than expected in Q2 as the rate of growth increased 0.6% over Q1 and for the fiscal year ended June 30th GDP growth is estimated at 2.6%. Leading the positive development was a 4.7% increase in agricultural output while construction contributed a 3.3% rise. Although overall levels of New Zealand construction remain relatively weak, the value of construction put in place in the March quarter reached NZD 2.496bn - low by historical standards. However there were signs of a moderate pick-up in residential building that are expected to strengthen as the Christchurch area rebuilding gathers momentum. While civil construction continues weak, second quarter residential construction in New Zealand increased 0.8% to NZD1.703 billion ($1.3b) as the overall trend of construction activity continued to improve after plumbing a 10-year low in 2011's third quarter. The higher residential construction levels are being driven by repair and rebuilding activities in the Canterbury region around Christchurch and offset a decline in nonresidential activity.