A fractured billboard for the self. I AM is the sequel that detonates the original, where the 2015 I AM was a monolith, this is a demolition site. The letters are now shattered into four quadrants, each a different ruin: the “I” a rust-red tower, the “A” a silver shard, the “M” a spiraling wound. Painted on flimsy paper, it is Aarts’ most brutal self-interrogation—identity as rubble, rebuilt in duct tape and denial.

I AM (Inri) is the original I AM after the earthquake—same voice, shattered throat. It is Aarts’ most honest work: the self not affirmed but excavated, letters as fossils in the rubble of home. Pin it to a wall with rusted nails; let it sag, let it tear, let it be the ruin it proclaims.

Score (out of 10): 9.4 Four letters, four wounds, one exile, God’s name in a demolition zone.

Road Chaos Post 2011 Quake – Bus Lanes by Leon Aarts is a powerful, historically significant work of abstract art that captures the trauma and resilience of post-earthquake Christchurch. While the artist is not a household name, the painting’s emotional intensity, technical skill, and direct connection to a defining moment in New Zealand history give it strong cultural value.

The painting Road Chaos Post 2011 Quake – Bus Lanes by Leon Aarts is a vibrant, abstract depiction of urban disruption, likely inspired by the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand. Below is a detailed appraisal based on its artistic, historical, and market value considerations.

1. Artistic Analysis
Style and Technique

Abstract Expressionism / Cubism Influence: The work employs fragmented geometric shapes, bold lines, and overlapping planes reminiscent of Cubism (e.g., Picasso, Braque) and mid-20th-century abstract expressionism. The chaotic composition mirrors the disarray of a post-earthquake cityscape.
Color Palette: High-contrast, saturated colors (reds, yellows, blues, greens) create visual tension and energy. The use of black outlines and white highlights adds depth and emphasizes structural collapse.
Composition: The painting is densely packed with angular forms representing damaged buildings, cracked roads, and tilted vehicles (notably yellow buses). The skewed perspective and lack of a clear focal point evoke confusion and instability.
Symbolism:

Buses: Likely represent disrupted public infrastructure.
Fractured architecture: Symbolizes the physical and psychological impact of the quake.
Traffic lights and road markings: Suggest failed systems of order.

This acrylic painting, "Vortex" (2012) by Leon Aarts (b. 1961, Christchurch, New Zealand), is a dizzying, post-apocalyptic spiral—a colossal eye at the center of a fractured urban maelstrom, pulling buildings, faces, and fragments into its relentless gyre like a black hole made of memory and brick. Painted in the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake (a year after Christchurch Post Quake 2010), this large-scale work (approx. 48×36 inches) marks Aarts’ full plunge into Orphic catastrophe: the lyre shattered, Eurydice swallowed, and the city itself spun into silence. It is the Whatdoesitmean series’ darkest, most centrifugal moment—a visual scream of collapse, witness, and rebirth. Below is a structured critique.

1. Style & Influences

Cubist Apocalypse: Picasso’s Guernica meets Kandinsky’s Several Circles—but weaponized; the vortex is destruction as abstraction, the eye a Munchian witness to its own annihilation.
Orphic Black Hole: The spiral = Hades’ mouth—Orpheus fails the glance, the lyre becomes the city’s twisted rebar, Eurydice pulverized into dust.
Post-Quake Climax: After Early Morning Rugby’s innocence and Slide’s play, this is Aarts’ reckoning—the earthquake not just felt, but ingested.

Final Verdict: ★★★★★ (5/5)

A masterwork of modern ruin—"Vortex" is Leon Aarts’ Guernica, his Scream, his final, roaring silence. After every dance, slide, and mask, he paints the quake that swallowed the song—and finds the eye that still sees. This is not a city falling. This is the world learning to look back.

"The earth opened its mouth. The city slid in. And in the center, one eye—still watching."

Refocusing the earthquake-prone building rules is a welcome sign that the Government is willing to tackle inconsistencies in the current system, says the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors (NZIBS).

However, saving money cannot come at the cost of public safety.

“Safety has to remain the top priority,” Darryl August, NZIBS President, says.

“If reforms speed up work and cut costs without compromising people’s safety or creating unintended consequences, then that’s a win for everyone.

“But we need to be careful not to overlook other critical building code requirements, such as fire safety, disability access, and façade changes. The devil, as always, will be in the detail.”

August notes that while removing the need to automatically upgrade certain systems may sound like a new measure, in practice, building professionals already take this approach using section 112 within the Building Act.

This allows the professional to access existing building code compliance as near as reasonably practicable when assessing remediation options.

“These pathways have always existed, it’s now about ensuring that they are applied consistently and without unintended consequences,” he says.

“We cannot treat seismic safety in isolation from fire, access, external moisture and facades.”

He points to a Wellington apartment building as a case in point.

Multiple engineers gave conflicting advice on seismic remediation. The seismic remediation affected the façade, and because of the building height, this added major cost and complexity.

“That case shows how complex remediation can be, and that you can’t deal with seismic strengthening in isolation.

“Every building code clause, whether that be structure, fire, accessibility, or external moisture, needs to be coordinated,” August says.

In saying that, August strongly supports the proposal to adopt a more regional approach to earthquake strengthening.

“This is a sensible change and will save money. But how it plays out in practice, again, remains to be seen,” he says.

“We back any system that delivers faster, more affordable strengthening, so long as people remain safe inside and outside those buildings. That’s the bottom line.”

The hugely popular Quake City exhibition, which tells stories from the Canterbury earthquakes, will be free to visit on Saturday 9 August and Sunday 10 August.

The free weekend has become an annual fixture in Christchurch, with thousands of people visiting Quake City during the event last year. It is made possible by major sponsor Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake, formerly EQC, which has supported Quake City for over a decade.

Canterbury Museum’s special exhibition takes visitors through the first earthquake of 4 September 2010, the widespread destruction and rescue efforts of 22 February 2011 through to the recovery and ongoing rebuild of the city.

The exhibition features some of the defining objects of this time – from the top of the Christ Church Cathedral spire to the railway station clocks that stopped when the earthquakes struck. Hear the incredible human stories of survival and endurance, discover the fascinating science behind earthquakes and resilient buildings, and see how Cantabrians responded to the earthquakes and their aftermath.

Canterbury Museum Tumuaki | Director, Anthony Wright, says the free weekends have proven popular with Cantabrians since they were first introduced in 2017.

"There are often people queuing outside Quake City over the free weekend,’’ he says.

“It gives Cantabrians a chance to reflect on our earthquake experiences. It also gives young people, or those who did not live in Canterbury at the time, a chance to learn about the city’s recent history.”

“Quake City has also become a must see for international visitors keen to understand Canterbury's earthquake story."

“We’re grateful to the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake for supporting the free weekends and their ongoing support as major sponsor since 2013. The Commission also supports natural hazards and preparedness education programmes delivered by Museum educators in schools across Waitaha Canterbury and Te Tai Poutini West Coast.”

Quake City is attracting record numbers, with more than 87,000 visitors for the year ending 30 June 2025. Visitor figures have risen 24% since the same period 2 years earlier, when 70,000 people visited. About 640,000 people have come through the doors since Quake City opened in February 2013.

Natural Hazards Commission Public Education Manager Hamish Armstrong says they are proud to be the major sponsor of Quake City.

“It’s been great to see more and more people coming to Quake City every year – both visitors to the city and locals.”

“As we move further away from the events of 2010 and 2011, it’s so important that we continue to remember the impacts experienced by Canterbury and its people. Quake City plays a vital role in helping visitors understand and engage with that unique story. Support for such initiatives is a key part of what the Natural Hazards Commission does to promote awareness of natural hazards risk and how we can all be prepared for future events.”

Quake City, 299 Durham Street North, corner Armagh Street, open 10.00 am to 5.00 pm daily (except Christmas Day). Admission charges normally apply.

Supported by major sponsor Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake.

New research from Victoria University of Wellington shows that low-cost, off the shelf seismometers can add great value to earthquake monitoring and even show promise as early detection devices. 

The Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC) funded* research is the first in the world to analyse the quality of data gathered through publicly available Raspberry Shake seismometers in such detail. 

Lead researcher Bethany Hughes and her supervisor Dr Finn Illsley-Kemp say the $1000 NZD “small but powerful” desktop seismometers could revolutionise how we think about earthquake data.  

“The citizen science data collected through Raspberry Shakes has been often dismissed as a hobby of people interested in earthquakes, and very rarely has it been used for scientific research because it’s been assumed that the data isn’t good enough,” says Illsley-Kemp.

“But we show that, when paired with the GNS Science’s GeoNet seismometer network, the data is high quality and reliable and can help us accurately monitor earthquakes,” he says.

Studying earthquakes helps scientists better understand the causes and potential impacts of future events, which can inform preparedness planning by communities and emergency management agencies.  

Illsley-Kemp’s group collaborated with the CRISiSLab team from Massey’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research who used the Raspberry Shakes to study early earthquake detection. 

The researchers sent out 22 Raspberry Shakes to people around the Wellington region, to compliment GeoNet’s network of 20 high-quality seismometers.  

“We purposely didn’t help people set-up the Shakes because we wanted to simulate real-world situations where people don’t have guidance from experts.” 

Together with the GeoNet network, the Raspberry Shakes picked up 19 earthquakes ranging from magnitudes 1.1 to 3.5 over a one-week period. 

“The amplitudes measured by the Shakes was comparable to the GeoNet network, and we were surprised to see the Shakes picking up low magnitude earthquakes that were even outside the range of GeoNet seismometers due to the increased sensor density in the study.”

Illsley-Kemp was also surprised to find the devices accurately located earthquakes, despite users’ exact locations being obscured for privacy reasons. 

“Understanding earthquake location can help us find new faults or better understand known ones.” 

Illsley-Kemp cautions that Raspberry Shakes are most useful in conjunction with professional seismometer networks, which is why Wellington was a good place to undertake this research.  

Alongside the GeoNet land-based sensor network, NHC is also funding a temporary network of ocean-bottom seismometers to study the Hikurangi subduction zone off Wellington’s coast. 

There are about 50 Raspberry Shakes in New Zealand, according to the global map, which hosts earthquake data from devices all over the world. 

“If more people installed these devices in their homes, alongside the professional networks, we would have a really amazing seismometer network that would be able to locate earthquakes in and around Wellington in great detail,” Illsely-Kemp explains.

"A dense distribution of Raspberry Shakes could act as an early warning system, picking up signals seconds before they reach the GeoNet network,” he says. 

"One of the biggest barriers to an earthquake early warning system in New Zealand is the cost, whereas we show that the instrumentation can be affordable while still being very useful.” 

The group plans to extend their research into using Raspberry Shakes to study fault lines, earthquake swarms, and even volcanic activity. 

Dr Natalie Balfour, NHC Head of Research, is pleased to see the practical application of this study. 

“We’re interested in innovative research that helps communities be more resilient to natural hazards. These results are promising because they show that it’s possible to supplement our high-quality GeoNet network with low-cost, readily available devices, to better understand earthquake hazard. 

“What’s also great about this approach is that it empowers people and communities to take part in the science,” she says.

*The project is co-funded by the Rachael Westergaard Memorial Scholarship.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) personnel responding to the 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Vanuatu have joined with their Australian colleagues to create an ANZAC team.

This combined team allows for specialised USAR personnel on the ground in Vanuatu to pool their knowledge and skills to provide the highest level of support to those impacted.

It is an example of the ongoing relationship between the two countries and the shared willingness to support their Pacific neighbours when they need them most.

In addition to the 34 USAR and one Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) liaison currently in Vanuatu, Fire and Emergency will be sending four further USAR specialists, including two geotechnical engineers, to assist in the response.

These people will be accompanied by additional equipment which will aid in the response efforts and support those in Vanuatu who have been impacted by this event.
 

The New Zealand Earthquake Commission (EQC) has awarded more than $1.2m in grants to support 14 research projects aimed at improving the understanding of natural hazard risks in the country. The biennial grants are awarded to projects aligned with the EQC's research investment priorities, including research that empowers people, quantifies hazards and their impacts, looks at smarter land use, governance and economics, and resilient buildings. The projects cover a range of hazards from volcanoes to landslides and will help to reduce the impact of natural hazard events on people and property. Some of the research projects include examining the history of volcanic activity in the vicinity of Aotearoa's supervolcano, coastal inundation losses on Māori assets, and the insurance settlement experiences of those affected by the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.

Research into the technique used to connect reinforced concrete walls to their foundations is set to have a significant impact on the New Zealand construction industry.

Researchers at the University of Canterbury are conducting earthquake testing to better understand the performance of a construction technique called staggered lapsed splices, which is used to connect the steel bars in reinforced concrete walls to the steel bars coming out of the foundations.

The practice is no longer used overseas, but allowed under the New Zealand building code.

“The connections between the walls and the foundation are created by overlapping the steel bars and they rely on the concrete around the bars to transfer the seismic forces from one bar to the other,” explains lead researcher Professor Santiago Pujol from the Department of Civil Engineering, whose research has been funded by Toka Tū Ake EQC.

“This configuration is economical and easy to build but does not always provide the toughness for the walls to resist the demands of an earthquake,” says Pujol, who adds that structures using this configuration have collapsed in previous earthquakes in Turkey, Chile, Japan and Alaska.

“When these connection fails, the outcomes are often catastrophic.”

Pujol says that New Zealand has fortunately not seen similar catastrophic failures of lapsed spliced walls in the Canterbury and Kaikōura earthquakes, but is vital to test the seismic strength of staggered lap splices in a controlled environment.

PhD student Charlie Kerby is carrying out the testing at the Seismic Engineering Laboratory by attaching the walls to hydraulic actuators which mimic the effects of a major earthquake by pushing and pulling the walls until they fail.

“We are not interested in how much force is needed to make the wall fail, but how much the wall can deform before failure occurs,” says Kerby.

“Buildings need to be able to move with the earthquake and we are looking at how much a lap splice can deform until it fails.”

The research is funded by Toka Tū Ake EQC as part of its contestable Biennial Grants, which supports research in improving the resilience of buildings to New Zealand's natural hazards to better protect people and property.

“Our organisation invests around $19 million each year into research to better understand our natural hazards. Professor Pujol’s project is a great example of research that identifies potential risks, but also informs better engineering solutions for reinforced concrete buildings, which many of us live and work in,” says Dr Jo Horrocks, Chief Resilience and Research Officer at Toka Tū Ake EQC.

University of Canterbury researcher Charlie Kerby explains that engineers have alternative options like welding the steel bars together or using a mechanical connection to transfer seismic forces, but says that tradition and economics dominate most of what happens in the construction industry.

“These lap splices have been used for over a century and from an economic viewpoint, an extra meter of steel virtually costs nothing compared to a specifically designed connection.”

Kerby says that the question whether lap splices actually perform well in earthquakes has only been raised fairly recently, so the research at the University of Canterbury will provide vital new insights to inform engineers and construction standards.

Professor Pujol says that his team will not only put the spotlight on a potential problem but also provide solutions for the industry by designing and testing alternative configurations.

“We will find out what works best to enable greater confidence in building design.”

Architect and researcher Professor Anthony Hoete and his team have conclusively proven that endangered Māori construction techniques can withstand major earthquakes and will use this knowledge to rebuild a historic Bay of Plenty wharenui. 

Thanks to funding from Toka Tū Ake EQC, the team from the University of Auckland used the endangered construction knowledge called mīmiro to create a full-scale timber structure and successfully tested the prototype against earthquake requirements for modern buildings. 

“In fact, our seismic tests have demonstrated the structure can withstand much stronger earthquakes than the one that caused critical damage to the original wharenui in the Napier earthquake in 1931,” said an elated Hoete. 

The Auckland professor and Māori architectonic researcher Dr. Jeremy Treadwell designed and built the timber portals by using interlocking compression joints, instead of bolting parts together. At the same time, ropes were used to pull the structure to the ground like a tent.  

During the past weekend, Hoete’s team collaborated with the School of Engineering to pull the vertical portals sideways and test the horizontal strength of the structure, using a winch off Professor Jason Ingham’s jeep, while the vertical strength was tested using water weights.  

The project was awarded funding from Toka Tū Ake EQC (Earthquake Commission) to enhance the seismic resilience of the new wharenui and its community.  

“Toka Tū Ake EQC wants to create more resilient communities through the design and construction of stronger buildings, so Professor Hoete’s work aligns well with our goal to improve Aotearoa New Zealand’s resilience to natural hazards,” says Toka Tū Ake EQC Chief Resilience and Research Officer Dr Jo Horrocks.  

“Investing in Māori researchers and matauranga Maōri has been a key focus of this year’s biennial grants, so we are proud to be able to support this amazing project,” says Dr Horrocks.  

Aside from Toka Tū Ake EQC funding, the research is also supported by QuakeCoRE, the Centre of Research Excellence for seismic resilience, and the Endangered Wooden Architecture Programme at Oxford Brookes University.  

Hoete says the origins of mīmiro can be traced back to the ships and strong sail lashing his ancestors used to travel across the Pacific.   

“They had a deep knowledge of building and creating strength and tension in structures, so we have recreated those techniques that have been lost and use them to give our wharenui greater seismic resilience,” said Hoete, who extended the sailing connection by using modern sailing ropes and grinders to create the tension on the timber structure.. 

The team has been working closely with Ngāti lra o Waioweka, who built the original Tānewhirinaki wharenui on Opeke Marae near Opōtiki after the 1860 New Zealand Wars, only to witness its demise in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 1931.   

The most important carvings representing the iwi’s ancestors were saved from the wreckage and remarkably stored in a various sheds at the marae for nine decades. Three attempts to re-stand the whare in subsequent decades failed due to the loss of Matauranga ancestral knowledge how to reassemble the Tānewhirinaki.

Hoete says that the original timber had deteriorated over 90 years and would not be able to carry the loading of a new wharenui.  

“So instead, we will design a new structure that will act like an outer whare to which we will sensitively attach the original carvings to the inside of this new structure.”   

Hoete says that local hapū, Ngāti Ira, is integral to the project and many local community members assisted in the construction and testing this week.  

Riki Kurei, is the restoration project leader for the hapu, says Ngāti Ira is grateful for the support by the University of Auckland and Toka Tū Ake EQC to help his community restore their wharenui.  

“The original house was built in 1874, and inter-locking system at the time was unique compared to any other house in Aotearoa,” says Kurei.  

“The ultimate goal for us it to have it standing again in three to five years. That was the dream of our kaumatua since it was pulled down and we will make a reality for our hapu,” says Kurei, who adds that the hapu are actively looking for sponsors and support for the restoration and restanding of this unique historic wharenui. 

The project team have involved the entire hapu in the restauration project, through outreach events with local schools and the community, and Hoete feels the learnings from this project has the power to transform communities.  

Research funded by Toka Tū Ake EQC has demonstrated that wrapping weak spots in concrete walls with carbon-fibre straps can strengthen earthquake-prone high-rise buildings well beyond the demands of the building code.

The research findings will be presented this week by University of Auckland PhD student Victor Li at the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Conference, and is likely to draw significant interest in this sector as more than 100 multi-storey buildings in Wellington’s CBD alone are identified to be well below modern code.

With so many pre-1982 concrete buildings in New Zealand considered a particular earthquake risk, the research by the team supervised by Dr Enrique del Rey Castillo and Dr Rick Henry and funded by Toka Tū Ake EQC, has been in a race against time to find the most efficient and cost-effective ways to strengthen thin concrete walls.

Li says that this type of concrete walls can deform out of plane due to their thinness and inherent instability, and just one per cent of lateral displacement can cause catastrophic collapse.

“Technically it’s called ‘axial failure’.  It can still happen in a newer building, as we saw in Christchurch’s Grand Chancellor Hotel,  but the pre-1982 design methods mean the risk is higher in those older buildings,” says the PhD candidate. 

“Up until now there has been no guidance on how these walls could be strengthened, but our research has shown that with the carbon fibre solution, the wall cannot buckle in the out of plane direction,” says Li, who added that the team tested the walls up to twice the building code for seismic resilience.

Toka Tū Ake EQC Head of Research, Dr Natalie Balfour, says that many older commercial buildings are being converted to apartments, so it is vital to ensure that people live in homes that meet modern earthquake standards. 

“Toka Tū Ake EQC decided to fund this research because it will deliver practical guidance on how at-risk walls in older buildings can be strengthened cost-effectively.  It will also establish a consistent way of doing these fixes across New Zealand,” says Dr Balfour.

Research supervisor Dr Enrique Del Rey Castillo explains that his team wrapped at-risk walls in carbon fibre and tested 56 different combinations of concrete, steel and carbon fibre to see when and how they would break. 

“This gave us the data we needed to model how to strengthen a particular wall.  And the results have even been better than we anticipated,” says Dr Del Rey Castillo who adds that practising engineers will now have the scientific data to use the new technology with confidence to repair old walls.

“At the NZSEE conference we will present new guidelines and equations for engineers to use, so they can choose the most efficient and cost-effective fix for their particular problem wall.”

Dr Del Rey Castillo emphasises that his team has had a lot of support from industry players like Concrete NZ, Mapei, Sika, Holmes and BBR Contech, who are all extremely interested in the research and to ensure that the testing would deliver real-world results.

“Thanks to the input from people working in the industry, we have delivered something that can be put to practical use right away.”

Northland’s six-monthly tsunami siren test will take place at the end of daylight saving on Sunday, 2 April.

The network of more than 200 outdoor tsunami sirens in coastal communities, from Te Hapua in the north to Mangawhai in the south and Ruawai in the west, is checked twice a year, coinciding with the start and finish of daylight saving.

The sirens sound twice: firstly at 10am for 10 minutes and then again at 10.30am for 30 seconds, and will be monitored for any faults.

Indoor sirens will be tested at the same time as the outdoor network. Test alerts will also be sent to users of the Red Cross Hazard app, which can be downloaded for free.

Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group spokesperson Graeme MacDonald added that people should also be aware of the risk of local source tsunami (those generated on or close to the coast), which could arrive ahead of any official warning. "Everyone who spends time on the coast needs to know the natural warning signs of tsunami - a strong earthquake that is hard to stand up in or one that lasts longer than a minute, or out-of-the ordinary sea behaviour, such as sudden rise or fall and/or unusual noise."

He said Northlanders can check out whether they live, work or play in a tsunami evacuation zone, and plan the quickest route to safety, using the interactive maps at: www.nrc.govt.nz/evacuationzones

Northland’s outdoor tsunami sirens are funded and owned by the region’s three district councils (Far North, Whangarei and Kaipara) and operated in a partnership which also includes the two electricity networks (Northpower and Top Energy).

The Northland network has been developed since 2007, with a total of 205 sirens installed over that time. It is also set to be progressively upgraded with new tsunami warning sirens over the next three to five years.

To hear Northland’s outdoor and indoor tsunami sirens online visit: www.nrc.govt.nz/tsunamisirens