A wallpaper that holds brick walls together during an earthquake has been welcomed as a major scientific breakthrough by Christchurch quake experts.The 'earthquake wallpaper' has been developed by German scientists to keep bricks and masonry from falling during violent shaking, giving people time to run to safety.Falling rubble and debris caused many of the 185 deaths in the February 22, 2011 earthquake as buildings failed to stand up in the magnitude-6.3 disaster.The failure of unreinforced masonry buildings has been a focus of several hearings by the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.But now, engineers in New Zealand have welcomed the high-tech adhesive and glass fibre fabric which could save lives in any future shakes.Professor Lothar Stempniewski, of the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology and who developed the technology for Bayer MaterialScience, said the wallpaper made walls more elastic and resistant to cracking.
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