Desk to meet the quake test

A Wellington inventor has developed a special earthquake desk designed to save lives.

When the magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Kaikoura, hundreds of Wellington city workers were unable to return to their offices because of the damage, including from falling debris.

After the disaster, Lower Hutt resident Nick Maarhuis, 32, designed a Quake Desk using triangulated steel framing to withstand falling objects.

Maarhuis, who runs a company making race car trailers, said the simple makeup took about a day to weld together and less than $200 to make.

‘‘There’s nothing crazy special about it. I tried to keep it simple, in case someone else wanted to build it.

‘‘If you have a square design, like a regular desk, it can collapse easily, whereas a triangle is the optimum shape for strength in all directions.’’

He tested the design at Macaulay Metals in Seaview – where the first car to fall victim to Judith Collins’ antistreet racer law was crushed – in early December.

A simple wooden desk was crushed by a falling shopping trolley, and then a simple square steel-frame desk crumbled under a falling mini-fridge.

The Quake Desk survived a falling BMW before its wooden top caved in after a couple of high falling hits from a 1.6-tonne block.

Maarhuis was thrilled with the result, and plans to gauge demand before committing to producing the Quake Desks. - Fairfax NZ