Māori Experiences

Māori reactions, responses and stories of the Canterbury earthquakes.

David Neighbours

The Canterbury earthquakes affected both Māori and non-Māori in different ways. Historically, the people of Te Ao Māori (the Māori World) relied on the support of their social networks when coping with hardship brought about by natural disasters. As such, the traditional cultural institutions of whakapapa (ancestry), whanaungatanga (family relationships) and manaakitanga (hospitality) were of paramount importance. For Māori, the main challenges in the aftermath of the quakes were lack of whanau support, low incomes, insecure employment, and social isolation. Poor mental health was also a factor, in the case of tangata whaiora (sufferers of poor mental health). Many Māori left Christchurch and Canterbury: about 1000 people are estimated to have gone elsewhere in New Zealand, to live with whanau and friends. Others went to Australia, although there is no firm data on how many.

Kaupapa Māori organisations mobilised immediately to meet the needs of their people, with whanaungatanga and manaakitanga as their fundamental principles. They provided ongoing accommodation, food, employment, income support, education for tamariki (children), and mental health support for those who lacked some or all of those things. While some were receptive to this assistance, other Māori chose not to access this help; some felt a sense of cultural distance or dislocation from these organisations, instead choosing to go it alone or seek help from more “mainstream” public agencies. Māori who chose to stay in Christchurch and Canterbury endured their changed circumstances, but in the view of researchers, did not show an especial resilience (defined as a material and emotional “bounce back”).

This page contains selection of items and resources related to Māori and their reactions to the Canterbury earthquakes, illustrating a diversity of responses, actions, and emotions within Te Ao Māori.

Resources:

• 2012: Rawiri, D.: Christchurch Diabetes Centre earthquake story #2. - This article recounts the experiences of Debbie Rawiri, Māori Diabetes Nurse Specialist at the Christchurch Diabetes Centre, during the earthquake on 22 February.
• 06/2012: Lambert, S. and Shadbolt, M.: “Māori experiences and expressions of leadership through the Christchurch Otautahi earthquakes”. - This paper shows that many people, both Māori and non-Māori, had to rely on themselves, their neighbours and their whanau for an extended period in 2011. For Māori leadership, wider governmental and non-governmental organisational structures often trumped Māori aspirations. There were issues of leadership throughout the phases of response and recovery.
• 06/2012: Lambert, S. et al.: “Indigenous resilience through urban disaster: The Māori response to the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch Otautahi earthquakes”. - This article discusses how Māori-centric networks (including whanau, marae, hapu and iwi) supported both Māori and non-Māori during massive urban dislocation. Knowing what contributed to Māori resilience is fundamental to the strategic enhancement of future urban communities – Māori and non-Māori.
• 2013: Lambert, S.: “Impacts on Maori of the Otautahi/Christchurch earthquakes”. - This paper looks into the Māori institutions that naturally and automatically helped both Māori and non-Māori, underpinned by the cultural practices of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga. This manifestation of Māori cultural resilience enabled a considerable network of people and resources to be available to Māori through whānau, marae and kura.
• 17/10/2013: Lambert, S.: “Initial demographic and economic changes for Māori in a post-disaster landscape”. - This paper researches the changes experienced by the Māori community in Christchurch following the earthquakes. It integrates a range of data broadly categorised along three groupings (individuals, whānau, and neighbourhoods) and three timelines (short, medium, and long term).
• 2014: Lambert, S.: “Māori and the Christchurch earthquakes: The interplay between Indigenous endurance and resilience through urban disaster”. - This article shows that if resilience is used to describe a “bounce back” in wellbeing, Māori were primarily enduring the post-disaster environment. This endurance phase was a precursor to any resilience and would be of much longer duration than first thought, and would not necessarily lead to a more secure environment for Māori in the city.
• 10/03/2014: Opinions Market Research Ltd.: Taking the Pulse 2013: Exploratory Qualitative Research among Māori. - This report was prepared for the All Right? campaign and documents the findings of exploratory research among Māori in greater Christchurch.
• 17/09/2014: Lambert, S.: “Indigenous peoples and urban disaster: Māori responses to the 2010-12 Christchurch earthquakes”. - This article explores the greater mobility enacted by Māori throughout the period of the earthquakes. Māori organisations had roles beyond their traditional catchments throughout the disaster, including important support for non-Māori. It recommends that informed engagement with Indigenous communities, and the acknowledgement of their internal diversity and culturally nuanced support networks, would enable more efficient disaster responses in many countries.
• 2015: Kenney, C. et al.: “Community-led disaster risk management: A Māori response to Otautahi (Christchurch) earthquakes”. - This article highlights anecdotal evidence that suggested local Māori responded effectively to facilitate community recovery and resilience. Cultural technologies that are protective in times of adversity have previously been noted in Māori communities, but rarely documented. An ongoing research project, conducted in partnership with the local iwi (tribe) Ngai Tahu, is identifying and documenting the ways Māori cultural factors facilitated disaster risk reduction and management in response to the earthquakes.
• 19/01/2015: Lambert, S.: “Networks of support for Maori mental health: The response and recovery of Tangata Whaiora through the Ōtautahi earthquakes”. - This report shows that tangata whaiora possess experience of ‘small-scale’ personal and family disasters, and so were not necessarily as shocked by the loss of normality as many so-called normal people. Moreover, tangata whaiora cannot or will not access fundamental Māori cultural institutions such as whānau, marae and kura. The assumption that ‘traditional’ Māori cultural institutions are fundamental to the ‘Māori response’ risks ignoring the diversity of Māori, a significant number of whom are physically and/or socially distant from these institutions.
• 02/2015: Lambert, S. et al.: “Ka Manawaroa: Surviving disaster: Experiences of Tangata Whaiora through the 2010-2012 Ōtautahi/Christchurch earthquakes”. - This is a study of 39 tangata whaiora and their experiences of the earthquake. These tangata whaiora identified strategies and tactics for urban disaster risk reduction, such as: the availability of support people; the provisioning of emergency kits and knowing neighbours, which allow a certain security in the post-disaster landscape; the asking for and offering of assistance which contributes to their wellbeing and the wellbeing of others, a reciprocal arrangement which also increases their sense of worth and participation.
• 09/06/2016: Lambert, S.: “Post-disaster indigenous mental health support: Tangata whaiora networks after the 2010-2012 Ōtautahi/Christchurch earthquakes”. - This article shows that isolation contributes to the poor mental health of tangata whaiora. While participants struggled to thrive in a difficult post-disaster landscape, kaupapa Māori provision continued and spontaneously expanded around them, ensuring the great majority of participants received what they needed for their physical and mental wellbeing. Māori and tangata whaiora are comparatively more isolated post-disaster, and whanau and other traditional support institutions are not necessarily accessed by tangata whaiora.
• Lambert, S. and Shadbolt, M.: “Māori and the Otautahi/Christchurch earthquakes”. - This presentation summarises the social and economic effects of the earthquakes on the Māori community in Christchurch and Canterbury.

General Searches

To search the CEISMIC collection for information and resources on the Christchurch earthquakes and Māori, get started with one of the links below.

• To explore first-hand accounts of the earthquakes from Māori who lived through them, click here.
• To explore the research that has been done about the Māori experience of the earthquakes, click here.
• To explore the effects of the earthquakes on tangata whaiora, click here.