20161018_9063_7D2-70 Restricted Area (292/366)

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

In the suburban red zone on Avonside Drive.

20161112_9965_7D2-24 Another view of part of the Cultivate Christchurch in…

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

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The future face of Christchurch?

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

20161112_9961_7D2-70 The future face of Christchurch? Cultivate Christchurch is operating this urban farm in the city, about 5-10 minutes walk to Cathedral Square. Many of the buildings in this area were demolished after the earhquakes, and in the background is a new building on Kilmore Street.

20161211_0216_1D3-24 Six years on

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

A view that was impossible six years ago. There was a group of buildings including another high-rise in the vacant area in the middle ground.

Tram vs Bus in 1930s Crush

Articles, Lost Christchurch

The busiest intersection in the central city heaves under a rush of pedestrians, buses, trams, cyclists and private motor cars, pushing passed each other as they head for various parts of the city.

A Great Pilgrimage Over the Clouds

Articles, Lost Christchurch

Imagine an event so exciting, so spectacular, that 38 trains were required travelling at 28 minute intervals to convey curious sightseers to Lyttelton in order to witness it. The roads from Christc…

Was Christchurch the birthplace of Mary Poppins?

Articles, Lost Christchurch

Almost a century ago, the story of Mary Poppins and the Match-Man was published for the first time – in Christchurch’s afternoon newspaper, The Sun. But how did the story of the world’s most famous…

The role of commercial insurance in post-disaster recovery: Quantitative e…

Research papers, Victoria University of Wellington

We examine the role of business interruption insurance in business recovery following the Christchurch earthquake in 2011 in the short- and medium-term. In the short-term analysis, we ask whether insurance increases the likelihood of business survival in the aftermath of a disaster. We find only weak evidence that those firms that had incurred damage, but were covered by business interruption insurance, had higher likelihood of survival post-quake compared with those firms that did not have insurance. This absence of evidence may reflect the high degree of uncertainty in the months following the 2011 earthquake and the multiplicity of severe aftershocks. For the medium-term, our results show a more explicit role for insurance in the aftermath of a disaster. Firms with business interruption insurance have a higher probability of increasing productivity and improved performance following a catastrophe. Furthermore, our results show that those organisations that receive prompt and full payments of their claims have a better recovery, in terms of profitability and a subjective ‘”better off” measure’ than those that had protracted or inadequate claim payments (less than 80% of the claim paid within 2.5 years). Interestingly, the latter group does worse than those organisations that had damage but no insurance coverage. This analysis strongly indicates the importance not only of good insurance coverage, but of an insurance system that also delivers prompt claim payments. As a first paper attempting to empirically identify a causal effect of insurance on business recovery, we also emphasize some caveats to our analysis.