Members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team and New Zealand Urban Search and Rescue Team in front of a collapsed house in the Christchurch central city. In the background, the Newstalk ZB Building can be seen.
Natural disasters are increasingly disruptive events that affect livelihoods, organisations, and economies worldwide. Research has identified the impacts and responses of organisations to different types of natural disasters, and have outlined factors, such as industry sector, that are important to organisational vulnerability and resilience. One of the most costly types of natural disasters in recent years has been earthquakes, and yet to date, the majority of studies have focussed on the effects of earthquakes in urban areas, while rural organisational impact studies have primarily focused on the effects of meteorological and climatic driven hazards. As a result, the likely impacts of an earthquake on rural organisations in a developed context is unconstrained in the literature. In countries like New Zealand, which have major earthquakes and agricultural sectors that are significant contributors to the economy, it is important to know what impacts an earthquake event would have on the rural industries, and how these impacts compare to that of a more commonly analysed, high-frequency event. In September of 2010, rural organisations in Canterbury experienced the 4 September 2010 Mw 7.1 `Darfield' earthquake and the associated aftershocks, which came to be known as the Canterbury earth- quake sequence. The earthquake sequence caused intense ground shaking, creating widespread critical service outages, structural and non-structural damage to built infrastructure, as well as ground surface damage from ooding, liquefaction and surface rupture. Concurrently on September 18 2010, rural organisations in Southland experienced an unseasonably late snowstorm and cold weather snap that brought prolonged sub-zero temperatures, high winds and freezing rain, damaging structures in the City of Invercargill and causing widespread livestock losses and production decreases across the region. This thesis documents the effects of the Canterbury earthquake sequence and Southland snowstorm on farming and rural non-farming organisations, utilizing comparable methodologies to analyse rural organisational impacts, responses and recovery strategies to natural disasters. From the results, a short- term impact assessment methodology is developed for multiple disasters. Additionally, a regional asset repair cost estimation model is proposed for farming organisations following a major earthquake event, and the use of social capital in rural organisational recovery strategies following natural disasters is analysed.
An entry from Jennifer Middendorf's blog for 7 December 2011 entitled, "Inside the Square".
An entry from Jennifer Middendorf's blog for 30 October 2011 entitled, "Back in the CBD".
An entry from Jennifer Middendorf's blog for 22 February 2012 entitled, "12:51".
An entry from Jennifer Middendorf's blog for 1 March 2011 entitled, "Back home".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 1 March 2011 entitled, "Day 8, 5am - inside the Christchurch cordon".
A blog post from US Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, David Huebner, titled, "Secretary Clinton Remembers February 22nd".
Summary of oral history interview with Kirsty about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.
Transcript of Leslie Llewellyn James Griffiths's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of Anton Wartmann's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Summary of oral history interview with Hana about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes. Pseudonym used to identify interviewee.
Transcript of Paddy's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
A copy of the CanCERN online newsletter published on 7 March 2014
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 3 October 2011, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 2 July 2012, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The "Lyttelton Harbour Review" newsletter for 25 February 2013, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The "Lyttelton Harbour Review" newsletter for 8 April 2013, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
A copy of the CanCERN online newsletter published on 14 September 2012
A video of an address by Peter Davie, Chief Executive of Lyttelton Port Company, at the 2012 Seismics and the City forum. The talk is about how, in today's technological and economic environment, the ability to prevent, prepare for, or quickly recover from a disaster is a critical success factor. The seismic simulations that the Port of Lyttelton ran as part of its long term development plan became a key part of the Port's emergency response, and meant that cargo kept flowing with minimal downtime.
We estimate the causal effects of a large unanticipated natural disaster on high schoolers’ university enrolment decisions and subsequent medium-term labour market outcomes. Using national administrative data after a destructive earthquake in New Zealand, we estimate that the disaster raises tertiary education enrolment of recent high school graduates by 6.1 percentage points. The effects are most pronounced for males, students who are academically weak relative to their peers, and students from schools directly damaged by the disaster. As relatively low ability males are overrepresented in sectors of the labour market helped by the earthquake, greater demand for university may stem from permanent changes in deeper behavioural parameters such as risk aversion or time preference, rather than as a coping response to poor economic opportunities.
An edited copy of the pdf transcript of Caroline Murray's second earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox Take 2 project. At the participant's request, parts of this transcript have been redacted. Interviewer: Paul Millar. Transcriber: Maggie Blackwood.
Memorial design in the West has been explored in depth (Stevens and Franck, 2016; Williams, 2007), and for landscape architects it presents opportunities and challenges. However, there is little in the English language literature about memorial design in China. How have Chinese designers responded to the commemorative settings of war and disaster? This study will adopt the method of case study to analyse two of the most representative memorials in China: Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall (war) and Tangshan Earthquake Memorial Hall (disaster). Both landscapes have undergone three or four renovations and extensions in the last four decades, demonstrating the practical effects of the Chinese landscape theory. These examples of responses to trauma through memorial landscape interventions are testimonies to the witnesses, victims, abusers, ordinary people, youth and the place where the tragedy took place. This study will explore the reconstruction and expansion of the two memorials under the background of China's policies on memorial landscapes in different periods, as well as their functions of each stage. The research will examine how existing Chinese memorial theories exhibit unique responses at different times in response to the sadness and needs experienced by different users. Key Words:memorial landscape; memorial language; victims; descriptive; architecture; experence; disaster; memorial hall; landscape development; Chinese memorial; war.
Summary of oral history interview with Coralie Winn about her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes.
Transcript of Julie's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of participant number SU976's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
A copy of the CanCERN online newsletter published on 21 June 2013
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 21 November 2011, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The "Lyttelton Harbour Review" newsletter for 13 May 2013, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
A news item titled, "Cool Store Relocation Causes Controversy", published on the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre's website on Thursday, 13 October 2011.