Rising disaster losses, growth in global migration, migrant labour trends, and increasingly diverse populations have serious implications for disaster resilience around the world. These issues are of particular concern in New Zealand, which is highly exposed to disaster risk and has the highest proportion of migrant workers to national population in the OECD. Since there has been no research conducted into this issue in New Zealand to date, greater understanding of the social capital used by migrant workers in specific New Zealand contexts is needed to inform more targeted and inclusive disaster risk management approaches. A New Zealand case study is used to investigate the extent and types of social capital and levels of disaster risk awareness reported by members of three Filipino migrant workers organisations catering to dairy farm, construction and aged care workers in different urban and rural Canterbury districts. Findings from (3) semi-structured interviews and (3) focus groups include consistently high reliance on bonding capital and low levels of bridging capital across all three organisations and industry sectors, and in both urban and rural contexts. The transitory, precarious residential status conveyed by temporary work visas, and the difficulty of building bridging capital with host communities has contributed to this heavy reliance on bonding capital. Social media was essential to connect workers with family and friends in other countries, while Filipino migrant workers organisations provided members with valuable access to industry and district-specific networks of other Filipino migrant workers. Linking capital varied between the three organisations, with members of the organisation set up to advocate for dairy farm workers reporting the highest levels of linking capital. Factors influencing the capacity of workers organisations to develop linking capital appeared to include motivation (establishment objectives), length of time since establishment, support from government and industry groups, urban-rural context, income levels and gender. Although aware of publicity around earthquake and tsunami risk in the Canterbury region, participants were less aware of flood risk, and expressed fatalistic attitudes to disaster risk. Workers organisations offer a valuable potential interface between CDEM Group activities and migrant worker communities, since organisation leaders were interested in accessing government support to participate (with and on behalf of members) in disaster risk planning at district and regional level. With the potential to increase disaster resilience among these vulnerable, hard to reach communities, such participation could also help to build capacity across workers organisations (within Canterbury and across the country) to develop linking capital at national, as well as regional level. However, these links will also depend on greater government and industry commitment to providing more targeted and appropriate support for migrant workers, including consideration of the cultural qualifications of staff tasked with liaising with this community.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
Opposition parties fear a new department to control the rebuilding of Christchurch will be Wellington-centric and not allow the community to have its fair say in decisions. The Labour Party's spokesperson on the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, Clayton Cosgrove, spoke to our political editor Brent Edwards.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 1 March 2011 entitled, "Day 8, 6pm - inside the Christchurch cordon".
A photograph of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. A green sticker on the front door indicates that the house has been inspected and it is safe to enter.
A photograph of Doug Sexton's garden at 378 Oxford Terrace, now overgrown. In the background is his partially-demolished garage. The photographer comments, "Sexton's garden was once published in Small Gardens".
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the porch of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. The top half of the far wall has broken loose and is hanging at an angle.
A photograph of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. A green sticker on the front door indicates that the house has been inspected and it is safe to enter.
A photograph of shopping and to-do lists written on one of the walls of the kitchen in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of a house at 466 Oxford Terrace. The house was demolished after the land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow on the site.
A photograph of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. A green sticker on the front door indicates that the house has been inspected and it is safe to enter.
A photograph of the former site of a house at 58 Bangor Street. The house was demolished after the land was zoned Red. The grass has begun to grow over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the hallway of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. To the right, a couch has been upturned and placed against a mantelpiece in one of the rooms.
A photograph of the former site of the Locke family's house at 392 Oxford Terrace. The Locke's house was deconstructed after their land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A news item titled, "Cool Store Relocation Causes Controversy", published on the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre's website on Thursday, 13 October 2011.
Website of Canterbury CDEM Group, which is a partnership of local authorities, emergency services and other organisations tasked with providing effective and comprehensive management of major hazards and their consequences anywhere in Canterbury. Includes community preparedness information, information for emergency managers and CDEM Group plan.
Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 involves transformational change in the business of business, and social enterprises can lead the way in such change. We studied Cultivate, one such social enterprise in Christchurch, New Zealand, a city still recovering from the 2010/11 Canterbury earthquakes. Cultivate works with vulnerable youth to transform donated compost into garden vegetables for local restaurants and businesses. Cultivate’s objectives align with SDG concerns with poverty and hunger (1 & 2), social protection (3 & 4), and sustainable human settlements (6 & 11). Like many grant-supported organisations, Cultivate is required to track and measure its progress. Given the organisation’s holistic objectives, however, adequately accounting for its impact reporting is not straightforward. Our action research project engaged Cultivate staff and youth-workers to generate meaningful ways of measuring impact. Elaborating the Community Economy Return on Investment tool (CEROI), we explore how participatory audit processes can capture impacts on individuals, organisations, and the wider community in ways that extend capacities to act collectively. We conclude that Cultivate and social enterprises like it offer insights regarding how to align values and practices, commercial activity and wellbeing in ways that accrue to individuals, organisations and the broader civic-community.
A photograph of equipment from the New Zealand Fire Service Urban Search and Rescue team on display in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum. The equipment was used during the emergency response to the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a letter on display in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum. The letter was found in a time capsule in the plinth of the statue of John Robert Godley in Cathedral Square after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the Locke family's partially-deconstructed house at 392 Oxford Terrace. Wire fencing has been placed around the outside of the property. The photographer comments, "The house was deconstructed over three weeks. The materials were then stored in the shipping container until the house was reconstructed at a new site".
A photograph of the former sites of several houses on Bangor Street. The houses were demolished after the land was zoned Red. A stake has been placed in the ground to the left. A message written on the stake reads, "412 Oxford Terrace waste water". Grass has begun to grow in the empty sites.
A photograph of the Locke family's partially-deconstructed house at 392 Oxford Terrace. Wire fencing has been placed around the outside of the property. The photographer comments, "The house was deconstructed over three weeks. The materials were then stored in the shipping container until the house was reconstructed at a new site".
A photograph of the Locke family's partially-deconstructed house at 392 Oxford Terrace. Wire fencing has been placed around the outside of the property. The photographer comments, "The house was deconstructed over three weeks. The materials were then stored in the shipping container until the house was reconstructed at a new site".
A photograph of the house number spray-painted on the footpath in front of 390 Oxford Terrace. The photographer comments, "The numbers were spray-painted in front of all the properties in the Avon Loop in order to keep track of the property number after the mailboxes were lost or removed".