The Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority says today's aftershocks have caused up to 50 additional buildings in the city's redzone to collapse or partially collapse.
The Christchurch couple told they can't use part of their property because the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) might need access to it.
Bronze award presented to Matthew Prendergast, from Christchurch. Pictured here with Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Lyttelton Port is applauding a government decision to use the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act to speed up the redevelopment of the badly damaged port.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister is denying that Christchurch flooding has become worse since the quakes, and says it's not the government's mess to fix.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, says the Government's got the price 'about right' for land it's bought for Christchurch's refurbished central business district.
One hundred or so people who live in Christchurch's port hills have faced off with earthquake recovery leaders in a heated debate over zoning decisions.
A stand-alone government department will be vested with the wide ranging powers the Government gave itself after last year's quake, to oversee recovery efforts in Canterbury.
A public talk by Roger Sutton, CEO at the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. This talk formed part of the Plenary One session, 'Looking forward - updates and perspectives'.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister says Christchurch City Council must take responsibility for the city's flooding problems as it's not the government's problem to sort out.
Insurance is widely acknowledged as a key component in an organisation's disaster preparedness and resilience. But how effective is insurance in aiding business recovery following a major disaster? The aim of this research was to summarise the experiences of both the insurance industry and businesses dealing with commercial insurance claims following the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes.
Livelihood holds the key to a rapid recovery following a large-scale devastating disaster, building its resilience is of paramount importance. While much attention has been given to how to help people who are displaced from their jobs to regain employment, little research on livelihood resilience has been undertaken for those relocated communities following a disaster event. By studying five re-located villages post-2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar, Indonesia, this research has identified the indicators of livelihood resilience and the critical factors driving it for post-disaster relocated communities. A mixed approach, combining questionnaire surveys, semistructured interviews, and field observations, was used for the collection of data. Housing entitlement, the physical and mental health of residents, access to external livelihood support and the provision of infrastructure and basic services were identified as amongst the most critical indicators that represent the level of livelihood resilience. Early recovery income support, physical and mental health, availability and timeliness of livelihood support, together with cultural sensitivity and governance structure, are amongst the most important factors. Given the nature of resettlement, access to infrastructure, location of relocated sites, the safety of the neighbourhood and the ability to transfer to other jobs/skills also play an important role in establishing sustained employment for relocated communities in Indonesia. Those indicators and factors were synthesised into a framework which was further tested in the recovery of Christchurch, and Kaikoura, New Zealand during their recovery from devastating earthquakes. It is suggested that the framework can be used by government agencies and aid organisations to assess the livelihood resilience of post-disaster relocated communities. This will help better them plan support policies and/or prioritise resilience investment strategies to ensure that the recovery needs of those relocated are best met.
an advocacy network that aims to highlight injustices and issues affecting residents following the Canterbury earthquakes, and challenge decisions, policies and practices that disadvantage recovery.
The minister for Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, is refusing to intervene and force the Canterbury regional council, to loosen rules around log burners in Christchurch.
A super council, along the lines of Auckland city could be on the cards in Canterbury, but not until the earthquake recovery is well underway.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister says he's instructed government agencies to prosecute any fraudulent activity during the Christchurch rebuild, to the full extent of the law.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister says he's instructed government agencies to prosecute any fraudulent activity during the Christchurch rebuild, to the full extent of the law.
The Christchurch City Council and the Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, have hammered out a compromise deal over setting the council's long term spending priorities.
Leanne Curtis is a Canterbury Communities' Earthquake Recovery Network board member and Peter Townsend is the chief executive of the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce.
The creation of a new unit within the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority to oversee the rebuilding of central Christchurch is being welcomed by business leaders.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch begins the slow recovery process after last weeks devastating 7.1 earthquake. Members of the Red Cross pictured in Kaipoi".
This study explores the impact post-earthquake images from Christchurch, New Zealand inserted into a task requiring sustained attention or vigilance have on performance, selfreports of task-focus, and cerebra activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The images represent the current state of Christchurch; a city struggling to recover from devastating earthquakes that peaked in February, 2011, killing 185 people, injuring hundreds more and causing widespread and massive damage to infrastructure, land and building in the region. Crowdsourcing was used to gather a series of positive and negative photos from greater Christchurch to be employed in the subsequent experiment. Seventy-one Christchurch resident participants (51 women, 20 men) then took part in a vigilance task with the sourced images embedded to assess possible cognitive disruptions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: embedded positive pictures, embedded negative pictures, or embedded scrambled image controls. Task performance was assessed with signal detection theory metrics of sensitivity A’ and β’’. Individuals viewing the positive images, relating to progress, rebuild, or aesthetic aspects within the city, were overall more conservative or less willing to respond than those in the other conditions. In addition, positive condition individuals reported lower task focus, when compared to those in the control condition. However, indicators of cerebral activity (fNIRS) did not differ significantly between the experimental groups. These results combined, suggest that mind wandering events may be being generated when exposed to positive post-earthquake images. This finding fits with recent research which indicates that mind-wandering or day dreaming tends to be positive and future oriented. While positive recovery images may initiate internal thoughts, this could actually prove problematic in contexts in which external attention is required. While the actual environment, of course, needs to recover, support agencies may want to be careful with employing positive recovery imagery in contexts where people actually should be paying attention to something else, like operating a vehicle or machinery.
There has not been substantial research conducted in the area of fraud and natural disasters. Therefore, this study sought to examine the perceptions of Canterbury residents toward the recovery process following the September 2010 and February 2011 earthquakes and whether residents felt as though contractor fraud occurs in Canterbury. A questionnaire was developed to gauge information about Canterbury residents’ self-reports involving the earthquakes, specific contractors involved, parties involved with the recovery process in general, and demographic information. Participants included a total of 213 residents from the Canterbury region who had been involved with contractors and/or insurance companies due to the recovery process. Results indicated that a high percentage of the participants were not satisfied with the recovery process and that almost half of the participants reported feeling scammed by contractors in Canterbury after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Moreover, the results indicate that participants neither agreed with the assessments made about their property losses nor the plans made to recover their properties. In many cases, participants felt pressured and even reluctant to accept these assessments and/or plans. The present study does not seek to explain why contractor fraud exists or what motivates scammers. Conversely, it attempts to demonstrate the perceptions of contractor fraud and satisfaction that have taken place in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes.
An infographic showing planned changes to transport in the central city.
A map showing proposed public transport routes in the central city.
The Canterbury Communities' Earthquake Recovery Network or CanCERN represents dozens of residents' associations and community groups. Tom McBrearty is chairman, whose own house has been badly affected.
Bronze award recipient, Rachel Linehan, from Hamilton. Pictured here with Prime Minister John Key, Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Bronze award recipient, Rachel Linehan, from Hamilton. Pictured here with Prime Minister John Key, Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.
Two former Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority officials attempted to use their positions for their own financial gain and their actions will now be referred to the Serious Fraud Office.
As for the demolition of the building, The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority deconstruction manager, Warwick Isaacs, says while it will be managed carefully, it is still risky.