Organisations locate strategically within Business Districts (CBDs) in order to cultivate their image, increase their profile, and improve access to customers, suppliers, and services. While CBDs offer an economic benefit to organisations, they also present a unique set of hazard vulnerabilities and planning challenges for businesses. As of May 2012, the Christchurch CBD has been partially cordoned off for over 14 months. Economic activity within the cordoned CBD, which previously contained 6,000 businesses and over 51,000 workers, has been significantly diminished and organisations have been forced to find new ways of operating. The vulnerabilities and resilience of CBDs not only influences outcomes for CBD organisations, but also the broader interconnected (urban/regional/national) system. A CBD is a hub of economic, social, and built infrastructure within a network of links and nodes. When the hub is disrupted all of the people, objects, and transactions that usually flow into and out of the hub must be redirected elsewhere. In an urban situation this means traffic jams in peripheries of the city, increased prices of commercial property, and capital flight; all of which are currently being faced in Canterbury. This report presents the lessons learned from organisations in CBDs affected by the Canterbury earthquakes. Here we focus on the Christchurch CBD; however, several urban town centres were extensively disrupted by the earthquakes. The statistics and discussion presented in this report are based on the results of an ongoing study conducted by Resilient Organisations (www.resorgs.org.nz). The data was captured using two questionnaire surveys of Canterbury organisations (issued November 2010 and May 2011), interviews with key informants, and in-depth case studies of organisations. Several industry sectors were sampled, and geographic samples of organisations in the Christchurch CBD, Lyttelton, and the Kaiapoi town centre were also collected. Results in this report describing “non-CBD organisations” refer to all organisations outside of the Christchurch CBD, Lyttelton, and Kaiapoi town centres.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "'1860' and 'WW' ,the initials of the first vicar, scratched in the glass of a window in St Bartholomew's Anglican Church, Kaiapoi".
A blog post from US Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, David Huebner, titled, "Jim Kolbe Remembers February 22nd".
A photograph of a mural depicting ChristChurch Cathedral. The mural is attached to the fence on the site of Christchurch: A Board Game.
A photograph of volunteers who contributed to building a BMX track on an empty site on Colombo Street.
A photograph of a street football arena built by Student Volunteer Army volunteers. The walls of the arena are built from recycled timber.
A photograph of the Fulton Hogan BMX Pump Track. A mural on the wall reads, 'Pump it!'.
Page 15 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Saturday 23 June 2012.
Page 2 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Friday 13 July 2012.
Page 2 of Section A of the South Island edition of the Christchurch Press, published on Tuesday 24 July 2012.
Page 1 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Wednesday 12 December 2012.
Page 1 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Wednesday 8 August 2012.
Page 5 of Section A of the Christchurch edition of the Christchurch Press, published on Wednesday 1 August 2012.
Page 3 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Thursday 8 March 2012.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPXqb7k4azU Details inside a half demolished theatre in central Christchurch. November, 2012. Christchurch, NZ. (c)Mike Brebner. All rights reserved.
The Maori Council confirms it will go to court to try and stop the partial sales of power companies. Advocates for sexual assault victims say the police have been too slow to improve the way they deal with complaints and concern that management problems at the Fire Service hampered rescue efforts after Canterbury's deadly earthquake.
A worried Hekia Parata, Minister of Education, tells John Key, the Prime Minister, that schools in Canterbury are resisting being merged. John Key replies that the government will go through a 'consultation process' and then 'do what we like'. However the schools are claiming marae status and thus protection under the Treaty of Waitangi. The 'Hui report' which the Prime Minister is holding confirms this fear. The Ministry of Education, given the excuse of the Canterbury earthquakes, announced that many schools there will be merged or closed. Threatened schools, particularly the two Maori language schools, lodged complaints with the Waitangi Tribunal. 'Hui reports' refers to the claims and resulting hui over the water rights of the proposed partial privatisation of state assets. Colour and black and white versions available Quantity: 2 digital cartoon(s).
Shows a man exhausted after a weekend of watching the All Blacks playing Ireland on TV. His wife understands the frustration of Christchurch residents waiting too long for repairs to properties. Context: Refers to frustrating delays in getting earthquake-related repairs done in Christchurch, this in large part due to slowness of insurance claims and permissions. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Three men chat in a pub. One of them reads a newspaper article about the Mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, who commented that he was scared of earthquakes when in Wellington. All three drinkers would rather be in Wellington than trapped beside Bob Parker at a dinner table. Context: Christchurch's Mayor has told the Emergency Management Conference he's scared to be in Wellington. He gave graphic descriptions of the Christchurch earthquakes, getting people to bang on the tables for 45 seconds so they could see what it felt like. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A photograph of a labyrinth laid out in bricks on the former site of St Luke's church.
A photograph of volunteers laying bricks to create a labyrinth on the former site of St Luke's church.
Page 5 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Saturday 30 June 2012.
Page 5 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Thursday 13 December 2012.
Page 3 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Friday 7 September 2012.
Page 2 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Saturday 8 September 2012.
A PDF copy of The Star newspaper, published on Friday 13 July 2012.
Page 2 of Section A of the Christchurch edition of the Christchurch Press, published on Thursday 9 August 2012.
Page 1 of Section A of the Christchurch edition of the Christchurch Press, published on Wednesday 7 March 2012.
Page 3 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Tuesday 17 July 2012.
12th April 2012 Demolition of Crowne Plaza/Park Royal Hotel due to damage from 22nd February 2011 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks