Organisations play a vital role in assisting communities to recover from disasters. They are the key providers of goods and services needed in both response and recovery efforts. They provide the employment which both anchors people to place and supports the taxation base to allow for necessary recovery spending. Finally, organisations are an integral part of much day to day functioning contributing immensely to people’s sense of ‘normality’ and psychological wellbeing. Yet, despite their overall importance in the recovery process, there are significant gaps in our existing knowledge with regard to how organisations respond and recover following disaster. This research fills one part of this gap by examining collaboration as an adaptive strategy enacted by organisations in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, which was heavily impacted by a series of major earthquakes, occurring in 2010 and 2011. Collaboration has been extensively investigated in a variety of settings and from numerous disciplinary perspectives. However, there are few studies that investigate the role of collaborative approaches to support post-disaster business recovery. This study investigates the type of collaborations that have occurred and how they evolved as organisations reacted to the resource and environmental change caused by the disaster. Using data collected through semi-structured interviews, survey and document analysis, a rich and detailed picture of the recovery journey is created for 26 Canterbury organisations including 14 collaborators, six non-traders, five continued traders and one new business. Collaborations included two or more individual businesses collaborating along with two multi-party, place based projects. Comparative analysis of the organisations’ experiences enabled the assessment of decisions, processes and outcomes of collaboration, as well as insight into the overall process of business recovery. This research adopted a primarily inductive, qualitative approach, drawing from both grounded theory and case study methodologies in order to generate theory from this rich and contextually situated data. Important findings include the importance of creating an enabling context which allows organisations to lead their own recovery, the creation of a framework for effective post-disaster collaboration and the importance of considering both economic and other outcomes. Collaboration is found to be an effective strategy enabling resumption of trade at a time when there seemed few other options available. While solving this need, many collaborators have discovered significant and unexpected benefits not just in terms of long term strategy but also with regard to wellbeing. Economic outcomes were less clear-cut. However, with approximately 70% of the Central Business District demolished and rebuilding only gaining momentum in late 2014, many organisations are still in a transition stage moving towards a new ‘normal’.
This study analyses the success and limitations of the recovery process following the 2010–11 earthquake sequence in Christchurch, New Zealand. Data were obtained from in-depth interviews with 32 relocated households in Christchurch, and from a review of recovery policies implemented by the government. A top-down approach to disaster recovery was evident, with the creation of multiple government agencies and processes that made grassroots input into decision-making difficult. Although insurance proceeds enabled the repair and rebuilding of many dwellings, the complexity and adversarial nature of the claim procedures also impaired recovery. Householders’ perceptions of recovery reflected key aspects of their post-earthquake experiences (e.g. the housing offer they received, and the negotiations involved), and the outcomes of their relocation (including the value of the new home, their subjective well-being, and lifestyle after relocation). Protracted insurance negotiations, unfair offers and hardships in post-earthquake life were major challenges to recovery. Less-thanfavourable recovery experiences also transformed patterns of trust in local communities, as relocated householders came to doubt both the government and private insurance companies’ ability to successfully manage a disaster. At the same time, many relocated households expressed trust in their neighbours and communities. This study illuminates how government policies influence disaster recovery while also suggesting a need to reconsider centralised, top-down approaches to managing recovery.
The head of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority Roger Sutton is with us now.
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 5 December 2011, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre's "Community Earthquake Update" bulletin, published on Friday 15 July 2011.
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 19 March 2012, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The "Lyttelton Harbour Review" newsletter for 18 March 2013, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 3 September 2012, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The "Lyttelton Harbour Review" newsletter for 25 February 2013, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
Christchurch principals say schools' recovery from Tuesday's earthquake will focus more on emotional issues than infrastructure.
The Rescue operation following Christchurch's earthquake has now officially moved to a recovery operation.
We're joined now by the Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee - who is in Christchurch.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee flew down to Christchurch from Wellington when he heard about the quakes.
After calls for an inquiry into Christchurch home repairs, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee joins Checkpoint.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 12 November 2011 entitled, "Wi-Fi for Wanderers".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's Blog for 16 March 2014 entitled, "Nouveau Art".
The Earthquake Recovery Minister says this is a final warning for the Christchurch City Council.
The National Recovery Coordinator for Red Cross Emergency Services in Australia, who has researched disaster recovery practices around the world including the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, London bombings and Sichuan earthquake. She is visiting New Zealand ahead of the first anniversary of the February earthquake in Christchurch.
The Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre's "Community Earthquake Update" bulletin, published on Friday 23 September 2011.
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.
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 29 October 2012, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
The "Lyttelton Harbour Review" newsletter for 4 March 2013, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
We measure the longer-term effect of a major earthquake on the local economy, using night-time light intensity measured from space, and investigate whether insurance claim payments for damaged residential property affected the local recovery process. We focus on the destructive Christchurch earthquake of 2011 as our case study. In this event more than 95% of residential housing units were covered by insurance, but insurance payments were staggered over 5 years, enabling us to identify their local impact. We find that night-time luminosity can capture the process of recovery and describe the recovery’s determinants. We also find that insurance payments contributed significantly to the process of economic recovery after the earthquake, but delayed payments were less affective and cash settlement of claims were more affective in contributing to local recovery than insurance-managed rebuilding.
The earthquake recovery minister, Gerry Brownlee, has called The Press newspaper the enemy of Christchurch's recovery.
Head of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, Roger Sutton is in our Christchurch studio .
New Zealand government website which acts as a gateway to central and local government resources, news and services pertinent to the Canterbury Earthquake.
The Government is promising the new authority set up to lead Christchurch's rebuilding will listen to local people.
Minister for Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, responds to Christchurch residents in limbo awaiting a geotech report into which suburbs will be abandoned.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's Blog for 03 November 2013 entitled, "Goings-on on Gloucester".