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The extent of liquefaction in the eastern suburbs of Christchurch (Aranui, Bexley, Avonside, Avonhead and Dallington) from the February 22 2011 Earthquake resulted in extensive damage to in-ground waste water pipe systems. This caused a huge demand for portable toilets (or port-a-loos) and companies were importing them from outside Canterbury and in some instances from Australia. However, because they were deemed “assets of importance” under legislation, their allocation had to be coordinated by Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM). Consequently, companies supplying them had to ignore requests from residents, businesses and rest homes; and commitments to large events outside of the city such as the Hamilton 400 V8 Supercars and the Pasifika Festival in Auckland were impacted. Frustrations started to show as neighbourhoods questioned the equity of the port-a-loos distribution. The Prime Minister was reported as reassuring citizens in the eastern suburbs in the first week of March that1 “a report about the distribution of port-a-loos and chemical toilets shows allocation has been fair. Key said he has asked Civil Defence about the distribution process and where the toilets been sent. He said there aren’t enough for the scale of the event but that is quickly being rectified and the need for toilets is being reassessed all the time.” Nonetheless, there still remained a deep sense of frustration and exclusion over the equity of the port-a-loos distribution. This study took the simple approach of mapping where those port-a-loos were on 11-12 March for several areas in the eastern suburbs and this suggested that their distribution was not equitable and was not well done. It reviews the predictive tools available for estimating damage to waste water pipes and asks the question could this situation have been better planned so that pot-a-loo locations could have been better prioritised? And finally it reviews the integral roles of communication and monitoring as part of disaster management strategy. The impression from this study is that other New Zealand urban centres could or would also be at risk and that work is need to developed more rational management approaches for disaster planning.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Quake: Lyttelton: Food tent set up in Lyttelton Civil Defence centre".
Radio New Zealand Reporter Rachel Graham is at the Christchurch City Council's civil defense headquarters.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".
The damaged Villa Antiques building in Merivale, cordoned off with police and civil defence tape.
Mayor Bob Parker being interviewed by the media in the foyer of the Christchurch Art Gallery, the temporary headquarters of Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Mayor Bob Parker being interviewed by the media in the foyer of the Christchurch Art Gallery, the temporary headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Mayor Bob Parker being interviewed by the media in the foyer of the Christchurch Art Gallery, the temporary headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Mayor Bob Parker being interviewed by the media in the foyer of the Christchurch Art Gallery, the temporary headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Members of the emergency management teams conferring outside of the Christchurch Art Gallery after an aftershock has hit. The Christchurch Art Gallery served as the headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a staff member entering an office in the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury, after the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
A photograph of emergency management personnel in the foyer of the Christchurch Art Gallery. The art gallery was used as the temporary Civil Defence headquarters after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of mattresses and blankets in a school hall in Christchurch. The hall was set up by Civil Defence as temporary accommodation for citizens displaced by the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A pile of pillows and other supplies in Cowles Stadium on Pages Road. The stadium was set up by Civil Defence as temporary accommodation for citizens displaced by the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
A photograph of emergency management personnel getting massages outside the Christchurch Art Gallery. The art gallery served as the temporary headquarters for Civil Defence after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of technical equipment for One News outside the Christchurch Art Gallery. The art gallery was used as the temporary Civil Defence headquarters after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.