Christchurch residents are pouring cold water on the Earthquake Recovery Minister's efforts to celebrate post-quake recovery in the city.
The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission is promising swift changes following criticism of the rebuilding efforts necessitated by September's big quake.
State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie is helping to recruit the new head of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
Warwick Isaacs, the manager of demolitions for the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority was in the red zone when the magnitude 6 quake struck.
Changes are on the way for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority which from today becomes part of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre's "Community Earthquake Update" bulletin, published on Friday 22 July 2011.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee is denying accusations he's about to engineer a central government takeover of the rebuild of central city Christchurch.
An earthquake memories story from Debbie Smith, Health Protection Officer, Community and Public Health, titled, "Long road to recovery".
The Labour Party wrapped up its Canterbury Recovery Package in Christchurch today, announcing it would appoint qualified locals to govern the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
There is strong consensus in the civil defence and emergency management literature that public participation is essential for a 'good' recovery. However, there is a paucity of research detailing how this community-led planning should be carried out in the real world. There are few processes or timelines for communities to follow when wanting to plan for themselves, nor is there a great deal of advice for communities who want to plan for their own recovery. In short, despite this consensus that community involvement is desireable, there is very little information available as to the nature of this involvement or how communities might facilitate this. It is simply assumed that communities are willing and able to participate in the recovery process and that recovery authorities will welcome, encourage, and enable this participation. This is not always the case, and the result is that community groups can be left feeling lost and ineffective when trying to plan for their own recovery. In attempting to address this gap, my study contributes to a better understanding of community involvement in recovery planning, based on research with on particular a community group (SPRIG), who has undertaken their own form of community-led planning in a post-disaster environment. Through group observations and in-depth interviews with members of SPRIG, I was able to identify various roles for such groups in the post-disaster recovery process. My research also contributes to an enhanced understanding of the process a community group might follow to implement their own form of post-disaster recovery planning, with the main point being that any planning should be done side by side with local authorities. Finally, I discovered that a community group will face organisational, community and institutional challenges when trying to plan for their area; however, despite these challenges, opportunities exist, such as the chance to build a better future.
Farming and urban regions are impacted by earthquake disasters in different ways, and feature a range of often different recovery requirements. In New Zealand, and elsewhere, most earthquake impact and recovery research is urban focused. This creates a research deficit that can lead to the application of well-researched urban recovery strategies in rural areas to suboptimal effect. To begin to reduce this deficit, in-depth case studies of the earthquake impacts and recovery of three New Zealand farms severely impacted by the 14th November 2016, M7.8 Hurunui-Kaikōura earthquake were conducted. The initial earthquake, its aftershocks and coseismic hazards (e.g., landslides, liquefaction, surface rupture) affected much of North Canterbury, Marlborough and the Wellington area. The three case study farms were chosen to broadly represent the main types of farming and topography in the Hurunui District in North Canterbury. The farms were directly and indirectly impacted by earthquakes and related hazards. On-farm infrastructure (e.g., woolsheds, homesteads) and essential services (e.g., water, power), frequently sourced from distributed networks, were severely impacted. The earthquake occurred after two years of regional drought had already stressed farm systems and farmers to restructuring or breaking point. Cascading interlinked hazards stemming from the earthquakes and coseismic hazards continued to disrupt earthquake recovery over a year after the initial earthquake. Semi-structured interviews with the farmers were conducted nine and fourteen months after the initial earthquake to capture the timeline of on-going impacts and recovery. Analysis of both geological hazard data and interview data resulted in the identification of key factors influencing farm level earthquake impact and recovery. These include pre-existing conditions (e.g., drought); farm-specific variations in recovery timelines; and resilience strategies for farm recovery resources. The earthquake recovery process presented all three farms with opportunities to change their business plans and adapt to mitigate on-going and future risk.
On September the 4th 2010 and February 22nd 2011 the Canterbury region of New Zealand was shaken by two massive earthquakes. This paper is set broadly within the civil defence and emergency management literature and informed by recent work on community participation and social capital in the building of resilient cities. Work in this area indicates a need to recognise both the formal institutional response to the earthquakes as well as the substantive role communities play in their own recovery. The range of factors that facilitate or hinder community involvement also needs to be better understood. This paper interrogates the assumption that recovery agencies and officials are both willing and able to engage communities who are themselves willing and able to be engaged in accordance with recovery best practice. Case studies of three community groups – CanCERN, Greening the Rubble and Gap Filler – illustrate some of the difficulties associated with becoming a community during the disaster recovery phase. Based on my own observations and experiences, combined with data from approximately 50 in-depth interviews with Christchurch residents and representatives from community groups, the Christchurch City Council, the Earthquake Commission and so on, this paper outlines some practical strategies emerging communities may use in the early disaster recovery phase that then strengthens their ability to ‘participate’ in the recovery process.
A senior Wellington public servant is reported to be the new head of the authority that will oversee the Canterbury earthquake recovery effort.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 11 September 2013 entitled, "Arcadian Art".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's Blog for 09 January 2014 entitled, "Wastewater Work".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's Blog for 21 November 2013 entitled, "Play Park".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 6 March 2011 entitled, "Cordon Confusion".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 19 May 2012 entitled, "Cordon Cutback".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 27 June 2012 entitled, "Permanent Pipes".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 28 April 2012 entitled, "Peterborough Project".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 28 April 2011 entitled, "Kilmore closed".
The former Earthquake Recovery Minister's decision to exclude uninsured Canterbury landowners under the Recovery Plan was unlawful, the Court of Appeal has ruled in an interim judgement.
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 30 April 2012, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 16 September 2012 entitled, "Freedom on Fitzgerald?".
A news item titled, "Answers to Critical Questions About Buildings", published on the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre's website on Friday, 01 July 2011.
A news item titled, "Oxford Street Bridge Repaired", published on the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre's website on Thursday, 29 September 2011.
The University of Canterbury held its inaugural Earthquake Forum on the 2nd September 2011. It was an opportunity to hear the diversity of earthquake-related research currently being undertaken in Canterbury and a chance for researchers and those working on the recovery to identify further areas where the research can support the recovery effort.The morning consisted of presentations showcasing the breadth of research currently underway and the afternoon will create the opportunity for people to connect in a series of concurrent workshops on the land, buildings and people. Neil Challenger's presentation covers landscape architecture, temporary landscapes, exploration of design ideas and specific student research related to urban design and earthquake recovery.
A graphic giving details about the river park proposed in the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 3 May 2012 entitled, "Area unshackled".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 1 August 2012 entitled, "Blueprint Brain-teasers".