New Zealanders have been extraordinarily generous in responding to the misery caused by the earthquakes in Christchurch. Contributions have poured in from everywhere as the rest of us express our solidarity the only way we really can, but allocating all this goodwill can be somewhat complicated. John Ware is director general of NZ Red Cross, and explained the complexities for us.
The cartoon shows an enormous ball of red tape and all around frustrated workers carry away their ladders and tools. Context - Three months after a quake that scored a direct hit under Christchurch, many residents are struggling with mountains of paperwork required to get their homes repaired and rebuilt. Reference numbers, codes and Pin numbers permeate our daily living now as we deal with the aftermath of two major earthquakes in six months. People feel they are lucky that they have the EQC pot to draw on, but there are a lot of complexities, anomalies and frustrations. (BBC News 21 May 2011) Colour and black and white versions available Quantity: 2 digital cartoon(s).
Disaster recovery is significantly affected by funding availability. The timeliness and quality of recovery activities are not only impacted by the extent of the funding but also the mechanisms with which funding is prioritised, allocated and delivered. This research addresses the impact of funding mechanisms on the effectiveness and efficiency of post-disaster demolition and debris management programmes. A qualitative assessment of the impacts on recovery of different funding sources and mechanisms was carried out, using the 2010 Canterbury Earthquake as well as other recent international events as case studies. The impacts assessed include: timeliness, completeness, environmental, economic and social impacts. Of the case studies investigated, the Canterbury Earthquake was the only disaster response to rely solely on a privatised approach to insurance for debris management. Due to the low level of resident displacement and low level of hazard in the waste, this was a satisfactory approach, though not ideal. This approach has led to greater organisational complexity and delays. For many other events, the potential community wide impacts caused by the prolonged presence of disaster debris means that publicly funded and centrally facilitated programmes appear to be the most common and effective method of managing disaster waste.