As damage and loss caused by natural hazards have increased worldwide over the past several decades, it is important for governments and aid agencies to have tools that enable effective post-disaster livelihood recovery to create self-sufficiency for the affected population. This study introduces a framework of critical components that constitute livelihood recovery and the critical factors that lead to people’s livelihood recovery. A comparative case study is employed in this research, combined with questionnaire surveys and interviews with those communities affected by large earthquakes in Lushan, China and in Christchurch and Kaikōura, New Zealand. In Lushan, China, a framework with four livelihood components was established, namely, housing, employment, wellbeing and external assistance. Respondents considered recovery of their housing to be the most essential element for livelihood diversification. External assistance was also rated highly in assisting with their livelihood recovery. Family ties and social connections seemed to have played a larger role than that of government agencies and NGOs. However, the recovery of livelihood cannot be fully achieved without wellbeing aspects being taken into account, and people believed that quality of life and their physical and mental health were essential for livelihood restoration. In Christchurch, New Zealand, the identified livelihood components were validated through in-depth interviews. The results showed that the above framework presenting what constitutes successful livelihood recovery could also be applied in Christchurch. This study also identified the critical factors to affect livelihood recovery following the Lushan and Kaikōura earthquakes, and these include community safety, availability of family support, level of community cohesion, long-term livelihood support, external housing recovery support, level of housing recovery and availability of health and wellbeing support. The framework developed will provide guidance for policy makers and aid agencies to prioritise their strategies and initiatives in assisting people to reinstate their livelihood in a timely manner post-disaster. It will also assist the policy makers and practitioners in China and New Zealand by setting an agenda for preparing for livelihood recovery in non-urgent times so the economic impact and livelihood disruption of those affected can be effectively mitigated.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A container being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A truck being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A truck being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A truck being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A truck being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A container being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A container being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A digger being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
Vehicles and supplies on the HMNZS Canterbury. These will help with the earthquake recovery in Lyttelton and Christchurch.
Workers from Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) are among the crowd at a memorial service in Latimer Square on the anniversary of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A vehicle and caravan being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A truck carrying a generator being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A truck carrying a generator being unloaded from the HMNZS Canterbury. The Royal New Zealand Navy delivered machinery and equipment to Christchurch for use in the recovery effort after the Christchurch Earthquake.
A copy of a letter from Empowered Christchurch which was sent to Gerry Brownlee, Minsiter for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, on 15 April 2014. The letter lodges an Official Information Act request about Imminent Loss claims settled by the EQC since September 2010.
Introduction This poster presents the inferred initial performance and recovery of the water supply network of Christchurch following the 22 February 2011 Mw 6.2 earthquake. Results are presented in a geospatial and temporal fashion. This work strengthens the current understanding of the restoration of such a system after a disaster and quantifies the losses caused by this earthquake in respect with the Christchurch community. Figure 1 presents the topology of the water supply network as well as the spatial distribution of the buildings and their use.
We examine the role of business interruption (BI) insurance in business recovery following the Christchurch earthquake in 2011. First, we ask whether BI insurance increases the likelihood of business survival in the immediate (3-6 months) aftermath of a disaster. We find positive but statistically insignificant evidence that those firms that had incurred damage, but were covered by BI insurance, had higher likelihood of survival post-quake compared with those firms that did not have any insurance. For the medium-term (2-3 years) survival of firms, our results show a more explicit role for insurance. Firms with BI insurance experience increased productivity and improved performance following a catastrophe. Furthermore, we find that those organisations that receive prompt and full payments of their claims have a better recovery than those that had protracted or inadequate claims payments, but this difference between the two groups is not statistically significant. We find no statistically significant evidence that the latter group (inadequate payment) did any better than those organisations that had damage but no insurance coverage. In general, our analysis indicates the importance not only of adequate insurance coverage, but also of an insurance system that delivers prompt claim payments. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in 'The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice'. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41288-017-0067-y. The following terms of use apply: https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/publication-policies/aam-terms-of-use.
A copy of a letter from Empowered Christchurch which was sent to Gerry Brownlee, Minsiter for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, on 15 April 2014. The letter lodges an Official Information Act request about the remediation of land that is subject to liquefaction and flooding.
A document which describes the formation of SCIRT.
A blog post written by Thérèse Angelo, Director of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand. This is the third guest post in the NZ Museums blog series marking the first anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake. This blog post was downloaded on 4 February 2015.