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Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

PM John Key sits at a large desk in a very large chair looking disconcerted as a messenger says 'after your display in the charity match - John Wright wants you on standby for India. Context - The charity match for Christchurch played at the Basin reserve on Sunday 9 March 2011. The prime minister played along with actors Russell Crowe and James Nesbitt, who were opposing coaches with the match being refereed by Ian McKellen in Sunday's match starting at 4pm. Key will face an over from the Australian spin king during the innings break at the Basin, which Cricket Wellington expects could sell out as early as today. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Images, Alexander Turnbull Library

The title is 'Gerry BrownLie?' and the cartoon shows the Minister for Earthquake recovery, Gerry Brownlee, saying 'I promise not to promise again'. The words 'Red Zone' appear beneath with the word 'faced' inserted between them. Context: The 'Red Zone' is the earthquake area in which houses cannot be rebuilt. Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee has apologised for falsely promising red zone homeowners they would be paid out for improvements to their house. Brownlee promised in June that, in some cases, home improvements like new kitchens would be included in the government settlement offer for red zone houses. But the offer is only valid if the improvement has added to the footprint of the house. (Press - 4 September 2011) Alternate version of DCDL-0018757 Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

The M7.1 Darfield earthquake shook the town of Christchurch (New Zealand) in the early morning on Saturday 4th September 2010 and caused damage to a number of heritage unreinforced masonry buildings. No fatalities were reported directly linked to the earthquake, but the damage to important heritage buildings was the most extensive to have occurred since the 1931 Hawke‟s Bay earthquake. In general, the nature of damage was consistent with observations previously made on the seismic performance of unreinforced masonry buildings in large earthquakes, with aspects such as toppled chimneys and parapets, failure of gables and poorly secured face-loaded walls, and in-plane damage to masonry frames all being extensively documented. This report on the performance of the unreinforced masonry buildings in the 2010 Darfield earthquake provides details on typical building characteristics, a review of damage statistics obtained by interrogating the building assessment database that was compiled in association with post-earthquake building inspections, and a review of the characteristic failure modes that were observed.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Questions to Ministers 1. CRAIG FOSS to the Minister of Finance: What challenges does the Government face in putting together Budget 2011? 2. Dr RUSSEL NORMAN to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his pre-Budget statement "The key sector which is not saving right now is the Government"; if so, what steps has he taken to increase government revenue? 3. Dr RUSSEL NORMAN to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement "…we can use this time to transform the economy to make us stronger…"; if so, does this transformation involve an economy that uses fewer natural resources and produces less pollution? 4. Hon PHIL GOFF to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his statements on KiwiSaver? 5. NICKY WAGNER to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery: What reports has he received on progress made to provide winter heating for residents affected by the Canterbury earthquakes? 6. Hon ANNETTE KING to the Prime Minister: What advice did he receive from the most recent food bank he visited about the current cost of living? 7. JACQUI DEAN to the Minister for the Environment: What practical initiatives is the Government taking in preparation for Rugby World Cup 2011 to protect the environment and New Zealand's important clean green brand? 8. Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE to the Minister of Finance: What was the annual rate of GDP growth for the year ended December 2010 projected in Budget 2010, and what was the actual rate of growth for that period according to Statistics New Zealand? 9. AARON GILMORE to the Minister of Education: What recent decisions have been made regarding schooling in Christchurch? 10. SUE MORONEY to the Minister of Education: When was construction completed on the new early childhood education centre at Weymouth Primary School and why is the centre empty? 11. COLIN KING to the Minister of Agriculture: What steps has the Government recently taken to support innovation in the Manuka honey industry? 12. CARMEL SEPULONI to the Minister of Justice: Does he stand by his statement "This Government is committed to ensuring that everyone…has access to justice"?

Research Papers, Lincoln University

Today there is interest in building resilient communities. Identifying and managing the risks of natural hazards with communities who face compounding hazards is challenging. Alpine ski areas provide a unique context to study this challenging and complex process. The traditional approach taken to manage natural hazards is discipline-centric and focuses on common (e.g. high probability low consequence) natural hazards such as avalanches. While this thesis acknowledges that the common approach is rational, it argues that we can extend our communities of practice to include rare (e.g. low probability / high consequence) natural hazards such as earthquakes. The dynamically complex nature of these ‘rare’ hazards limits our understanding about them, but by seeking and using the lived experiences of people in mountain communities some knowledge can be gained to help improve our understanding of how to adapt. This study focuses on such an approach in the context of alpine ski areas prone to earthquakes as a first step toward identifying key policy opportunities for hazard mitigation in general. The contributions can be broken down into methodological, contextual, and theoretical pursuits, as well as opportunities for improving future research. A development mixed method triangulated approach was justified because the research problem (i.e. earthquakes in ski areas) has had little consideration. The context provided the opportunity to test the integration of methods while dealing with the challenges of research in a novel context. Advancement to fuzzy cognitive mapping was achieved through the use of unsupervised neural networks (Self-organizing Maps or Kohonen Maps). The framework applied in the multi-site case study required a synthesis of current approaches, advances to methods and a functional use of cultural theory. Different approaches to participatory policy development were reviewed to develop a research protocol that was accessible. Cultural theory was selected as a foundation for the thesis because of its’ preference for plural rationalities from five ways of organizing. Moreover, the study undertook a shift away from the dichotomy of ‘methodological individualism’ and ‘methodological collectivism’ and instead chose the dividual (i.e. social solidarities that consist of culural biases, behavioral strategies and social relations) as a consistent unit of analysis despite three different methodologies including: field studies, qualitative interviews, and fuzzy cognitive maps. In this sense, the thesis sought to move away from ‘elegant solutions’ from singular solidarities or methods toward a research philosophy that sustains requisite variety and clumsy solutions. Overall the approach was a trandisciplinary framework that is a step toward sustainable hazards mitigation. The results indicate that the selections of risks and adaptation strategies associated with the in-situ hazards are driven by roles that managers, workers, and riders play in the context. Additionally, fuzzy cognitive maps were used as an extension of qualitative interviews and demonstrated the potential for power struggles that may arise between participant groups when considering strategies for preparation, response and recovery. Moreover, the results stress that prolonged engagement with stakeholders is necessary to improve the policy development process. Some comments are made on the compatibility condition of congruence between cultural biases, behavioural strategies, and social relations. As well, inclusion of the hermit/autonomous solidarities is stressed as a necessary component of future applications of cultural theory. The transdisciplinary mixed-method framework is an approach that can be transferred to many other vital areas of research where integration is desirable.