Deja vu but different: How the fall of one New Zealand city helped save another
The response to the Wellington earthquake was swift: by the morning, engineers were out assessing buildings for structural issues. There had been no loss of life directly related to the quake but at least 60 buildings were damaged, 10 of them seriously. Before the day was out, the mayor, Justin Lester, informed the public that the city’s central business district would be open for business the following morning.
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According to Tom Wilson, associate professor in hazards and disaster management at Christchurch’s University of Canterbury, there is still a disconnect in people’s expectations of what can happen in a disaster situation. He points to the huge liquefaction in parts of Christchurch that has left an area four times the size of London’s Hyde Park still uninhabitable. The earthquake shook at such a rate that soft earth was effectively turned to bubbling liquid.
“The frightening thing was how shocked many people were, when this was entirely forecastable,” he says.
According to Wilson, the Christchurch earthquake was close to the “maximum credible” event possible, and that while the city responded remarkably well, many families did not have an emergency kit ready when the earthquake struck. Heavily promoted by New Zealand’s civil defence ministry, this includes food and water to last at least three days.
Wilson was, however, impressed with how neighbourhoods came together to support each other. “There has been a lot of research into what makes a resilient community – levels of interconnection, places where people can come together and a common sense of purpose. We saw lots of aspects of that [after the Christchurch earthquake].”
The fact there were no deaths in Wellington should not lead to complacency. While the capital’s mayor admits there are plenty of hard lessons to learn from the earthquake, Wilson says it is concerning that the city was caught off guard so easily. “If, as a society, we decide we don’t want to pay for better infrastructure, then we shouldn’t be moaning when the shit hits the fan.”
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