Case Study: Christchurch Earthquake, New Zealand
Background Information
The small city of Christchurch, home to approximately 400,000 people in South Island, New Zealand, was struck by its second powerful earthquake in a year.
Magnitude: 6.3
When? February 22nd, 2011
It occurred at a strike-slip fault which acts like a conservative late boundary at the Pacific and Indo-Australian plate.
Epicentre: 6km away from Christchurch
Focus: 5km
Effects
Social
The old city centre was made virtually unstable, with 40% of the buildings damaged beyond repair. Some of them, including the Canterbury TV building, collapsed completely.
185 people were killed and 6,000 injured.
Economic
Economic damage was estimated to be over $20 billion. An amount equal to half of this was set aside to completely redevelop the city.
The Rugby World Cup was moved to other locations, further affecting the future economic influence of the city.
Environmental
Landslides occurred as a result of the earthquake, particularly around Lyttleton.
A large chunk of the Tasman Glacier calved into the sea.
Short Term Response
Aid money poured in - Australia gave $5 million in aid.
The government declared a state of national emergency, which stayed in force until 30 April 2011.
Rescue crews from all over the world came to help. There were crews from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Australia and more.
Domestic help was available - the Farmy Army was made up of 800 farmers, who brought their farm machines and muscle to help clean up the city.
The most vulnerable people were cared for and people were kept safe away from dangerous buildings.
The first response of the authorities once the dust had settled was to meet the immediate needs of the local people and to start demolition of the old city core and other at-risk buildings.
Chemical toilets were provided for 30,000 residents.
Long Term Response
The government provided temporary housing and ensured all damaged housing was kept water tight.
Roads and houses were cleared from silt from liquefaction by August and 80% of roads and 50% of footpaths were repaired.
The national government provided $8.8 billion of the funding, with local government providing the water, sewerage, road and transport networks. The private sector, local philanthropists and charities provided the remainder.
Two years later, in 2013, the focus was on investment, innovation, job creation and improving the wellbeing of local inhabitants.
Many NGOs including Save the Children helped with long term recovery efforts.
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority was created to organise the rebuild of the region. It had special powers to change planning laws and regulations.
Why was the earthquake less deadly than Haiti's?
NZ is wealthy enough to support its own people using advice and guidance from other nations. In NZ, they are self-reliant so they don't need to receive aid in order to reconstruct buildings.
Christchurch is a relatively safe city and has aseismic buildings already in place, as well as using modern technology to predict earthquakes such as seismographs and GPS.
Why was NZ's death toll high for an HIC?
The focus was very shallow.
The earthquake was in the CBD and during the day, so everybody was at work.
The buildings in Christchurch were already weakened by the previous earthquake.