Rethinking Resilience: Reflections from the Christchurch Earthquake and Aftershocks
- When?
- Thursday 3 November 2011, 13.00 hrs to 14.00 hrs
- Where?
- 45A AZ 04
- Open to:
- Public, Staff, Students
- Speaker:
- Bronwyn Hayward, CES Visiting Fellow
- Admission price:
- No charge
On 4 September 2010, Christchurch, New Zealand was struck by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake causing extensive structural damage but not loss of live. On 22 February the city was hit by a shallow, violent aftershock, at magnitude 6.3, the quake killed over 180 people and ‘munted’ or destroyed thousands of homes. Since then over 8000 aftershocks of varying intensity have hit the city. In the six month period to July 2011, the community coped on average, with a magnitude 5 earthquake every 10 days. Working from a tent for 12 weeks on campus and living with ongoing suspension of local democracy in a cordoned central city, prompts this professional and personal reflection on the concept of resilience.
I argue the language of resilience creates new opportunities for interdisciplinary research and vividly reminds us that the material world matters in politics and planning. However resilience is not our only, or even our most helpful policy pathway to address the economic and social challenges that accompany natural disasters. In this presentation I review the effects of the cascade of aftershocks events on the local community and their response, which included a spontaneous student Facebook ‘army’ of 24,000 volunteers. I call for expanding our policy imagination away from the increasingly narrow rhetoric of resilience, to acknowledge the democratic power and possibilities of shared vulnerability and collective struggle.
Bronwyn Hayward Powerpoint (14095.0KB)