An Evaluation of the Waimakariri District Council's Integrated and Community-Based Recovery Framework Following the Canterbury Earthquakes: Implications for Urban Resilience

Abstract

A range of permanent and ad hoc entities and organisations have a part to play in disaster management. This article begins from the position that, despite their longevity, local knowledge and established ‘architecture of engagement’, local government (at the metropolitan, city or district scale) has been undervalued as having an important role to play in both integrated disaster recovery and building urban resilience more generally. This argument is based on the ‘exemplary’ performance of the Waimakariri District Council who, following the Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquakes, adopted an ‘integrated and community-based recovery framework’ emphasising community involvement and coupled social/infrastructure recoveries. This raises questions about the degree to which their ‘best practice’ is transferable given the Waimakariri District Council is of a ‘medium size’ (235 staff), responsible for a ‘rural’ district in which a number of small towns and settlements are located. The bulk of this article identifies and describes key elements of their practice that worked well, and then discusses the implications of their approach for larger urban centres. The article concludes that issues of ‘governance’ may be as, if not more, important than form or scale in building urban resilience.

一系列永久性和临时性的实体和机构在灾难管理中发挥着作用。本文的起点是，地方知识和已有的“参与结构”虽然由来已久，地方政府却一直低估了它们在灾后综合重建和建设整个城市恢复力方面的重要作用。这一论断是基于维玛卡里里（Waimakariri）区委会的“典范”表现而做出的。这个区委会在新西兰坎特伯雷地震之后，采取了“综合性及基于社区的重建框架”，强调社区的参与，将社会重建与基础设施重建相互关联。由于维玛卡里里区委会是“中等规模”（235 位雇员），管辖一片有几个小镇和聚居区的“乡村”地区，因而他们的“最佳实践”能否推广，成了一个问题。本文从其做法中提炼出几条行之有效的关键因素，讨论其在大城市中的运用。本文认为，在建设城市恢复力时，“治理”与样式或规模同样重要，甚至更为重要。

Keywords::

• Local government
• disaster recovery
• urban resilience
• deliberative and inclusive processes
• community engagement

Notes

^1. In neighbouring Christchurch, in the local government elections 9 of the 13 elected members were replaced, including 4 resignations.

^2. Nomenclature varies with the phases described ‘PPRR’ (Prevention, Preparation, Response and Recovery). For further discussion and examples of application, see Becken et al. (2013).

^3. The 4 Rs are seen as circular processes where, for example, actions taken during recovery can reduce risk from other hazards and threats.

^4. Some define having enough food, water and essential supplies to last three days as ‘preparedness’.

^5. Communal village or enclosed area.

^6. The recent Local Government Act Amendment of 2012 replaced the ‘four wellbeings’ in the second clause with a focus on meeting community needs for good-quality local infrastructure, local public services and performance of regulatory functions in a cost-effective way.

^7. Confidentiality issues mean the participants' details cannot be detailed any further except where names and/or titles are provided (with permission).

^8. Following more large earthquakes, in June 2011 the Minister for Earthquake Recovery declared that the land under 1049 of these houses was too expensive to remediate to a standard where it was viable to rebuild at this time. Consequently, the housing on this ‘Red Zoned’ land in Kaiapoi (along with a further 450 hectares in Christchurch) is being demolished or relocated.

^9. Along with seven other ‘medium’ size councils the Waimakariri District Council is one of New Zealand's top 10 performing local authorities (BERL, 2011) measured across employment, population and business unit growth.

Additional information

Funding

The author gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, New Zealand.