The role of schools in helping communities copes with earthquake disasters: the case of the 2010–2011 New Zealand earthquakes

ABSTRACT

This article draws from the author’s four-year study of five school communities hit by the 2010–2011 earthquake sequence in the Canterbury region of New Zealand to highlight the roles that schools played in supporting their communities in the aftermath of the disaster. The article begins by synthesising the relevant literature on disasters, schools in earthquake disasters, and the importance of schools to their communities, pre- and post-disaster. The following themes from the data are discussed: (a) the role of schools in their communities prior to the earthquakes; (b) the role of schools in immediate rescue and response; (c) the role of schools in short-term relief; and (d) the role of schools in long-term recovery. The author then argues that as more evidence shows that schools play such crucial roles in post-disaster response and recovery, we need to better prepare and support them to undertake these functions. Further, we need to recognise the wider roles schools play supporting local communities to build and sustain resilience as part of on-going community cohesion and connectedness, so that society is better prepared when major disasters occur.

KEYWORDS:

• Disaster recovery
• earthquakes
• schools
• communities
• Canterbury/New Zealand earthquakes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world that does not have mid-level regional education districts. There is a centrally based policy-focused Ministry of Education in the capital city, Wellington, but at the local level, governance and management of schools are devolved to individual schools and their locally elected boards of trustees (made up mainly of school parents). Individual schools, therefore, have high levels of autonomy over decision-making.