Researchers track resilience in response to Christchurch earthquakes

A University of Canterbury report has found a high level of innovation and adaptability in hundreds of organisations in Canterbury following the earthquakes.

National resilience experts and university researchers Dr Erica Seville and Dr John Vargo say many businesses had to relocate multiple times, deal with disruption to infrastructure services and cope with disrupted supply chains and changing customer demand.

The report, Disruption and Resilience: How organisations coped with the Canterbury earthquakes, is part of research being done within the Economics of Resilient Infrastructure project.  Drs Seville and Vargo are co-directors of the University of Canterbury’s resilient organisations group.

“In spite of all this disruption, two thirds of organisations participating see themselves as being in a position that is about the same or better off, since the earthquakes,’’ Dr Seville says.

The report that captures the experiences of 541 organisations affected by the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes is unparalleled in the world of disaster research.

“Canterbury organisations can feel justifiably proud of their achievements over the last four year`s. We have been hugely impressed by organisations in Canterbury. Looking forward, it is important for organisations to keep fostering their resilience," Dr Seville says.

``An organisation’s resilience relies on having great leadership and culture within the organisation, building strong and diverse networks that can be drawn on for support when needed, and strategically positioning the organisation to be agile and change ready.” 

Dr Seville says that despite all of the physical damage, it was the people-organisational issues that were most disruptive, particularly customer-related issues and managing staff wellbeing.

Roads posed the biggest disruption with the longest duration of reported outages or reduced service. Organisations affected by infrastructure disruption has lower productivity and tended to close for longer.  

Closure is associated with reduced productivity in the post-disaster period, but interestingly, length of closure does not predict which organisations recover well and which do not.

Organisations whose suppliers were disrupted were significantly more likely to experience reduced productivity than organisations that did not face supplier issues.
 
Organisations that had engaged in some kind of relocation planning were more likely to move after the earthquakes. More than 70% of organisations made more intensive use of their staffing resources to recapture lost production.

Other key report findings:

• Organisations that experienced the greatest impact were also the ones most likely to take the opportunity to invest in new technologies;

• Out of necessity, organisations adapted significantly. Nearly 30% entered new market sectors;

• Once an organisation started adapting, it tended to keep adapting – like an adaptive snowball;

• The earthquakes caused a dramatic, yet temporary, reduction in resilience for many organisations in Greater Christchurch;

• Maori-focused organisations were more resilient and tended to recover better; and

• Organisations with above average resilience were significantly more likely to be able to maintain or improve productivity following the earthquakes. This has important implications for the ability of an economy to rebound in the aftermath of a disruptive event.

The 541 participant organisations were from agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing, electricity, gas, water and waste services, construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, accommodation and food services, transport, postal and warehousing, information, media and telecommunications,  financial and insurance services, rental, hiring and real estate services, professional, scientific and technical services, administrative and support services, public administration and safety, education and training, health care and social assistance and arts and recreation services.