The Star: April 06, 2017

8 Thursday April 6 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
The Star
News
Life experiences boost earthquake
• By Jamie Morton
PEOPLE WHO have been
involved in major accidents,
or who serve as their office’s
designated first-aider, are more
likely to be prepared to deal
with a big natural disaster in the
future.
That’s according to a justpublished
New Zealand study
that investigated
what spurs people
to prepare for
earthquakes, and
how their life experiences
might
contributed to
their motivation.
Julia Becker
“We know that
having some
experience of previous earthquakes
can prompt people to get
prepared, through having a better
understanding of how they
might be impacted in future,”
said lead author Dr Julia Becker,
of GNS Science and Massey University’s
Joint Centre for Disaster
Research.
“Earthquakes also raise people’s
concern and motivate their
need to get prepared. We saw a
flurry of preparedness activity in
Wellington following the Kaikoura
earthquake.”
Yet, in spite of New Zealand
being rocked by several large
earthquakes in the past five
years, many Kiwis still would not
have experienced quakes.
This posed the question: What
else might prompt them to
prepare?
The study, based on a series of
interviews with people around
the country and published in
Star 129mm x 90mm 06/10/16
SUPPORT:
Researchers
say people
who haven’t
experienced
natural
disasters,
like the
Christchurch
Earthquake,
have been
motivated after
speaking with
friends and
family who
have. PHOTO:
GEOFF SLOAN
the International Journal of
Disaster Risk Reduction, showed
that people who lived with an
ethos of “preparedness is a way
of life” were more likely to be
prepared.
Experiences such as helping
out in an adverse event, being
a civil defence volunteer, being
involved in workplace safety at
work, being a first aider, suffering
ill-health, or being in an
accident, all contributed, Dr
Becker said.
“So for those who haven’t been
in a significant earthquake, we
need to pay attention to people’s
life experiences, and use those
experiences as motivators of getting
prepared.”
The researchers also found
people’s “vicarious” experiences
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– such as speaking with family
or friends who live in places like
Canterbury – were also important.
“Their stories of how the earthquakes
have impacted their lives
can help people living outside
the area understand what an
earthquake might be like and
what they might need to do to
prepare.”
For those who had lived
through disasters, the events
would surely have rocked them
into vigilance.
“For example, following the
2010 Darfield earthquake in
Canterbury, a number of people
stated that they didn’t get prepared
because the earthquake
didn’t impact them, and thus
they thought future earthquakes
wouldn’t impact them either,” Dr
Becker said.
“People who find earthquakes
quite scary might find it difficult
to get prepared – and those
people need support and practical
advice to help encourage
preparedness.”
Dr Becker also cited the
2013 Cook Strait and Lake
Grassmere quakes that shook the
Wellington and Marlborough
regions.
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