Disabling Environments:
Experiences of Impairment After
the Christchurch Earthquakes
Joint Centre for Disaster Research/GNS;
School of Health and Social Services
Massey University
Dr Suzanne Phibbs
Kerry Williamson
Esther Woodbury
Thank you to the Office for Disability Issues, Ministry of
Social Development, members of the Association of Blind
Citizens, Christchurch; the staff of the Royal New Zealand
Foundation of the Blind; and to the participants from the
‘disability community’ for their willingness to share their
stories for this research.
Interviews
People from the Association of Blind Citizens,
Christchurch – January 2011/February 2012
Staff from the Royal New Zealand Foundation of
the Blind – April 2011
Interviews with people from the ‘disability
community’ Christchurch – May 2012
Individual preparedness
“[Now] I have a torch, I have a first aid kit, I have a radio, I
have candles, I have water bottles full in the bottom of the
pantry, I make sure my gas cylinder is topped up [for the]
barbecue… I make sure that my cell phones charged, I
make sure that I’ve always got at least quarter of a tank of
diesel.”
“Well, making sure that I wasn’t going to run out of
medication and those things because if I couldn’t get to my
pharmacy where everything is, then I would be in trouble if
I was somewhere else because that’s where the records
are.”
Individual preparedness
“I couldn’t get hold of my caregiver who was going to be
coming around, so I thought, ‘what now?’”
“[My job] was a huge part of carrying me through those
difficult times, as were my caregivers, because I had such a
good relationship with them as well. They’re like friends or
family.”
Individual responses
“[After getting help from a caregiver] I was then able to go
out and assist others, so over the next two or three days… I
was going and visiting people and making sure they were
OK. One of my caregivers made up frozen dinners, so I was
able to take frozen meals to people who didn’t have um,
access to being able to cook and things, so it felt, again it
felt surreal, but it felt really good to be in this position,
where I could do that for other people, just like having a
disability myself… I was able to assist others in a small
way.”
Evacuation or Welfare Centres
Community responses
“At the Community Centre they said… because my
neighbour had an impairment as well, they said that they
couldn’t accommodate people with disabilities because…
They didn’t even ask us about, ‘Oh what supports do you
guys need?’ We just got told, they said, ‘We can’t
accommodate you.’”
“At the welfare centre there was always someone who
kept an eye out on me, their responsibility was just to keep
an eye one me... ‘cause I was the only person with an
impairment there… they would get one of the security
guards… to make sure that all my needs were met… so
that was kinda nice.”
Community responses
“About half an hour later there was a knock on the door
and a torch shone into the window so that gave me
enough light to see, and it was one of my neighbours
who’d just come to see if I was alright, which was great and
I asked them the same as well… and then someone from
across the road came over to see if I was ok.”
“Yeah, and it’s been our own personal networks rather
than institutions... friends and colleagues.”
“I’ve had a bit of help, like I say, from friends and
colleagues, like getting to and from work once the office
did reopen. It wasn’t the issue that I thought it might have
been, solely because the help that I did get.”
Staying in communities
Whether or not people stayed in their community they
could lose support networks, mobility, systems for
everyday life, and their independence.
Loss of support networks made people feel like they would
be more vulnerable in subsequent earthquakes.
Organisational responses
“I knew [the Council] wouldn’t be able to find me an
accessible place that I liked. Because they… offered me
an accessible place, but it had no accessible kitchen.”
“After September, the Red Cross came around, a lovely
lady from the Red Cross took all my details, yes, this is a
disabled lady living on her own, if there’s another event,
she needs help to evacuate, but I never saw the Red Cross
again and they never turned up.”
“I think somebody should have checked on disabled
people... some official, if you follow my point.”
Organisational responses
“I had to sort out the insurance stuff um, and that’s been
really hard for a disabled person, getting quotes, getting
stuff… neither EQC nor the insurance company realised
how hard it was for me, and then they’d lose all the stuff
you’d sent them and they’d say ‘well, can you just go and
get…’ and I tried to explain how difficult it was, but there
was no understanding of it.”
Organisational responses
“I got that support through txt messages, emails, phone
calls, and people in my immediate environment dropping
round to see me or me dropping round to see them, and
that to me I think is stronger than having someone, a
stranger from Civil Defence turn up in an orange jacket
saying can I help, for me it is anyway.”
“[Facebook] that’s quite a good medium. At first after
February, we you know, we connected with all staff, you
know, are you OK, and it was just lovely, that contact all
the time.”
Trying to move on in a disabling environment
“I think I’m now getting to the wrecked feeling, um, I’ve
kept strong, because I had to sort out the insurance stuff
um, and that’s been really hard for a disabled person…
anything that could be saved was packed by my friends,
and stored, once I found a home to rent my belongings had
to be unpacked, washed and stowed away – by me! I had
no help to do this – this may have been because I found it
too difficult to ask friends to help me again– but there
were no ‘agencies’ set up for this purpose.”
“It got quite frustrating [getting around the streets] but
then I thought, ‘I’m not in the eastern suburbs (anymore), I
can deal with it.’”
Conclusions
“We need to be cognisant of the additional factors that
disability might present, such as access, and ability and
timeframes and all that, but still keep it ordinary.”