Infrastructure restoration and resiliance after natural disasters - what can we learn from Christchurch, Pacific Islands and Australian experiences?

The Christchurch experience has challenged the New Zealand water industry in many ways, both in initial response, subsequent recovery and the on-going rebuild program. The urgent initial need for making safe, assessing damage to water and wastewater infrastrcuture, restoration of essential services and then planning and building more resilient infrastructure have all presented new paradigms.

Pacific Island nations have also recently faced similar challenges posed by significant natural disasters. The 2009 tsunami in Tonga and Samoa, the 2007 cyclone in Niue and recent floods in Fiji have meant that infrastructure managers have also had to deal with similar urgent tasks, often with limited funds available. Similarly, Queensland suffered significantly in 2011 from floods in Brisbane and cyclones in North Queensland.

These sorts of natural disasters are also possible in New Zealand. As infrastructure managers, how would we respond in such events? What can we learn from what has happened in these Pacific Island nations and Australia that is relevant for us here? How relevant is the Christchurch experience ?

This paper looks at real case studies from all three locations to understand what happened to water and wastewater infrastructure during these natural disasters and how managers coped with the various challenges that arose. Comparisons are made between the case studies with the intent of providing delegates who are responsible for water and wastewater infrastructure management some perspectives on what may constitute good risk management and response practice.