2016 Earthquake Recovery

At 12.03am (NZT) on 14 November 2016, Kaikōura and North Canterbury experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that had wide reaching impacts on New Zealand’s North and South Islands. This part of the website pulls together the many strands of support that government and councils have provided to help people back to a new normal.

The November 2016 earthquake

At 12.03am (NZT) on 14 November 2016, Kaikōura and North Canterbury experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that had wide reaching impacts on New Zealand’ North and South Islands. The earthquake ran from south to north and spanned an area of roughly 150km from the epicentre near Culverden. A series of aftershocks followed over the following days.


Message from the National Recovery Manager

The National Recovery Office has worked hand in hand with the councils, government agencies and iwi to support a coordinated and efficient recovery after the devastating November 2016 earthquakes.

Together we’ve made huge progress, but progress doesn't happen in isolation. Ours is a facilitator role. We’ve taken a partnership approach to working with organisations and communities to support the locally-led recovery.

We help facilitate a wide and multifaceted work programme, encompassing:

  • Social matters including health, education, safety, financial assistance and wellbeing.
  • Housing, for example temporary accommodation, winter warming, a coordinated approach to rebuilds and repairs, and residential insurance.
  • Infrastructure – roads, rail, water-related infrastructure (stormwater, drinking water and waste water) and stopbanks, Kaikōura Harbour, local Kaikōura roads and bridges.
  • Natural environment – land and sea, natural hazards, pāua, seals.
  • Economic environment, for example business support, business insurance, tourism, and future economic development opportunities.

Dave Brash

National Recovery Manager

 

The National Recovery Office is part of the National Emergency Management Agency, part of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu

Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura

From the Councils:

National recovery

Enabling legislation


So many organisations have done so much good work to help people, whānau and businesses back on their feet, repair vital infrastructure and protect our natural environment. Their stories are not widely known or told in one place. This website attempts to pull together the many strands of support.

This part of the National Emergency Management Agency website was developed using content provided by the local councils, central government agencies and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, who all continue to support the recovery after the November 2016 earthquake.

We focus on the Kaikōura, Hurunui and Marlborough districts, as well as Wellington to some extent. We recognise, however, that the earthquake’s effects went way beyond these boundaries, having wider national and even international impacts.

Organisations and communities undertook an enormous amount of work in the aftermath of the earthquake during the response phase and much more lies ahead as we collectively enhance our resilience to events like this. However, this website focuses on past, current and ongoing recovery activities.

While there are many stories to share and many ways to tell them, we’ve divided the information into several sections to reflect the four key environments: social, economic, natural and built.

Information is correct as at November 2017.

Contact us: nationalrecovery@dpmc.govt.nz

This recovery story has several chapters:

People

Housing

Rural support

Animal welfare

Tax relief

Economic environment

Primary sector

Natural environment

Built environment