On average, businesses undertook
3
new mitigation activities
Over
80%Â
of businesses engaged in
at least 1 mitigation activity
2
most common
mitigation measures undertaken
Better IT backups
Improved insurance arrangements
What adaptive actions did organisations take to help them thrive?
9 out of 10 organisations made at least one change to their business to help cope with new conditions in the post-earthquake environment.
3Â most common changes made
New products or services
62%
Change in customers
61%
Use of new technologies
54%
How quickly did organisations recover?
Immediate and sustained increase

Volatile

No change

Slow return

Steady growth

Permanent decrease

Decrease then increase

Increase then decrease

Patterns associated with positive recovery

Patterns associated with challenging recovery

Which disruptions affected organisations the most?
Which infrastructure and non-infrastructure disruptions impacted the highest number of respondents?
Infrastructure disruptions

Non-infrastructure disruptions

Infrastructure disruptions
- Road networks (0.59)
- Phone networks (0.53)
- Water (0.50)
- Electricity (0.50)
- Sewage (0.48)
- Data networks (0.44)
- Fuel (0.24)
- Airport (0.11)
- Port (0.10)
- Gas (0.08)
- Rail networks (0.06)
Non-infrastructure disruptions
- Customer issues (0.57)
- Neighbourhood damage (0.54)
- Emotional wellbeing changes (0.53)
- Difficulty accessing premises (0.53)
- Structural building damage (0.52)
- Non-structural building damage (0.46)
- Inventory or stock damage (0.45)
- Perceptions of building safety (0.44)
- Difficulty accessing IT data (0.40)
- Damage to next door (0.39)
- Ground surface damage (0.38)
- Heath and safety issues (0.38)
- Supplier issues (0.37)
- Office equipment damage or loss (0.35)
- Availability of staff (0.34)
- Machinery damage or loss (0.33)
What level of supply chain disruption was experienced?
How did revenue change?
Immediately

Several months later

1 year later

2 years later

5 years later

Overview
Organisations play a vital role in the recovery of communities following disaster events. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge examining the impacts on, and recovery trajectories of organisations following disruption. A survey, conducted in 2016, examines recovery trajectories of 206 organisations impacted by the 2010-11 Canterbury, New Zealand, earthquake sequence. The survey was the 5th in a series of surveys carried out by the authors following the earthquakes.
This sequence of earthquakes created many challenges for organisations with a wide range of disruption profiles. Some organisations suffered significant damage and loss including stock and buildings, while others faced staff, customer and/or supplier disruption.
Data from this longitudinal data set gives a unique opportunity to examine the relative importance of different impacts, preparedness measures and post-event adaptation measures at different time points in recovery.
Project goals
- To provide data to demonstrate the value of investment in organisational resilience;
- To map the 5 year recovery trajectory of organisations;
- To better understand the contextual factors that affect long term recovery.
Key contact
Tracy Hatton
Principal Consultant
p: 021 160 7707
e : tracy.hatton@resorgs.org.nz
Project team
Tracy Hatton
Principal Consultant
Resilient Organisations Ltd
Charlotte Brown
Principal Research Consultant
Resilient Organisations Ltd
Erica Seville
Executive Director
Resilient Organisations Ltd