Policy responses - what have we learned?

1pm - 2pm

Admission is free and open to the public.
 

Lecture 6:
2012 Winter Lectures: Hazards, disasters, risks and responses: Auckland are you ready?
The last two years brought the unpredictable nature of New Zealand’s natural and man-made hazards to the fore. Christchurch’s major earthquake and its devastating aftershocks, the Pike River mine disaster, the Rena oil spill, heavy rain and snow falls, tornadoes and other unexpected events overstretched the country’s infrastructure, caused loss of life and livelihood, and tested the strength and resilience of everyday New Zealanders. This series of lectures explores New Zealand’s disasters – the risks we face and the responses we make to those risks. Experts and scholars from, or connected with, The University of Auckland will share their knowledge and skills on a selection of topics from geology and engineering to media and education.

Dr Ljubica Mamula-Seadon, Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, and Laurie Johnson, of Laurie Johnson Consulting, San Francisco, US: Policy responses - what have we learned?
The pressures created by the devastating effects of natural and other large magnitude hazards generate unprecedented expectations in societies and of governments. The vulnerabilities created in society by these large-scale hazards combined with interdependencies of production and supply, urban intensification, population shifts and cultural changes, newly created societal vulnerabilities force governments to turn their attention to the capacity of public, private and civic sectors to withstand disruption, absorb disturbance, act effectively in a crisis, adapt to changing conditions and grow stronger over time. This lecture examines those challenges and suggests policy and planning pathways to surmounting them, using international and New Zealand examples from Christchurch; Tohoku and Kobe, Japan; San Francisco; and New Orleans.
 

 For further information about the Winter Lectures phone 373 7599 ext 87698.