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and wreaked this havoc on our city, the opportunity to be involved in rebuilding the city and creating spaces, places and buildings for people that will be relevant for the next 150 years and beyond is a very exciting professional challenge. How are you ensuring the rebuild will create an improved Christchurch? Building an even better city is key to the work that my team and I do every day. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to contribute to Christchurch���s recovery and we are part of a much bigger�� effort, which includes the community, property developers, CCDU and CERA, SCIRT and other Council colleagues who are all working to the same objective. In your opinion, what, if any, benefits have come about through this natural disaster? In the early days, I think our strong sense of community was a real benefit out of adversity. That has been more difficult to sustain as personal circumstances, insurance issues and fatigue have forced people to be more egocentric. From a workplace perspective, I am humbled when I look at my team, who have worked tirelessly, some for nearly two years. Last year a number had uncertain housing and family circumstances and they came to work each day and gave their all to prepare the draft central city recovery plan. During that time and since, their capacity to work collaboratively, flexibly and deal with the successes and the challenges has amazed me. When I talk with colleagues, peers and friends in other organisations, they recount similar stories. On the wall in our office above the copier someone has posted ���Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle (Plato)���. Lianne Dalziel Member of Parliament for Christchurc East and Labour Spokesperson on Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Where were you on 22 February, 2011? I was in my electorate office completing Earthquake Information Update No 12. After the September earthquake, I started doing these updates for my constituents as an adjunct to the community meetings I organised. People were ���hungry��� for information and I felt it was a good role for me as a Member of Parliament, particularly as we don���t have a formal role in terms of the Civil Defence response nor the recovery process which is usually the role of local government. I remember the update I was doing, because it was so complex. It was about the Christchurch City Council City Plan���s Plan Change 48, which provided new finished floor levels for flood management areas and questions I had asked the council about the implications due to the September earthquake. Ironically, Plan Change 48 has just re-emerged as a topical issue due to the new flood maps the council has released. What have you personally done to aid the Christchurch rebuild? I am involved in the city and region���s recovery through the dissemination of information, finding answers to questions for people and promoting community engagement in joint learning and collaborative decisionmaking.�� Top down decision making is not healthy and doesn���t empower communities to strengthen themselves. I have studied recovery over the past two years and visited others who have had to recover from disaster ��� e.g. the Queensland Reconstruction Authority ��� and provided this information to CERA and the government. I have been an advocate for international best practice and have encouraged that independent reviews are undertaken of the recovery process in addition to the response. What was the motive behind your work? I know that people cope better if they understand what is happening. I also know that recovery is quicker when communities are fully engaged with the decision-makers. People shouldn���t be caught by surprise as they were with the education shake-up, which came as a www.h e rmagaz in e .co.n z | 17