November 19, 2010

Mercalli Director was proud to hear how well one of his key clients not only survived, but were praised for their response management to the Canterbury earthquake of 4 September 2010.

The 7.1 earthquake has been the most damaging hazard event in New Zealand since the 1931 Napier quake.

Director Steve Glassey has been working with the University of Canterbury with their disaster management programme over the past few years. He was the MC for the TEFMA/AURIMS Conference held at the university earlier this year, speaking about incident management.

Yesterstay Steve had the pleasure of hearing a presentation given by University Staff incuding Incident Controller Chris Hawker on the University's response to the quake.

"It was very warming to see one of our VIP client's work and passion pay off. Their response was outstanding and praised by not only students but many senior officials too. Full credit goes to Chris Hawker, Jacqui Lyttle and their team who did an amazing job" says Steve. 

Not only the univeristy handled the quake well, but another client Christchurch International Airport under went an Airport Crisis Management workshop with Mercalli just months before the event. CIAL re-opened the airport within just hours of the quake, a testiment to their staff and response plans. The re-opening of the airport in such a short time meant that vital transportation hub was restored to assist with quake response operations.

Below: UC Incident Controller gives a briefing to staff about to conduct damage assessments (photo by UC).

 

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