Stout Research Centre Director Professor Lydia Wevers says while there has hardly been a day since that date that the earthquakes haven’t been mentioned in the media, the focus has been largely on disaster reporting.
“The problem with disasters is that they lead to disaster reporting and not much else.
“There are innumerable stories about Christchurch, and a whole landscape of people and things going on. Sometimes we think about it all through too narrow a window.”
The free one-and-half hour seminars are open to the public and, with the exception of 8 April, will be held weekly until 20 May at 5pm in the Hunter Building, Lecture Theatre 119, Gate 2, Kelburn Parade.
The presenters are film and documentary producer Gaylene Preston (25 March), Christchurch Art Gallery director Jenny Harper (1 April), Associate Professor John Townend from Victoria University (15 April), journalist Jane Bowron (22 April), Professor Paul Millar from the University of Canterbury (29 April), EQC Chair Sir Maarten Wevers (6 May), Research Associate Dr Bruce McFadgen from Victoria University (13 May) and Victoria’s Chair in the Economics of Disasters Professor Ilan Noy (20 May).
Professor Wevers says the earthquakes have “peeled off layers in all sorts of ways”.
“They have pushed everyone into confronting not only what the earth can do when the mood takes it but what happens to complex human societies when they have to face monumental destruction.”
For more details on the seminar series, visit www.victoria.ac.nz/stout-centre