Editorial: Leadership and communication keys in recovery

Opinion

Even now, it is difficult to fully understand the enormity of the earthquake that laid waste large areas of Christchurch on Tuesday.

The immediate impact was apparent enough to the victims of its devastating intrusion, and other New Zealanders got a strong sense of its deadliness through the stream of heart-breaking stories and pictures from the city.

Yet perhaps only slowly are we becoming aware that this event could rank as the greatest natural calamity in our history.

Parallels will be drawn with the Napier earthquake, the Erebus disaster, and the Spanish flu epidemic that swept the country after World War I.

Such comparisons are, to a large degree, inconsequential. But it is fair to say that Christchurch's size and importance in the national fabric set this catastrophe apart.

So does the aftermath. A week ago, it would have seemed scarcely believable that search and rescue teams from seven countries - Australia, Britain, the United States, Japan, Taiwan, China and Singapore - would be combing the ruins of a New Zealand city.

Never before has anything like this happened, and few people could have imagined the country being stricken by an event that produced such a strong and heartening international response.

Less surprising is the way in which Australia has been unsparing in the size and rapidity of its response. During a summer of natural tragedies on both sides of the Tasman, a tradition of mateship has been rekindled.

The aftermath of a disaster of this immensity throws up equally huge issues for those involved in rescue and recovery. By and large, their efforts have been as well directed as they have been unstinting.

Difficult decisions have had to be taken in allotting resources to sites with the greatest potential for survivors. But sensibilities have been acknowledged, with the Japanese team, for example, allocated the CTV building, where students from Japan were at an English language school.

Not the least of the challenges has been that of communication. People at home and around the world have been keen to learn all about the tragedy as quickly and as comprehensively as possible. They have been well served.

The police abandoned the reticence apparent at Pike River and relayed information in a timely and comprehensive fashion. As a result, there was no information vacuum, and no open invitation to clamour, criticism and conjecture.

The Prime Minister, John Key, also struck the right note. Ashen-faced gravitas intermingled with stirring talk of "hope and new opportunities" and reassurances to the people of Christchurch that they were not on their own. The city's mayor, Bob Parker, was also an impressive and effective leader, enhancing a reputation gained during the first earthquake in September.

New Zealanders were equally well served by mass and social media, with frequently outstanding, unadorned coverage of an unprecedented tragedy in this modern era. TV One performed as people would have hoped, providing non-stop and advertisement-free coverage. TV3's first hours walked New Zealanders - and the world - into the heart of the turmoil.

When the scale of a disaster seems this overwhelming, the importance of community, national and international support and of strong leadership with open communication cannot be overstated.