Health effects of Canterbury quake to be studied

The effects of the Christchurch quakes on local health is to be examined. Photo / Doug Sherring

Five major research projects will investigate the effects of the Canterbury earthquakes on the health of the locals.

The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) has joined with the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation to jointly invest in five projects based in Christchurch and Dunedin.

The earthquakes have reportedly had a major impact on the mental, physical and emotional health of shaken residents.

There have been reports of an increased incidence of stress-related hair loss. Gendi Roberts, 15, is among them. She has lost her hair and suffers from alopecia, a condition thought to have been triggered by the stress caused by the earthquakes.

There has also been a reported spike in domestic violence, road rage and other outbreaks of anger since the earthquakes, as well as physical stress-related conditions such as strokes and suicides.

Mortality rates among elderly people have also risen to above normal levels since the shakes.

The five projects will be headed by five separate researchers across the cities.

The information gathered through the studies will look at how people have coped with the natural disaster, and aim to help agencies, governments and communities plan for future disasters.

Professor Michael Ardagh will conduct an overview of the complete health care response to the major earthquakes, and is the first in the world to do so. He will collate a database of the burden of injury and illness from the earthquake and the health system response.

Dr Cameron Lacey will head an inquiry into psychological stress and genetic associations with stress cardiomyopathy, and Dr Kathy Peri will head an investigation into the impact of the earthquakes on the health of older people.

From Dunedin, Dr David McBride will examine the role of first responders who worked in the earthquakes. The study will look at how emergency services such as police, fire fighters, construction and demolition workers, teachers and aid agency workers responded, and what characteristics helped them cope.

Louise Thornley will look at the effect the earthquakes had on health, including mental health and wellbeing, and how communities recovered after the disaster.