Rebuilding Dunedin (no typo intended)

Lee Vandervis asks whether Christchurch should actually be rebuilt.

### ODT Online Fri, 6 Jan 2012
Opinion
Post-quakes rebuild should be in Dunedin
By Lee Vandervis
“When will it end?” contains the assumption that the earthquakes in Christchurch will end. We all hope the earthquakes have ended, of course, but recent geotechnical and historical evidence suggests otherwise. Earthquakes in other urban areas around the world have usually been one-off disasters. Christchurch is an unusually ongoing seismic disaster that has had unprecedented psychological effects on people living there. The seismicity map shows continuous events for more than a year, from Darfield through Christchurch to Lyttelton.

Dunedin sensitivity about being predatory on Christchurch seems to me like an excuse to sit on our hands and do nothing. Predation is the basis of business competition and is necessary for vitality in business and for viability in world markets. If we can do it better here than in Christchurch we should, and government – local and national – should be right behind us.

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• Lee Vandervis is a Dunedin city councillor.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr