Photos from the Final Summit
Some photos of our Summit presenters in action at the Final Summit.
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Marlborough Mayor Alistair Sowman opened the summit.
“This research is an important piece of work to help councils and community agencies with their planning and create good, practical collaboration.”
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- Dr Rob Wiener heads a coalition of community housing orgainsations in California that provide affordable housing. He focused on community housing developments designed to withstand severe natural events including floods, fire and earthquake. “Doing better in bad times comes down to diligent, intentional pre-planning, collaboration between designers and emergency services, and making sure residents know what to do and where to go in an emergency.”
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- Sydney based Dr Catherine Bridge is a strong advocate of retrofitting houses to improve accessibility and resilience. She spoke about rebuilding homes after the Sri Lankan tsunami and the struggle to re-establish traditional accessible features in new homes. She concluded that accessible features improve safety and performance and help older people feel able to manage. “It follows on that a resilient home and homeowner will cope better in extreme events.”
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- Russell Montgomery was the Incident Controller for the 2013 Seddon earthquake. He said that older people are often more resilient than younger people, but everyone feels reassured if they have someone knock on their door to see if they are OK. Russell spoke of the importance of unified teamwork and of providing an immediate response with all resources available. “It’s better to do more than less.”
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- Dr Sue Carswell reported on the experience of rest homes and retirement villages after the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch. Practical issues included having up-to-date contacts for family members and supplies of medications. “Clear and calm communication about what is happening is a priority. Residents also valued being in a community and looking after each other.”
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- Bev James, Public Policy & Research, presented the Flood Experience Tool, an interactive tool which assists organizations develop responsive policies and plans to help older people affected by floods and other adverse natural events. “Older people have knowledge, skills, resources and life experience that they can contribute to recovery.”
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- Kay Saville-Smith, CRESA, summarized the main research findings and presented the Sites for Resilient Homes Selection Tool. She emphasized the importance of researchers, practitioners and residents working together to build resilience in their communities. Kay also highlighted the importance of making our homes more resilient. “Resilient homes are homes that protect, minimize damage, and minimize the costs and time in recovery and repair”.
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- Nick Marston, BRANZ, presented the Home and Heavy Weather Resilience Tool and the Materials for Resilient Houses Tool.
