When the economy becomes the main subject on the table, New Zealand can effortlessly come into the discussion.
It’s because the island country ranked 53rd place with the highest national economy in the world in terms of its nominal gross domestic product or GDP.
And when determined by purchasing power parity or PPP, New Zealand is the 68th largest globally.
The country also acquires one of the most globalised economies in the world proving how economically-competitive and advanced New Zealand is.
Also, it determines how developed New Zealand is to uphold several businesses even the country highly depends on international trades.
However, on the other side of the picture, Kiwi businesses still came face-to-face with several challenges this 21st century.
And that greatly tested the capability and will of their companies to withstand such tests on their business journey – one best example is recovering from the natural calamity like earthquakes.
Thus, having said that, how did Kiwi business made it through the business disturbances that came to rock their lives?
With that, this article chooses to tackle the unfortunate events of the earthquakes occurred and the possible steps that Kiwi businesses took to recover from the damages.
Thus, keep up with the pages and read through the following information below.
Table of Contents
Canterbury Earthquake, 2010
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook the grounds of the Canterbury region on September 4, 2010, Saturday, at 4:3 am.
The earthquake resulted in having one casualty, many people injured and crushed many buildings in the affected areas.
Surprisingly, there were an estimated 9.000 aftershocks and earthquakes between September 4, 2010, and September 4, 2011.
Some of the recorded aftershocks and earthquakes were extremely strong that resulted in more damages to infrastructures and lands.
The damages, of course, affected a great number of businesses as well as their daily operations due to the loss of electricity, water, and also took time to recover emotionally, psychologically, and financially.
Christchurch Earthquake, 2011
February 22, 2011, Tuesday, at exactly 12:51 pm, and merely 6 months after the Canterbury earthquake, 185 people lost their lives to a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit the Christchurch and Lyttelton.
The so-called Christchurch earthquake also injured several thousand of people and lots of infrastructures were severely damaged and collapsed.
Though it’s said that the Christchurch earthquake wasn’t as strong as the magnitude 7.1 earthquake in September 2010, the earthquake hit on a shallow fault line that was near to the city – that made the shaking exceptionally destructive.
Moreover, the 2011 earthquake caused serious damages and even knocked down infrastructures that have also been damaged by the September 2011 magnitude 7.1 earthquake.
Kaikōura Earthquake, 2016
On November 14, 2016, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shocked New Zealand. The strong shakings caused particular damages to the infrastructures in the southern Marlborough and northern Canterbury.
Moreover, the earthquake also resulted in landslides that blocked the road and rail links to Kaikōura grounding a great number of sightseers in the famous tourist town.
The severely strong magnitude 7.8 earthquake absolutely affected businesses, families, and emotional state of the people of New Zealand.
It’s also said that an estimated $1.8 billion in insurance claims were received due to the 2-minute earthquake.
“Business as usual”: Recuperating from the Ruthless Natural Disaster
Aside from the personal lives of the people in New Zealand and their daily living, the businesses in the country also received the most damages in the aforementioned earthquake incidents.
Business owners, workers, and even home-based owners were severely affected psychologically, and financially.
Tons of business operations were interrupted due to the loss of electricity, water supply, and many have lost their buildings or offices.
Having all that said, one thing that helped businesses recover from the earthquake incidents is their business insurance coverage.
It’s an exceptional factor that there are insurance coverages that aid them step-by-step to rebuild and restart from the scratches of the earthquakes.
Moreover, insurance advisers that came to help in availing the best insurance coverage for the business also made the rebuilding much easier and faster through assisting in getting or availing financial assistance from the insurance companies.
With that, different types of business insurance coverages served as a pinprick of hope to the disturbed businesses and to slowly recover from the severe damages from the strong impact created by the recorded earthquake incidents.
AUTHOR BIO:
Kath Ramirez embraced the dream of being a writer since she was in 4th grade. She took it seriously and she now writes for Insurance Adviser New Zealand, one of the top financial and insurance companies in NZ. Kath also keeps herself busy spending time with her family, cherishing the role of a mom to 3 dogs and a puppy, reading random books, and diving into the world of photography. She’s not even a pro to whatever she’s engaged into right now, but one thing she knows, she’s happy and that’s more than enough.
