ABSTRACT
The Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 and major aftershocks have a huge social and economic impact on the people of the region. This chapter tracks events four years on from the initial earthquakes. It focuses on small firms because, according to Brown, up to 80 per cent of businesses without a comprehensive plan may disappear within two years of a major disaster. Understanding the resilience of small business owners in the wake of natural disasters is complex and multi-levelled. Smaller firms were more likely to be in the worst off group because of a loss of customers and/or a local economic recession in their area. Factors such as damage to buildings, rising cost structures, altered customer base, new corporate competitors, changes in the Christchurch environment, and business decline and growth in combination over the last four years has driven the need for change and survival, for some.
