Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 2016, 20 (People in Disasters Special Issue): 89-100 (Open access)

There has been an increase in the reported incidents of family violence, sexual violence and child abuse following the 2010 and 2011 earthquake events in Canterbury, New Zealand. These increases have occurred both in immediate- and longer-term timeframes following the earthquakes, in line with previous research findings concerning an international range of post-disaster settings. Challenging events like the Canterbury earthquakes and series of aftershocks highlight the importance of, and provide the catalyst for, strengthening connections and working with various communities of interest to explore new ways of responding to the complex issue of family violence. It was within this context that the Canterbury Family Violence Collaboration emerged and began implementing a range of responses focused on five strategic priority areas: Prevention, crisis response and intervention, youth, housing and staff learning and development. The current paper describes experiences from this collaborative effort and lessons learnt by the Collaboration’s partners during the five years since its establishment. It describes the major achievements
alongside key success factors and challenges as part of a unique contribution that enhanced awareness and responsiveness to the family violence experienced by Canterbury residents within the post-disaster setting. Over the past five years, the multi-dimensional, evidence-based package of system-level, whole-of-community initiatives successfully implemented by the 45 Government and Non-Government-Organisation member agencies could not have been undertaken by any single agency or sector. The Collaboration’s extended delivery of this unique package of prevention, workforce development and evidence-gathering strategies has made a significant contribution to the community, by assisting them to effectively recognise and respond to family violence following the Canterbury earthquake events. (Authors' abstract). Record #5268