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Invercargill homeowner Cheryl Garder said she feels relieved after her house received earthquake preparation as part of the Borrow a Builder initiative.
“I have a room done for my grandchildren. I always worried since there’re two very big display cabinets there,” she said.
In trying to move them she discovered how heavy they were, made in the 1930s out of solid rimu and glass.
“They could squash whoever’s there . . . I’ve had visitors staying and I’ve worried at night about if we have an earthquake and they’re in bed.”
She also had concerns about furniture and other items in her hallway that could fall and block an exit.
Earthquake preparation has been in the back of her mind for a while, initially spurred on by the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes.
“My son lives in Christchurch and he was in the CBD when it happened, I was at work and got a text from him that said ‘I’m OK, CBD destroyed’.”
That started her thinking how she could prep her home for an earthquake, but found she never knew how to start, she said.
“I’ve tried to do it myself and took one look up there. I eventually managed to climb the ladder and stop shaking, but I didn’t know what was needed.”
Having professionals around to secure her furniture had given her a real peace of mind, she said.
“It’s just terrific that it has led on, Red Cross came round first and said ‘that’s a danger, that’s a danger’, now the builders have come in and it is marvellous.”
Borrow a Builder organiser Brandy Alger said she noticed a lack of any kind of accessible options for earthquake prep, especially for older people.
“There’s not really anything like this that would give that support . . . they’re a extremely resilient community, so most of the time they’ll just make do with what they have,” Ms Alger said.
This initiative was a great opportunity to provide a free service for people who otherwise would not be able to access it, she said.
This project was heavily supported by Southland Master Builders and its members, who donated their time to visit various homes across the city.
Over the course of one afternoon last week, six companies sent builders and apprentices to 13 different houses.
In fact, more members wanted to be involved with the initial project than homes were available.
“ “It’s been amazing,” Ms Alger said.
As a PhD candidate, focusing on natural hazard preparedness and community-led engagement at the University of Canterbury, she was looking for case study locations.
“Invercargill looked like a great one, so I messaged [Emergency Management] and we started conversations about what could be done in the region.”
Looking at who would benefit the most for the first rollout, they landed on Age Concern Southland.
“The Age Concern community is really what drove it . . . they decided they wanted to revamp the book that already exists around older persons and emergency management.”
Borrow a Builder, a way to revamp homes and reduce earthquake risk, was born of this desire.
“What if we could borrow the builders in Southland for a day and come into houses and do some of these things?”
She said this initiative had sparked a lot of conversations around “mobility, affordability and the inability to do some of these actions”.
Emergency Management team leader Janine Cruickshank said the project would help a lot of people, especially in Invercargill.
“It’s really important. We do have an ageing population down here and a lot of people either live on their own or don’t have access to something like this.”
Ms Alger said after this pilot programme, they would evaluate where to take the project next.
“We would love to see this happen in Southland again with more houses, but also more pilot programmes around the country.”