Proximal and Distal Emergency Management : The Wellington Response to the Christchurch Emergency 2011

This paper records issues in the Wellington regional response to the recent Canterbury earthquakes. It begins work on the concept of proximal and distal emergency management. That concept relates to emergency planning and crisis response. Specifically, it refers to the requirments when there is a major response required outside of the authority's territory. The main aspects of this situation explored in the present paper relate to human resource management. The ideas in this paper are based on interviews with crisis managers in Wellington, New Zealand, who had to respond to the Christchruch earthquakes in 2010-11. The authors dedicate this work to those in distress because of the Canterbury emergencies and to those who work in a practical way to alleviate their suffering