Thursday 24 November 2016 12:28pm
The University's Christchurch (left) and Wellington campuses were affected by last Monday's major earthquake.
Staff and students at the University of Otago’s campuses in Wellington and Christchurch are being praised for their patience and hard work following last Monday’s major earthquake.
New Zealand suffered a magnitude 7.8 earthquake centred near Kaikoura on 14 November which affected some of the University’s buildings in Wellington and Christchurch.
The large earthquake was felt very strongly in parts of Wellington and along with many aftershocks had a significant impact on staff and students at the University’s Wellington campus.
In addition, Wellington suffered from storms and heavy rain and flooding in the days following the quake. The main building was closed for two days.
Dean and Head of the Wellington campus Professor Sunny Collings gives her heartfelt thanks to staff who worked long hours to complete business-as-usual, such as student assessments while the buildings were checked.
In many cases staff had whanau/home issues to worry about and she says she is very grateful for everyone’s commitment to the campus at such a difficult time.
Professor Collings sent a series of all-staff emails in order to keep everybody updated over the two days immediately following the 7.8 quake.
Meanwhile, the University’s Christchurch campus was closed for much of the day on the day of the quake while engineers checked and cleared all buildings for occupation.
Christchurch campus Dean Professor David Murdoch thanked staff and students for their patience during this process. He reminded staff the Employee Assistance Programme was available for anyone who felt unsettled or wanted support following the quake.
Need more information?
There are continuous updates and useful information here from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.
And there has been good coverage by media with updates on the quake from Jamie Morton in the NZ Herald and Stuff.
