The debate has been ongoing about which countries more efficiently deal with long-term recovery from disaster. Most recently, an article titled  Christchurch highlights how rich can lag at rebuilding,  Japan Times FEB 23, 2013, generated a lot of attention and controversy.

I am pleased to feature this reply, which has not been published anywhere else.  Did Bureacracy Delay the Christchurch Recovery? by Ian McLean.  The paper is short (4 pages) so I will not attempt to summarize it.

I think the paper underscores the point that the pace of recovery is not the only factor to consider. In my experience, recovery has at least three essential attributes: efficiency, effectiveness, and equity.  And of course there is a cost factor.

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Mr. McLean is the principal of Ian McLean Consultancy Services, Ltd. in Rotorua, NZ. He was the lead author of the report titled  “Review of the CDEM Response to 22 Feb Christchurch Earthquake,” which was done under contract to the Director of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, NZ. Details about that report and related articles are on the NZ page of this blog.