FEATURE ARTICLES
Botanic gardens: a refuge during times of stress and disaster. Notes of the experience at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens Wolfgang Bopp, Director of Botanic Gardens and Garden Parks and Bede Nottingham, Team Leader for Operations Support, Christchurch Botanic Gardens
At the start of the year, most of us had no idea that ‘lockdown’, ‘contact tracing’, ‘quarantine’ and ‘self-isolation’ would ever be part of our daily life, other than when visiting remote habitats as a special holiday. Nine months later this is the reality with which we must deal. How has Christchurch Botanic Gardens fared during this time and how does this compare to what happened a decade ago in Christchurch? September 2010 was the month when the city of Christchurch was rocked by a strong earthquake. It caused considerable damage and although residents were busy with clearing up their homes and businesses, they also found time to visit their botanic gardens. Surprisingly, figures show that we had more visitors during this time compared to the long-term average. To many, it was a place of safety and solace, away from any buildings, and immersed in plants and nature, it was somewhere to take respite from the stresses of the day. The strongest aftershock occurred on 22 February 2011, centred close to the city during the middle of the day. Sadly, this was more destructive, and 185 people lost their lives. People in the city centre rushed to the gardens, the only large open space of safety. Parts of the inner city, including the area around the gardens, were declared a red exclusion zone, with the army patrolling access to these areas, and visitation dropped, as many thought the gardens were off-limits. There was also liquefaction, where the ground turned to liquid, affecting about a third of the city area. Within about six months visitor numbers were close to average again, even without the normal influx of tourists as the city was severely damaged and there were few hotel beds still available.
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THE BOTANIC GARDENer | ISS 55 SUMMER 2020/21
