Are You Ready to Shake, Dunedin?

The Creation of a Short Documentary to Commemorate the 1974 Dunedin Earthquake

Abstract

In 1974, I was one and a half years old. We didn’t own a TV in my family’s home, but if we had, we would have perhaps been watching Coronation Street on the evening of the 9th of April (there was only one channel - black and white). My mother remembers the quake quite vividly - the sound like a train roaring outside confused her for a moment. Once she realised what was happening, Mum rushed her little family under the strong, oaken kitchen table as our little bungalow shook.

I have been making a short film in which we find out about Dunedin’s moderate intensity 1974 earthquake through the firsthand memories of residents of the time and through our local earthquake experts. How did the earthquake manifest in our city? What damage was caused? How prepared were we?

Taking this experience further: what is the potential for a larger quake to happen here - could nearby fault lines deliver an earthquake to Dunedin of catastrophic proportions? Have we learned from 1974 enough to be prepared for such an event?
In my presentation, I’ll discuss my process for finding a narrative approach to this documentary in order to bring about audience engagement and even entertainment to this communication resource, thus amplifying retention of the important messaging of resilience and preparedness.

Supervised by: Caroline Orchiston

Scholarship Project Funded by: The Centre for Sustainability