Simons, Cogent Social Sciences (2016), 2: 1126169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2015.1126169 MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES | RESEARCH ARTICLE Projecting failure as success: Residents’ perspectives of the Christchurch earthquakes recovery 1,2 Received: 21 October 2015 Greg Simons * Accepted: 26 November 2015 Abstract: In September 2010 and February 2011, the Canterbury region was rocked *Corresponding author: Greg Simons, Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian by a series of earthquakes. The success or otherwise, of a recovery from a crisis Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Communication can be found in the perceptions of stakeholders. Many different stakeholders exist, Sciences, Swedish National Defence including different levels of Government, bureaucratic institutions and state College, Turiba University, Riga, Latvia E-mail:
[email protected] institutions, private enterprise, non-governmental organisations and the public. In this article, the public are the focus and their perception of the recovery is collected. Reviewing editor: Claudia Alvares, Universidade Lusofona An online survey was conducted, and it demonstrates a significant gap between the de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Portugal Government’s perception and the perception of residents of Christchurch. How do publics react when they feel as though they have been marginalised by the authori- Additional information is available at the end of the article ties charged with the crisis event recovery? The Government’s account of success is not shared by the majority of respondents, who have mobilised politically using social media platforms. There are implications for Governments and authorities that are seen to fail segments of the public in the age of social media, where crisis management and public relations meet and political mobilisation against officials and official bodies takes place.