The Efficacy of the Neo-Liberal Individual Choice Model for Encouraging Post-Disaster Change: Developments in the East Cape Region of New Zealand following Cyclone Bola (March 1988)

The government of New Zealand instituted a new policy of disaster response in an attempt to bring about change and development in the relatively remote agricultural region which was struck by a severe cyclone in March 1988. The new policy involved a change from payment for restoration to compensation for loss. This new policy was based on the neo-liberal position that individual choice should prevail in decision making and that significant change will result from this adherence to an individual decision making approach. The new policy did not accomplish any significant degree of change in the intended areas of land ownership and land use. Most of the farmers used the compensation funds to carry out on-farm restoration work which facilitated the resumption of pre-cyclone farming activities. It is argued that the efficacy of a neo-liberal individual choice model for accomplishing post-disaster change and development is limited and that a more institutionally and organisationally based approach would be much more effective and efficient.