$4m boosts quake stress study | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

Over-eating, excessive drinking, chain smoking and sleep deprivation. These are the psychological effects of the 7000-plus earthquakes which have rattled Canterbury since September.

And now, a high-powered university study is about to probe deeper into the the levels of psychological distress earthquake victims are suffering.

University of Otago professor David Fergusson has been granted almost $4 million by the Health Research Council to conduct the study as part of his wider research.

Readers spoken to by The Star yesterday shared the psychological toll the earthquakes have had on them.

Ben Lawrence has been smoking and "boozing" more after the February 22 quake. "I have to say it's made me want to move somewhere that doesn't get earthquakes so I don't have to worry about the stress," he said.

Vanessa Davidson said she and her children were sleeping less, as they were mentally and emotionally exhausted. "The kids are playing up more. We are probably more jumpy than usual. I worry about leaving the kids more, such as at kindy, as it is on the other side of the bridge from us," she said.

Leisha Smith moved to Australia to get away from the earthquakes, but was still experiencing what she called "phantom aftershocks."

Last month, Kirsty Gilmur told The Star she had gained weight from over-eating as a result of earthquake stress. "It was convenient and helped me cope," she said. However, she was trying to lose weight by going to the gym.

Amy Morris thought there would be "a few messed up adults" in Christchurch in the next 10 to 20 years that were children at the time of the quakes.

The study will be part of the ongoing study by Professor Fergusson from the University of Otago, which has been following 1265 children born in Christchurch in 1977 through to the current day.

It will look at earthquake consequences  for those study participants who experienced it, and compare them with participants who were not in Canterbury at that time.


"This study will be unique, because we have so much information on how the participants were before the quake - information that would never normally be available after a natural disaster. Around half of the study cohort was not in Christchurch at the time of the quake, allowing vital comparisons to be made between those that directly experienced the disaster and those that did not,"explained HRC chief executive Dr Robin Olds.