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research showed. Local residents recognised the irony of living in an agricultural district with plenty of livestock but with no means to access the meat.

At the same time, the 24 dairy farms in the district were forced to dump thousands of litres of milk each day for three weeks because tankers could not access their farms. And much of the region’s seafood was off limits due to the uplift of the seabed.

One of the authors said there was real local desire to come up with initiatives to improve the food situation, though these had been ‘‘a little slow to get off the ground’’.

Hill was concerned they still faced the same vulnerabilities as three years ago, and despite the rebuild, they would be cut off again.

‘‘If it happened again, it would be the same story,’’ Hill said.

Takahanga Marae kauma¯tua elders Angela Timms and Karen Starkey said many members of the wha¯ nau had left town in the years following the earthquake, but they were trickling back home.

They said the marae was always a ‘‘steady, stable’’ place. It opened its doors on the day of the quake, acting as a relief centre and catering for more than 1000 tourists in the days following the earthquake.

It had been mentioned by some experts that another natural disaster was a possibility, but in that case they would know exactly what to do, Timms said.

They probably wouldn’t do anything differently, except make sure they kept a closer eye on the ones looking after everyone else, she said.

The marae had already begun the process of becoming self-sustainable by installing water tanks and generators. They had plans for a water filtration system and were looking at solar panels.

Whale Watch Kaiko¯ura general manager Kauahi Ngapora said they had rebuilt business to be ahead of pre-earthquake numbers, and the restored harbour was ‘‘humming along’’.

The new tender jetty had been successful for visiting cruise ships and they were looking forward to seeing that market grow, he said.

However, restoration works had focused on restoring functionality, and any growth beyond what was currently planned would be difficult to achieve, Ngapora said. They were looking forward to seeing the road work completed, ‘‘it has the potential to be an experience in its own right’’.

‘‘I’m no engineer but the efforts and funds gone into restoring many aspects of Kaiko¯ ura’s critical infrastructure are sure to set the town up better for the future and provide a degree of resilience should anything like this happen in the very distant future.’’

A New Zealand Transport Agency spokeswoman said recovery work, like adding retaining walls, rockfall protection and the thousands of rock anchors designed to strengthen slip sites, were all intended to make the roads more resilient.

They had also developed rail tunnel extensions, debris flow bridges and the highway had been moved