Abstract
The magnitude 7.1 Canterbury earthquake in September 2010 and associated aftershocks have caused untold damage, drastically changed residents' living, working, social conditions and taken the lives of 184 people.
Aim: To assess the impact of the Christchurch earthquakes on changes in smoking status and tobacco consumption of current smokers.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews in public locations with high pedestrian flow, including two city malls and the central bus exchange. The interviews were carried out 15 months after the first major earthquake. A total of 1001 people were interviewed.
Results: At the August 2010 point (prior to any earthquakes) 589 (58.9%) had smoked cigarettes or tobacco at some point in their lives; 400 (40.9%) never smoked and three participants (0.3%) were not sure. Of the 319 people who were not smoking in August 2010, 76 (23.8%) had smoked at least one cigarette since the September earthquake, 29 (38.2%) of whom had smoked more than 100 cigarettes. Of the 273 participants smoking in August 2010, 86 (31.5%) had since decreased consumption, 94 (34.4%) had not changed, deletion and 93 (34.1%) had increased consumption. Of the 86 people who decreased, six (7.0%) attributed the earthquake and subsequent lifestyle as a reason to reduce smoking. Of the 93 people who increased, 53 (57.0%) attributed the earthquake and subsequent lifestyle changes as a reason to increase smoking.
Conclusion: The prevalence of smoking in Christchurch has increased in the 15 months following the first major quake in Sept 2010. 28% of people not smoking prior to the earthquakes smoked one or more cigarettes and people smoking prior to the earthquakes increased their consumption.
- © 2012 ERS
