Sustaining a biobank through a series of earthquake swarms: lessons learned from our New Zealand experience.

In the early hours of September 4, 2010, the city of Christchurch in New Zealand was awakened by a major magnitude 7.1 earthquake event that was the start of a series of earthquake swarms. By January 2012, the city had sustained over 10,000 earthquakes and aftershocks, including 4 major events. New Zealand is positioned along the geological Pacific Rim of Fire and is subject to volcanic and seismic movements. However, this series of earthquakes arose from a previously undetected fault that had been dormant for over 10,000 years. The impact on the city, businesses, and people of Christchurch has been profound. Sustaining our cancer biobank through this period has been extremely challenging, as our city's infrastructure including utilities, telecommunication, and transport facilities were fractured, buildings collapsed, and a National State of Emergency was declared. What had not been anticipated was that this impact would continue to be felt up to the present time. After each major earthquake event, the immediate focus of our response was to ensure the safety of all personnel. The secondary response was to ensure the continued preservation of stored specimens. Our third response was to reestablish operational processes without endangering staff. Our responses have been reviewed and lessons formulated that can be incorporated into biobank emergency response plans. They include operational aspects of equipment restraint, cryostorage, staff trauma, specimen relocation, legislation, and management of the repair processes. Emergency response planning for a biobank is a "best practice" standard. Future-proofing a biobank from a significant natural disaster such as a series of earthquake swarms is limited. However, lessons learned from our experience may help to mitigate the impact of future events within our global community.