The Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, in which 185 people died and thousands were injured or made homeless, devastated Christchurch's city centre and surrounding suburbs. They severely damaged the region's landscape and infrastructure. These earthquakes have had significant physical, cultural, social and economic impacts on the city and the region. The earthquakes have been of great interest to scientists and researchers across many fields on local, national and international levels. Whilst multiple forms of inquiry are critical to understand the implications for disaster risk reduction and mitigation strategies, the human stories cannot be left out of such an analysis. This e-book aims to focus on the human stories of disaster response and recovery in order to inform preparedness, prevention, mitigation and management of similar events in the future. This issue brings together papers from researchers working across disciplines, from the humanities and social sciences to emergency medicine and architecture, who have been engaged in documenting the human stories of the Canterbury earthquakes.