Can I thank the organising committee on your behalf for the work they have done, and on our behalf for choosing Christchurch.
We are indeed honoured to host such a prestigious conference especially since the previous five conferences have been hosted in: Tokyo (1995); Lisbon (1999); Berkeley (2004); Thessaloniki (2007); and Santiago (2011). With the exception of Tokyo, we are all members of the 100 Resilient Cities network pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, which says something about our collective understanding of the importance of resilience in the world of increasing uncertainty that we face.