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A car is damaged by debris in Christchurch - Source: ONE News -
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During the global financial crisis many a commentator suggested it would be a shame to waste a good crisis. And if the way events have unfolded over the past week is anything to go by, the same could be said for the Canterbury earthquake.
In light of the destruction and disruption being endured by so many Canterbury residents, it seemed a little off to be discussing the potential benefits of the earthquake so soon after the fact.
But nevertheless, it was not just an earth-moving but a market-moving event and while markets are often stirred by sentiment, they're not sentimental.
Markets are always quick to calculate the costs, the risks and the potential benefits of anything that may affect company performance and therefore stock prices. That's exactly what happened when markets opened on Monday morning.
There are no prizes for guessing who the winners and losers were: Fletcher Building's shares soared, while the mounting potential cost of quake claims weighed on the insurers.
Disclosure notices from companies with exposure to the Canterbury region then came thick and fast. On the whole, listed companies fared fairly well.
Lyttelton Port sustained significant damage but only had to delay a coal shipment by a day and one of Millenium and Copthorne's hotels had to be closed - but other than that it was only retail stores having to be closed for a few days.
Then the debate moved to whether the quake could actually shake the economy out of the recovery pattern of little-to-no-growth that it's currently experiencing.
Probably not something that Cantabrians with ruined homes currently squatting over buckets or in their back gardens have given a second thought to.
Much like discussions of the potential boom following the $1.6 billion payout to South Canterbury Finance depositors, quake victims, like miffed taxpayers, may eventually think: well that's all well and good but pity it had to be at our expense.
However, the benefits could well be negligible and there's obviously a trade off - will short-term disruption be outweighed by the predicted impending boom in construction as the rebuild gets underway?
The first evidence of the short-term hit has emerged already - Paymark says spending on its eftpos network on Saturday and Sunday was down 32%, or $8.1 million on last year. But most economists seem to believe that once we're past that, the economy will receive a boost.
Then there's the pledges of assistance from corporates, big and small. Natural Dairy NZ - best known for its controversial, now partially abandoned plans to spend $1.5 billion on New Zealand dairy land and processing facilities - pledged $250,000.
A rather large pledge for a company that hasn't yet secured any assets, but then, it also hasn't made many friends.
I had a call the morning of the quake from a big bank as PR teams went into overdrive getting news out of their respective organisations' efforts.
Those donations will no doubt be very welcome no matter what their motivation, and I hope more follow suit.
Yet call me a sceptic if you will but their altruism to me is watered down by every repeated attempt to ensure they get bang for their buck in news coverage when the news event itself is still unfolding.
But then, it would be a shame to waste a good crisis.
