This paper incorporates peer researchers from refugee backgrounds to deconstruct their experiences of conducting interviews and focus groups with refugee communities in a post-disaster environment in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. The associated dynamics illustrate the contextual intricacies of recruitment, building relationships, the politics of interpreting and engaging with people's lived experiences in respectful and safe ways. The peer researchers' experiences highlight several methodological and ethical complexities to critically examine the role of 'insiders' and 'outsiders' as a continuum when working in post-disaster contexts with culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

The Canterbury earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks have presented a number of challenges for resettled refugee communities living in this region. These events highlight the need to recognise the diversity within culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations for effective disaster preparedness and response initiatives. This paper presents a pilot study of focus groups conducted with the Ethiopian, Afghan and Bhutanese communities about their perspectives and responses to this particular disaster. The participant comments illustrate both the forms of resilience and potential vulnerabilities within these distinct communities and reveal how social work can play an important role in disaster risk reduction strategies. PAGE 60 AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND SOCIAL WORK ISSUE 25(2), 2013disasters. This relative lacuna makes it difficult to determine how best to develop proactive and informed disaster risk reduction approaches with CALD communities.