Christchurch Earthquake Relief Journal (Day 2)

Back at the CBS Arena at 7.00 am for breakfast, followed by an 8.00 am briefing at the Sydenham Corps. We were divided into teams of 8 and the team I was assigned to was sent out into a suburb called Avondale to do "Street Visits" - door to door contacting to assess unmet needs in the community. Two weeks on, and there were still many people who didn't have power, water or sewerage. There were those with medical needs, transportation issues, were low on food or just not sure what to do or where to go. We also encountered a number of people who were very fearful of further quakes and were showing signs of depression and anxiety. Here are some examples of stories we heard:

• A man who was on his way out for a knee operation today, had little food in the house or petrol for his car. He is insulin dependant and no power to refrigerate his medication.
• An older man who had liquefaction dust right throughout his house. He had to rip up most of his carpet and all his belongings were coated in this dust.
• An elderly couple whose wife has chrones disease and no access to a toilet.
• Numerous people digging holes in their backyard as make-shift toilets.
• Another elderly couple whose wife had just finished chemo treatment before the earthquake and had limited access to facilities or services.
• A young mum who was in need of a builder to assess sewerage smells rising up through cracks inside her house, unsure if she needed to tear out her shower recess and vanity unity to determine seriousness of damage. Three doors down the street, we found a neighbour who is a builder and was willing to come and inspect the damage.
• A neighbour expressing serious concern about an 80 year old couple staying with their son who was charging them $100 a week for the privilege and making them look after themselves with meals. They were desperate to return to their own home, but had no access to a toilet, electricity or water.
• A house with the entire front end leaning into the rest of the property with wide open cracks on all main walls and through the front garden.
• A house that had been abandoned with their security alarm blaring for the past day and a half.
• An elderly women who had a large hole in her roof. We were able to borrow a neighbours ladder and fix a tarp in place as a temporary solution to keep the rain out.

Every street was covered in liquefaction and had huge mounds pushing through the bitumen. The river running along one street had raw sewerage floating in it, underground pipes were broken with large puddles everywhere and water running into some properties. The council were working overtime trying to attend to an impossible number of street repairs.

It was a real privilege not only to assess these needs and report them to the appropriate authorities, but to be able to immediately respond to some of them. We distributed dozens of chemical toilets, food hampers and petrol vouchers; organised medical attention where required for physical and mental health issues; and gave people access to information about a number of services that were available to them in their neighbourhood. Local recreation centres were set up as a "one stop shop" with a variety of social and government services, toilets, showers and washing machines.

The reception we received at every single door was overwhelmingly positive and appreciative. On a number of occasions there was a reluctance to accept assistance for very real needs, as they felt there were people out there worse off than them. Beyond the practical assistance, people just needed someone to listen. The team I worked with were an amazing group of New Zealanders from both Nth & Sth who put their lives on hold to make a difference in the lives of their countrymen.