Earthquake Update

The Salvation Army is adapting its relief work as Civil Defence scales down its welfare centres in preparation for the closure of all but one centre this weekend.

Southern Division, which has been providing meals to displaced residents and emergency service workers at several welfare centres, has seen demand gradually decline over the past couple of days from a peak of 4700 meals a day.

On Saturday, only Pioneer Stadium will be providing accommodation for displaced residents. The welfare centres will be replaced by up to eight Recovery Assistance Centres staffed by employees of WINZ, Housing New Zealand other government agencies and will have a Salvation Army presence. These centres do not accommodate people overnight. The Salvation Army has committed to provide one meal a day for people coming to the centres who live in areas still without power. Despite the closure of the welfare centres, there remains concerns about where displaced people will live and government agencies are considering temporary villages as a stop-gap.

Yesterday, Salvation Army emergency services volunteers served 2925 meals, including 450 to emergency service personnel.

Community Ministries provided 310 food parcels, most of them delivered to people without transport. The Linwood centre also provided a substantial amount of bulk food to other churches and community agencies to make up their own food parcels for distribution.

Community Ministries centres across the country report manageable workloads as Christchurch residents leave their city for refuge. The exception is Timaru which has seen a 20 per cent increase in its population since the quake. Timaru Community Ministries has gone from providing a handful of food parcels a day to distributing 110 yesterday and serving 137 meals.

Psychosocial support workers in Christchurch continue to face heavy workloads. More than 120 personnel hit the streets with teams of EQC and Christchurch City Council staff and engineers assessing people’s needs and the state of property and infrastructure. Salvation Army team members arranged follow up for people who require food and water or need more intensive support to deal with anxiety, stress or health issues.

Salvationists continue to provide emotional support at welfare centres and for families of the 60 people still missing when they attend police briefings. They also recently accompanied 400 family members when they visited the CBD sites where their missing family members are believed to be.

Donate to the ‘Canterbury Earthquake Appeal’

• Freephone: 0800 53 00 00
• By Post: ‘The Salvation Army, PO Box 27 001 Marion Square, Wellington 6141, New Zealand’
• By Direct Credit: BNZ 02-0568-0091726-02
  
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