Queenstown residents have stepped up to support their
Canterbury cousins in the aftermath of the earthquake on
Saturday.
New Zealand Red Cross volunteers will travel from the
Wakatipu to Christchurch tomorrow to relieve fellow Red Cross
volunteers from Dunedin and Blenheim who are staffing welfare
centres.
Volunteers from Invercargill and the North Island will also
journey to assist.
The Queenstown team is expected to work 12-hour shifts in the
24-hour centres at Addington Raceway, Burnside High School
and Linwood College until Sunday.
Red Cross service centre co-ordinator Richard Garden, of
Queenstown, said yesterday he and the team would probably
travel by air to the city to be fresh for welfare support
work on arrival.
Mr Garden said volunteers were "eager to help" and their work
would involve the distribution of food, medication and
bedding already in the city as required by residents.
Volunteers would also help organise visits to doctors and
offer psychological support, in terms of listening to people.
The Salvation Army Queenstown Corps was also ready to assist
in the welfare centres and was in contact with the army's
divisional headquarters in Christchurch, corps leader Kenneth
Walker said yesterday.
"They know we're ready to support. We would have a team of
personnel to help with catering at welfare centres. Bedding,
clothes, utensils, the basics, would be trucked up as much as
possible.
"We're poised to step in to do what we can. We'll wait to
receive an indication they need specific help."
Mr Walker said there were several army centres closer to
Christchurch than Queenstown.
Wakatipu volunteers were poised to assist, especially if the
length of time Christchurch residents were displaced from
their homes was prolonged and centre staff needed relieving.
Both the Red Cross and Salvation Army have launched national
appeals for donations towards efforts to help those affected
in Canterbury.
Donations could be made via their websites, telephone lines
or in banks.
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