Dunedin Civil Defence has established an earthquake assistance centre for Christchurch people arriving in Dunedin.
The assistance centre would be housed on Saturday and Sunday at the Dunedin Visitor Centre i-Site in Princes St, by the Octagon, from 8.30am to 6pm, civil defence and rural fires manager Neil Brown said.
From Monday, it would be at the Work and Income Community Link offices, with entry off Castle St.
Mr Brown said yesterday most people arriving from Christchurch had sorted out accommodation and other resources they needed privately.
"This is really for those who haven't got something planned."
Organised by the Civil Defence welfare management group, the assistance centre would have referral services to enable people to access accommodation, grants and support services.
While people were clearly travelling to Dunedin from Christchurch, there were still no formal evacuees, Mr Brown said.
The number of people coming, though, may increase with news some schools are to be closed for some time.
Mr Brown said a call had also come from Christchurch for water and waste staff to help out in Christchurch, and volunteers from the Dunedin City Council had already agreed to go.
He expected the response from Dunedin to become "much more resource intensive" as the emergency moved from a rescue operation to the next stage.
Southland Civil Defence has organised a similar facility.
Welfare manager Paula Burke said Christchurch families were starting to arrive in Invercargill, and the key thing was for people to register their movements if they had left Christchurch.
A registration desk would be available at Nga Hau e Wha marae today from 10am-2pm for people to register.
Counselling and other services would also be available, and to support families, donations of non-perishable food, good quality clothing, blankets and bedding could be dropped off to Smith City, Leven St in Invercargill.
