Christchurch, One year on – What's changed for Volunteer Co-ordinators?

On 4 September 2010 435am local time, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand at 4:35 am causing widespread damage and two injuries to the city of Christchurch,  New Zealand's second-largest city. The quake was followed by many noticeable aftershocks.

Five months later, on Tuesday, 22 February 2011 at 1251pm local time. a magnitude 6.3 earthquake severely damaged the city, killing 185 people. The damage was exacerbated by buildings weakened in the earlier quake.

The City's iconic cathedral was damaged beyond repair. Thousands of homes were rendered inhabitable. The Central Business District was almost levelled. In the midst of this, many not for profits and community agencies lost their premises.  Employees and volunteers worked from their homes. Nothing has been normal for anyone in the city since.

A meeting of Volunteer Managers held on 8 May, 2012, reported the following impacts of the quake. This is reprinted from the June, 2012 Volunteering Canterbury newsletter with permission:

Changes for the worse:
• Unsatisfactory premises
• Isolation and reduced contact with colleagues
• Loss of a fundraising festival
• Loss of contact with volunteers who have `Gone no address'
• Loss of older volunteers who decided not to continue post-earthquake
• Broken relationships which need to be re-established
• Frequent moves leading to loss of clients and volunteers
• Funding cuts
• Internal changes leading to reduced paid staff numbers
• Paid staff and volunteers have moved to be with families in other centres

Changes for the better:
• Development of new programmes
• Finding different ways of doing things
• Office now almost paperless
• Student Volunteer Army has raised the profile of volunteering
• Increased number of volunteers in some areas
• Generosity of people – informal volunteering occurring in local
communities
• Willingness of people to participate in community activities
• New computer led to updated database
• Children have taken volunteering on board
• Increased funding

The newsletter further reports:

We've not yet seen the full effects of the earthquake. These are ongoing, and include things we hadn't expected. We must continue to be flexible and creative. People generally seem more accepting of change and more aware of their limits. We all need to be sensible and adaptable as we go forward.

I want to continue to wish the people of Christchurch, the leaders of volunteers, the volunteers themselves and the Volunteering Canterbury team all the very best as they face the future and build a new Christchurch.

I felt safe

I facilitated a workshop on Tuesday for Volunteering Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The workshop was held at St Mark's Avonhead, Presbyterian Church Community Centre.  Nice facility.

The building has come through all the quakes unscathed.

On my evaluation sheet, we aks a question: What did you feel about the venue and the location?

There were some complaints it was cold (it was a wintery Christchurch day) but overwhelmingly people wrote something I have never seen on an evaluation form before:

It was safe


This is a very telling commentary on how the citizens of Christchurch feel after 3(some would say 4 and some 5) major quakes and 14 000 tremors since September, 2010.
Thoughts are with you guys.


(the workshop went well... 40% of the participants rated it 10 out of 10 30% gave a 9 out of ten 20% 8 out of ten and a got  10% 7 out of ten). Thank you to Ruth, Jan and the team at Vol Can for facilitating it.