Earthquake help

Before and after. Somehow one of the hardest things is seeing the ChristChurch Cathedral spire destroyed. It is a symbol of our city, and it seems to sum up everything that has happened over the last few days.

'Solid ground;' 'feet on the ground;' 'grounded.' These expressions don't seem to mean a hell of a lot anymore. LOML and I heard about the Christchurch earthquake when a colleague of his called him at 1am (our time; we were in Ireland) shortly after it happened. We stayed up till 4am desperately trying to track down all our family members and friends and feeling very helpless.

We were really, really lucky.

All our loved ones are safe. A staggering amount of Christchurch people are not in the same position, however. As of this morning, 102 people are confirmed dead and 228 are missing.

My mum was meant to go into work in the central city on the day of the quake. She stayed home because she wasn't feeling well. The building she works in was flattened. I'm trying not to play the 'what-if' game, but it's hard.

Everyone in Christchurch is pulling together, providing support, rescue, medical services, necessities and consolation where possible. The rest of the country - and the world - has rallied around also. People are injured; distressed; tired; and, in many cases, have no food, power, petrol or clean water. My best friend Caroline has been working around the clock in a triage station dealing with the severely injured. My stepfather is working with the Civil Defence. My sister is part of the army of students cleaning up the streets and damaged houses. There's not much we can do from over here, apart from lending emotional support - and money. If you want to donate anything towards the rescue and relief efforts, there are many ways you can do so. The always-lovely Anita from Wellington has put together a fantastic list of important contacts and donation sites which I will reproduce here (thanks, Anita!).

USEFUL CONTACTS

• New Zealand Red Cross Person Enquiry Line: 0800 REDCROSS (0800 733 276)
• For people enquiring about family from outside New Zealand: +64 7 850 2199
• International Visitors in Christchurch who need assistance should call 0800 779 997 (the official earthquake hotline!)
• New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management website: www.mcdem.govt.nz or http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/.
• Environment Canterbury's earthquake site: http://canterburyearthquake.org.nz/.
• Christchurch Airport: http://www.christchurchairport.co.nz/.

If you want to help, here's what you can do:

DONATIONS

Go online and donate to the Salvation Army from anywhere in the world here.

ASB, ANZ and the National Bank are also taking donations:
1. ASB Bank: Account number: 12-3205-0146808-00. BIC/SWIFT code: ASBBNZ2A
2. ANZ Bank: Account number 01-1839-0188939-00. BIC/SWIFT code: ANZBAU3M
3. National Bank: Account number 06-0869-0548507-00. BIC/SWIFT code: ANZBNZ22

I haven't been able to go to the website of the New Zealand Red Cross. It seemed to be momentarily overloaded. But please do try it yourself.

You can also donate to Women's Refuge here.

You can also donate via GrabOne and 1-dayout.

Whatever charity or organisation you want to go through to make a donation, research them before you make contact to avoid the spammers that are already surfacing!

DONATIONS VIA TEXT MESSAGE

An easy thing to do if you are a Vodafone customer: text 'QUAKE' to 333 ($3) or 555 ($5) to DONATE to RED CROSS for Christchurch Emergency Appeal. 100% of funds go to the Red Cross. A $10 and $20 text donation will be launched on ALL networks later today. Check with your provider!

DONATING BLOOD

Before you go out to donate blood, contact your local blood bank or Red Cross office to make an appointment. Lots of people have already donated, so the blood banks are looking good. Give them a call first to make sure your blood is needed and that they have the resources to take it.

TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION

If you are in the Wellington region and have a spare bed or even a couch for Cantabrians being evacuated, please get in touch with the Wellington City Council at (04) 801 4205 or email CD.Welfare@wcc.govt.nz with your details.

If you are in the Auckland region please do the same by calling 0800 Auckland (0800 282 552).

Also, check out these Facebook pages here and here if you are looking for accomodation yourself or know someone who is.

MUCKING IN

If you're in Christchurch, check out the amazing work being done by the UCSA Student Volunteer Army here and join in!

Thank you for all your kind messages.

Kia kaha.