Off The Richter

Three local Brunswick residents, Bec Klaassen a New Zealander; Amy Mulcahy, a member of the Rotary Club of Brunswick and Lois Sandilands , were compelled to put their personal resources together to create a night of talent, hosted by the Brunswick Hotel, to raise much-needed funds for the city of Christchurch.

"I was devastated to see the destruction and trauma on the faces of the people affected. I felt compelled to try to do something to help. I thought of ways I could help. I know a lot of bands here in Melbourne and people I could approach who would be willing to help. So I decided to organise a gig to raise as much money as possible, to assist in re-building the city and the lives of the people effected." – Bec Klaasen

The Rotary Club of Brunswick, along with Otway Pork to sponsored the night.

Cooperation abounds - Rotary acknowledged

The National Disaster Relief Forum (NDRF) comprises a number of NGO groups (World Vision, Tearfund, ADRA, Save the Children, Christian World Service, Oxfam, Cbm etc and RNZWCS) Rotary has been represented on NDRF since its inception by PDG Stuart Batty on behalf of RNZWCS. NDRF also has links back into the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) through Jamila Homayun who is NGO Liaison & Disaster Coordinator at Council for International Development (CIDS) which Stuart has an association with.

In the immediate months post ‘the Feb 22^nd earthquakes’ both Stuart and Ross Skinner attended NDRF meetings, sometimes several per week initially, where various immediate response focuses and needs were discussed amongst the agencies. DG Margaret Reeve also attended several of those meetings. Stuart has continued to attend monthly meetings as the initial response needs have become less.

Throughout the disaster and post-disaster recovery, the various agencies have co-operated and worked together for common goals which isn’t often prevalent in aid response internationally, where often there are competing agencies and rivalries.  In addition, much of this work has occurred without constant publicity.

To illustrate this, in The Press of last weekend, Greg Jackson of CWS (who has handled media relations on behalf of the NDRF Earthquake Response Group  in Christchurch) said in his article:  ‘My own favourite example of how it worked in practise was the Linwood Avenue Salvation Army Warehouse food-relief operation. There we kept an overall eye on the operation, while World Vision supplied logistics staff, the Sallies sourced and packed the food which was then delivered by Rotary volunteers using their own vehicles.                 

Another excerpt  in the article reads:  

‘Rotary have proved to be one of the bedrock community groups who have provided quiet, efficient support to the relief and recovery effort. If people needed a truck, Rotary found it. If people needed holidays, Rotary brokered it.  Local, national and International Rotary support for Christchurch relief efforts have been huge.’