Coastguard Volunteers help with Christchurch Earthquake response

Christchurch has been through an experience we never want to see again. Our Coastguard family have lost friends and family members, and we  are awaiting news about one volunteer who is still unaccounted for  and have farewelled another who sadly lost his life in the CTV building. This devastating quake has affected so many lives. We hope you and your family are safe and well if you live in Christchurch. With two degrees of separation even if you don’t live here you are likely to have family and friends in Christchurch and we hope they too are safe. If that isn’t the case please accept our deepest and most sincere condolences. We know that this disaster has touched people across the country and around the world.

I want to tell you how you have helped Coastguard  make a difference in Christchurch and helped our community. We do say that saving lives at sea begins on land, what we mean is that the planning, communications and incident management activities that go into responding to a search and rescue situation at sea are all done on land.  Right now those are the very skills that have meant Coastguard volunteers have been invaluable in helping Civil Defence respond in this national disaster.

Many generous volunteers have worked at welfare centres, a fantastic team in Sumner helped the local Fire Service and still more have been involved in helping inner city residents get back into their homes for the first time as cordons are lifted.

But without the help of our generous supporters we wouldn’t have been able to fund the training our volunteers need to be able to provide such a valuable service—thank you very much.