Volunteers living in the Christchurch area have organised a huge relief and clean-up campaign via Facebook, in the wake of Saturday’s earthquake.
Measuring a massive 7.1 on the Richter scale, the earthquake caused widespread devastation to New Zealand’s second largest city. The Student Volunteer Base for Earthquake Clean-up was created by Sam Johnson, a Canterbury University law student, AFP reports.
The 21-year-old told the news site he created the page in response to seeing a number of joke pages and websites crop up in the aftermath of the shock quake. “On Saturday night I saw all these Facebook groups like ‘I survived the quake, lets party’ and ‘buy a T-shirt, Christchurch quake 2010′ had sprung up,” he is quoted as saying. “I thought ‘come on guys, surely we can do something more positive than that and do something positive for the community’.”
More than 2600 members have signed up to attend clean-up efforts. The webpage gives those keen to help tips on areas in need, as well as coordinating specific events.
“If anyone has a truck and is available for an hour or two please contact me, we are in desperate need for someone to go and buy some wheelbarrows (they will be reimbursed over night!) and deliver them out to workers. Please please contact me,” a coordinator on the site asks.
[AFP]
Related: View six months of New Zealand’s seismic activity in less than a minute
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