Images courtesy of Reuters

Christchurch Earthquake

Quick links

• World Vision on the ground in Christchurch ►
• Support and resources ►
• Church and Prayer resources ►

World Vision on the ground in Christchurch

World Vision deployed disaster experts from our Auckland office and World Vision Australia shortly after the devastating February 22 earthquake in Christchurch. We have been collaborating with a number of partners to support the response in an effective and meaningful way. This has been focused around our key areas of expertise: disaster relief management and psychosocial/child welfare:

• Partnering with the Salvation Army to distribute essential supplies like food, water, blankets and sanitary items to affected communities through the Linwood and Sydenham distribution centres.
  
  World Vision collected over $119,700 for the Christchurch relief effort on behalf of the salvation army.

• Collaborating as part of the NGO Disaster Relief Forum to assist the Government's earthquake response
  
  
• Working in with the ministries of Social Development and Education to support mid to long term psychosocial needs of children and families.
  
  
• Partnering with Parents Inc. to provide practical resources to help parents deal with children who have been distressed by the events of February 22. A message from Parents Inc. CEO, Bruce Pilbrow http://www.theparentingplace.com/index.php. See our resources section for more information.

 

Here are some thoughts, reflections and images from our response in Christchurch
Click here to view the Christchurch images.

 

Support and resources

Helping children feel safe again:
Children respond to disaster type situations in many different ways. Helping children to feel safe and to express their emotions appropriately is important in the recovery phase.

World Vision's Child Protection expert and Cantabrian, Heather MacLeod is in Christchurch supporting response efforts, particularly focussing on the psychosocial welfare of children and families. Heather has responded in other large-scale emergency responses such as the Rwandan genocide, the Asia tsunami and Pakistan earthquake. Here are simple tips for Christchurch parents dealing with distressed children:

1. Adult support: It is important to be available to do things together and listen if your child wants to talk.
2. Daily routine:  Re-establish routines or patterns that children are used to, and always talk about the future
3. Play: Have fun together and allow children to express feelings

Parents Inc. have also provided us with the following links to websites and resources that parents can access to help them support their children during this time.

Please click the following links to access these resources:
Support Services
Helping children after trauma
Supporting children through traumatic events

Parents Inc. have a number of other very useful resources to help support parents and children. For more information, visit http://www.parentsinc.org.nz

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Church and Prayer Resources

A prayer response to the Christchurch earthquake

Most New Zealanders have never experienced close hand a natural disaster on this scale – until now.  The desire to help those affected is overwhelming, and yet we cannot all be there to lend a hand.  What we can do however is pray.

The following is a prayer written by New Zealander, Sande Ramage in response to the Christchurch earthquake.
Click here to download the prayer

 

Church Prayer Slides

We would like to invite you to pray for those, especially children, who are suffering as a result of this disaster.

World Vision has created a set of prayer slides as a resource available for all churches. To download the Christchurch earthquake prayer slides please click here.