Christchurch earthquake: summary of Telecom NZ actions

In the two weeks since the devastating earthquake of 22 February, Telecom's people have worked around the clock to help the people of Christchurch. The work goes on.

We have raised money, fixed broken cables and worked closely with the emergency services and local businesses. Here's a summary of what we have been able to do so far.

Telecom

* Telecom people in New Zealand and Australia have directly donated over $188,000 so far to the 'Telecom big whip-around fund'. They have raised this through individual donations, bake sales, collections and other fundraising initiatives off their own bat. This will be matched dollar for dollar by Telecom, so will amount to around $400,000 which will be donated to the New Zealand Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Appeal.

* Telecom provides, for free, the official Red Cross text-to-donate service. So far over $107,000 has been raised from donations from across the main mobile networks.

* The Telecom-sponsored 'Givealittle' appeal has raised more than $160,000 http://www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/christchurchquake

* Kiwis donated around 10,000 analogue phones in response to Telecom's campaign, and many thousands of these have been distributed to those in need across Christchurch.

* Telecom has made 260 payphones across Christchurch free for local, national and mobile calls. Around 5,000 calls are being made a day with over 91,000 calls made so far. Locations of Telecom free payphones and WiFi hotspots can be found at www.telecom.co.nz/chch

* Three Telecom WiFi hotspots across Christchurch are also free, enabling people without internet access to use free wireless broadband.

* Telecom set up seven Connect Hubs at welfare centres across the city to provide free phone charging, internet access and telephone services Four Telecom Retail stores have also offered these services.

* Telecom is providing free call diversion and waiving termination fees for customers who need to terminate their contract due to their home or premises being permanently unsafe. Customers are also able to suspend their access line until they have a new address, but keep their current phone number (providing they move within the same exchange area).

* Telecom ensured all Civil Defence social assistance sites had telecommunications service since within hours of the earthquake, for example through the provision of temporary mobile sites, and has given around $90,000 worth of phones and credit to charities and volunteers in Christchurch.

* Around 600 mobile phones have been donated by Telecom to charities and volunteers in Christchurch.

Telecom people

* Telecom is also providing all practical means of support to its 1600 Christchurch-based people, including housing assistance, counselling and support, paid leave and provision of home security.

* We used text, email, our website, Twitter and Facebook to get information to our staff, and provide a way for Christchurch-based staff to ask for assistance and for staff all over New Zealander to offer their support.
- 609 calls were made to the Telecom employee helpline, with requests for help, and offers of support
- 300 offers of accommodation were made by Telecom staff

* Telecom has organised two deliveries a day of water, hand sanitiser, camping toilets, gas stoves, solar showers and other useful equipment to Christchurch. This has been distributed to Telecom staff using GPS positioning to identify those people located in areas that require specific care items.
As a result:
- Around 80 camping toilets have been distributed
- 300 face masks, 500 packets of Wet Wipes and 1500 rubbish bags distributed

Chorus

* Since the earthquake Chorus technicians have spent around 850 hours working in manholes around Christchurch reconnecting more than 55,000 individual wires to repair earthquake-damaged telecommunications cables.

* Over the last two weeks, we've repaired more than 100 major faults restoring services to around 10,000 end-customers.

* Chorus has prioritised and fulfilled 100 priority provisioning requests to support the Civil Defence effort and customers with medical dependencies.

* Over the last few days Chorus representatives have walked more than 160km to deliver network updates to the letterboxes and doorsteps of 12,000 residents in the New Brighton area.

* Today the Student Army will help us deliver another 30,000 letters in the Linwood, Dallington and Shirley areas.

Gen-i

* Gen-i continues to provide close support to its infrastructure and government clients, including the Ministry of Social Development, to ensure they have the telecommunications and IT systems they require to do what they need to do.

* Gen-i is also working closely with banking and insurance providers as well as construction firms, to support rebuild and recovery activities across Canterbury.

* Gen-i's two Christchurch data centres remain operable. Some client infrastructure is being relocated to Gen-i data centres or alternative sites around the country, and many others are using Gen-i enabled 'cloud' solutions for virtual computing and storage, email and internet security.

* Gen-i is helping clients with contact centres to divert calls to alternative sites, and work remotely through our Gen-i Mobile Office (GMO) service.

* In addition to on-the-ground technical field force teams, Gen-i is deploying ICT equipment such as servers, laptops, mobile devices and accessories. Gen-i has shipped additional IT equipment to Christchurch and is now holding increased stock levels to help restore ICT services for clients.

* Gen-i is also working with clients to provide non-technical support on the ground. For example Mainfreight worked with the Interislander to deliver generators, camping equipment and office furniture to Christchurch immediately following the earthquake. They also collected 6,000 litres of bottled water from Tauranga and transported it to Christchurch.

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