Council Donate to Earthquake Relief Fund

Rural Canterbury residents impacted by the earthquake are to get a boost from the Stratford District Council.

At its meeting on Tuesday, Stratford District Council decided to donate $5000 from the Mayoral fund to the two rural councils at the epicentre of the quake, Waimakariri and Selwyn District Councils.

Mayor Neil Volzke is urging Stratford residents, schools and businesses to contribute to the Mayoral fund.

Mr Volzke says he has spoken with Waimakariri mayor Ron Keating, who is very grateful for the support from all over New Zealand.

“He said they don’t need food and blankets. It’s not that sort of disaster, but they need cash so the families affected can buy what they need”, said Mr Volzke.

Stratford residents who want to donate money to the relief efforts in Canterbury can hand their donations in to the council which will pass it on via the mayoral fund.

Council chose to support the rural areas affected by the disaster because they are rural communities much like Stratford.

Chief Executive Michael Freeman says they have also offered to send staff to assist in the affected areas.

Building inspectors and engineers from outside Canterbury have been called in to assist with checking the buildings and other work involved in repairing the damage caused by the earthquake.

“We’ve made the offer of sending various staff to assist in a number of roles but it’s more likely they will go down later when the people down there need a rest”, said Mr Freeman.

ENDS

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