Ministerial Statements — Earthquake—Christchurch 
Ministerial Statements — Earthquake—Christchurch 
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Ministerial Statements 
Earthquake—Christchurch 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
 on behalf of the  
Prime Minister 
: I wish to make a ministerial statement. Today we would as a Parliament particularly want to mark the tragic loss of life and injury that has occurred as a result of the earthquake in Canterbury yesterday to express our deepest sympathy to the families friends and colleagues of those who have died and those who are still missing and to acknowledge the work of the rescue teams who are working so hard in very difficult circumstances. 
Yesterday was indeed one of New Zealand’s darkest days. It is hard to believe that this Parliament is again assembling to mark another tragedy although the scale and severity of this second Christchurch earthquake is so far beyond our experience that only the pictures can capture the horrendous scale and impact of the disaster. Our thoughts and our hearts turn to the people of Christchurch who know they have lost loved ones. To grieving mothers and fathers brothers and sisters sons and daughters partners and friends I say please accept our condolences our sympathy and our support on behalf of all New Zealanders. To those who wait anxiously to hear news of those who are missing I say we feel their anxiety and we know that as the hours pass their anxiety will grow and so will ours. We are a small close-knit country and many people stand with them while they wait. Let me repeat the assurance given by the Prime Minister earlier today: no one will be left to walk this journey alone; New Zealand will walk this journey with them. 
 The focus right now is on saving lives rescuing those who are trapped and treating those who are injured. Already we have witnessed some inspirational stories of rescue. Of course there are many stories yet untold of workers and passers-by helping their mates and strangers alike and saving lives. Those efforts and the efforts of many hundreds of courageous search and rescue workers emergency personnel medical professionals and others will continue for as long as it takes. 
Government agencies working with other groups have moved swiftly to get people and resources into Christchurch to lead and support the rescue effort. That includes about 100 New Zealand search and rescue specialists on the ground in Christchurch. They are being joined today by two Australian search and rescue teams of about 150 people in total. We have 600 military staff on the ground and the Defence Force has several ships and aircraft in the area. In addition to the Christchurch police force over 230 extra police staff are arriving from other districts. Some arrived last night and others are arriving throughout today. Medical staff have come into Christchurch from around New Zealand and Australia. Many thousands of volunteers are lending a hand in the best way that they know how. This Parliament should have the reassurance that every possible resource not just nationally but globally that is relevant to securing the lives of people affected by this earthquake is in Christchurch or is on the way there. 
I acknowledge the generous offers of sympathy and support we have received from around the world. The Queen has conveyed her deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those who have been killed. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has expressed her condolences and has made a number of concrete offers of assistance which we have accepted. President Obama British Prime Minister Cameron and Canadian Prime Minister Harper have joined other world leaders in expressing their personal sympathy at our nation’s loss. We have also received generous offers of help from many of our international friends. We have accepted offers from Australia the United States Singapore Japan the United Kingdom and Taiwan. We are continuing to assess the requirements of Christchurch and other offers of help that have come in which we will keep under review. 
We know many people around the world are anxious to contact family and friends who are visiting or living in Christchurch. We are in close contact with foreign missions in New Zealand and I want to assure those countries—those who have offered help and those who have nationals in New Zealand—that we are making every attempt we can to find and identify their people. 
It is a time for all of us to focus on saving lives and helping the people of Christchurch. Other questions have arisen as a result of the earthquake. We have been asked about the likely economic impact of what has happened. It is really too soon to look at these questions in detail but we want to reassure New Zealanders that the Earthquake Commission the Government Crown agencies and private insurers have all assured us that they have the resources to meet these challenges and the will to overcome them. I am absolutely confident that our community and our economy have the resilience to come through this. It will be a priority for this Government to recover from the Christchurch earthquake. 
Our immediate and pressing priority right now though is the people of Christchurch who desperately need our help. In the previous 6 months they have endured more pain more anxiety and more heartache than most of us would have to endure over a lifetime and they are being called on again for more endurance. As a fellow South Islander I know that the people of Christchurch will have the spirit to come through this. The traditional South Island grittiness will stand them in good stead. But of course they need our support and we want to absolutely reassure them that they have our support. We will see lives today that are shattered brittle and anxious but those lives will be rebuilt tomorrow. In the last 2 days we have seen a city destroyed but it will be rebuilt for tomorrow. The Government and all of New Zealand will do everything possible to make that happen. 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 Yesterday we stood in this House hoping against hope that the developing situation in Christchurch following a violent 6.3 earthquake at 12.50 p.m. would see little loss of life that we would once again come through and that the people of Christchurch who had been through so much would be spared again. That was not to be. We are told that 75 people are now confirmed dead. At each hour the gravity of this quake is increasing and dawning on people all around the country. Many lives have been lost. Many people have been injured displaced and severely traumatised. I think it is a disaster and a tragedy on a scale that most of us have never experienced. For so many the nightmare goes on with aftershocks continuing as we speak. 
There are few words to express the shock and distress that so many of us feel for the people of Canterbury. Mr Speaker I thank you for including your thoughts in the prayer today. I have not heard that from the Chair in my time in Parliament. It shows the feeling of this House towards the people of Canterbury. 
To look at the frightened and bewildered faces of fellow New Zealanders—our own people—and particularly at the faces of children as they try to comprehend what has happened leaves us all feeling helpless and powerless against such violent forces of nature. Our sympathies thoughts and best wishes go out to the people of Canterbury to their families—in many cases in this House to our families—to their friends and to their neighbours. If only we could make it go away. The lifeline for many people who are now waiting anxiously to hear about their families and friends is the courage and the commitment of those undertaking the rescue of people who are still trapped beneath buildings that have collapsed. Their situation is dangerous with debris falling and buildings barely holding together while quakes continue all the while. They are risking their safety for fellow Kiwis. Each rescue is a triumph and we greet it with relief and joy. 
We have been joined as the Deputy Prime Minister has said by international rescue teams and medical teams from around the world particularly the Pacific Basin and we thank them for their help. Only last week in this debating chamber Julia Gillard said that in a time of disaster we reach out to each other. Little did we know that we would need their help so soon. So I thank our Australian family for coming so quickly to our aid. The emerging tales of survival and heroism after so many hours is really heartfelt and we hope there will be many more in the hours ahead. 
To all those on the ground working to rescue to shelter to feed and to comfort and care for people in Christchurch this House says thank you; our thoughts and prayers are with you. As in any disaster it is the days afterwards that will bring home the cold reality of the situation—when the impact on children will start to show when the pressure will mount for action and answers when support and generosity will be needed. Let us continue to offer all we can in the days and months and years ahead. We will need to open our wallets our homes our time and our hearts. This is not a local disaster and tragedy; it is our disaster and it is our tragedy. 
I thank the Ministers who this morning gave a briefing to members of this House and to staff members. Open and honest communication will be the greatest help that can be given to people in the days ahead. Once again I thank the Christchurch members of Parliament across this House who are on the ground right now working with their people as we would expect them to do and as they have done over the last 6 months. 
The Labour Opposition passes on our deep sympathy and condolences and thoughts to the people of Canterbury at this time. 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 Let me first acknowledge the deaths that we have seen in Christchurch. The Green Party of Aotearoa / New Zealand sends its deepest sympathy and love to all of the families and friends of those loved ones who have been lost. No doubt there will be more such families and friends and grief and no New Zealander will be spared an association with someone they know or care for who has been so badly affected. 
I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister and the Government Ministers for their efforts in keeping members of Parliament briefed on what is happening in Canterbury and the ways that members of Parliament and our staff can support those who need support in Canterbury. This is important not only so that MPs know how we can assist but so that those on the ground know that they have access to all of us and that we will all be able to assist in one way or another. 
It is important to acknowledge and thank all of those who are engaged in such minute-by-minute heroic acts in Canterbury and Christchurch at the moment who are making such amazing efforts to rescue people and who are caring for people who so badly need it—the firefighters the police the rescue teams all of the various forms of health workers the volunteers the community organisations marae and everyone who is in Christchurch at the moment providing support to those who need it the most. 
On behalf of the Green Party I want to pledge ourselves to help in whatever way we can from all the different ways that it is possible to help. Our Christchurch-based MP Kennedy Graham is in Christchurch now and is also available to assist those in Canterbury and those who are working so hard to rescue people. 
Finally I acknowledge again that our thoughts and our hearts are with all those who are in grief with all those who are in pain today and with all those in New Zealand who as we have seen are offering their best wishes to those in Canterbury. We want to tell the people of Canterbury that they are not alone. Kia ora. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 Tragically this is the darkest and grimmest time of our lives for our country. The images on our television sets the radio reports and the newspaper reports will be burnt into our minds forever and will never be forgotten. We look back to 4 September and the thing that strikes us is that the images were all about buildings; the images this time are all about people. We are reminded in New Zealand of how close-knit we are because there is not a New Zealander here or overseas who is not affected by a loved one by a family member by a friend or by a colleague missing or tragically killed. 
It is important that the people of Christchurch know that they are not alone. We know that their neighbours are looking out for them complete strangers in the street are looking out for them and doing their utmost and the authorities and the emergency crews are doing everything in their power. But the people of Christchurch are also not alone because all of New Zealand has stopped in its tracks and our thoughts and our prayers are with them. 
Here in the House of Representatives in the people’s place the Speaker in an unprecedented way has put the people of Christchurch into the prayer of Parliament. There is now no political divide in our Parliament as all political parties support the Government in this hour of need and support the people of Christchurch. 
 It is not the case that just all of New Zealand is behind the people of Christchurch; now all of the world is behind the people of New Zealand in this truly tragic hour. We are seeing New Zealanders now at their best as we dig deep for the sake of our loved ones for the sake of our community and for the sake of our country remembering always that it is people who matter and how trifling are so many of the things that concern us day to day; now those things just do not matter. Thank you. 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Tena tatou. Ka hinga te tangata ka heke iho nga hupe nga roimata. Ka ringihia ki raro ki te papa. When someone dies our mucus and our tears flow down to the ground. It is a display of our grief and our connection to those who pass away. There is hardly a person who has not felt the need to cry over the tragedy that has happened in Otautahi—Christchurch. In the last 24 hours what has been shown to us on the screens on the radio and so on has revealed the true horror of the scope and scale of the tragedy that has befallen our big city Otautahi. 
We all have connections to Otautahi—Christchurch. Whether it is whakapapa genealogy friendship through sport leisure or work we all have connections and those connections bind us at this time. Those connections make this whole situation very tender for us to carry but they also unite us and make us very strong and confirm our obligation to be involved—to be involved by assisting in any way we can by being involved in our prayers and in our feelings for our people there and our tears are for those who have passed away. 
I have been overwhelmed honestly by the way the people of New Zealand have rallied around to help in whichever way they can. The offers of help from overseas from so many countries that I did not believe even knew we existed but which have offered all sorts of help for us at this time are really great. I would also like to acknowledge my own Maori people for coming to the fore. Tomorrow we will meet in Otautahi: Maori tribal leaders Maori wardens Maori incorporations and the marae of the South Island. Rehua Marae has made itself available as a hub from which activities can flow. There have been promises of food to come into the area. The maraes of the South Island from Invercargill right up through Nelson and into Wellington have made themselves available for people who wish to be away from Christchurch at this time and for those who are in need of accommodation. We will support that with some financial support to help those marae cope. 
It is like everybody is doing something. Everybody feels the need to be involved and that is the same spirit with which the meeting will happen tomorrow in Otautahi then a further meeting in Auckland the next day to look at other ways in which Maori can show New Zealand we care—not just about Maori; we care about New Zealand. It is an opportunity for everyone to be involved in that activity. 
Ki nga mate haere okioki pai mai me nga hupe me nga roimata o matou. Ki nga whanau pani koutou kua pania e nga mate nei anei ra matou ki te tautoko i a koutou kia whakamama i te wahanga kei runga i o koutou pokohiwi. It is with our tears and our mucus that we show our regard for those who have passed away. May they rest in peace. We also acknowledge the families who bear the brunt of the sorrow at this time. They should know that New Zealand cries and mourns with them. We share this and may this lift part of the load of grief that they carry on their shoulders. Thank you. Kia ora. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
: 
 I acknowledge other party leaders for their comments and for their contribution to Parliament’s expression of support for the people of Christchurch. The Government will endeavour to keep MPs as closely informed as is possible not only about the rescue effort but also about the developing processes for restarting the recovery effort in Christchurch. As it happens because of all the work that went in after the first earthquake there is probably a clearer path forward even if the task of recovery is now much greater than it was earlier. 
I re-emphasise the support of Parliament for those families who have lost loved ones or will discover in the next week or so that they have lost loved ones. I pay tribute on behalf of Parliament to those people who have led the rescue effort in Christchurch at a time when they often have not known what has happened with their own families. Many people in Government agencies who have been leading the rescue effort have put the collective will ahead of finding out what has happened in their own situation and they deserve special acknowledgment. 
Part of the task of Parliament and of politicians in our role as community leaders while Christchurch is dealing with the shattering effect of this devastating event will be—for those of us who are less directly affected by it—to move pretty quickly to think about the future and about the rebuilding effort that the Prime Minister talked about in his comments today.