Author(s): Pete Seager & Deb Donnell

Canterbury & Christchurch

Responders gives the readers a unique, behind-the-scenes look into the contribution of the New Zealand volunteer response teams in the days and weeks that followed the Christchurch Earthquakes. Twenty two teams of over 300 trained light rescue volunteers came from all over New Zealand to assist a city in shock. They have contributed their private photographs and personal accounts of their deployments to help the 111 Emergency Services and USAR Task Forces provide assistance to Christchurch after the September 2010 Darfield Earthquake and the more devastating 22 February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. “Some of our response team volunteers have applied a high level of dedication, year after year, for over a decade (some for over two decades) without their skills ever being called upon. I am in awe of this kind of dedication that believes in a cause so wholeheartedly that a person will devote hundreds of hours to it, just in case it’s ever needed, just in case at some point it can make a wee bit of difference. Turns out they were right to believe.” - Alex Buckley, Deployment Liasion Officer, NZ-RT8 Wellington Emergency Response Team