Christchurch mercy dash woman: I wish I'd done more

Linda Thomas, of Wainuiomata, commandeered her brother-in-law's truck for three trips to Christchurch once to deliver supplies and twice to help people move.

Linda Thomas wishes she had done more to help the people of Christchurch after the February earthquake, but she did more than most.

The 53-year-old, from Wainuiomata, who works at the Interislander ferry terminal in Wellington, gathered a truckload of supplies from her neighbourhood and drove south to deliver aid to the stricken city days after the killer shake.

"I was on my rostered days off, I had four of them in a row and I didn't really want to sit at home for four days watching everything on television," she said. "I wanted to do something."

She spent a day and a half knocking on doors in her neighbourhood, asking for donations and gathering a mountain of tinned food.

She collected water containers from her work, to be filled with water for washing, then she filled more containers with 1000 litres of Petone's artesian water.

She picked up 40 loaves of bread donated by Quality Bakers, 50 one-litre containers of long-life milk, and 1000 plastic bags from Waiwhetu Distributors.

When contacted by The Dominion Post this week, an emotional Ms Thomas said she wouldn't hesitate to do it all again.

"Now and again when I think back, it still brings a tear to my eye to see the people in the situation that they were in," she said.

"I don't like to see people in hardship. I don't like to see anyone suffering."

She remembered vividly the elderly Aranui residents she visited, who were struggling to cope without power, food or water. "When I saw the devastation down there, I just wished I had a bigger truck.

"They were shocked ... that the first person to come to help them was someone from Wellington and not from Christchurch.

"The most touching part was seeing the gratitude in people's eyes. It was just amazing. They were just so thankful that someone thought of them. I'll never forget it. It was a real eye-opener."

She thanked everyone who gave and helped her deliver aid. "My neighbours were really generous."

Civil Defence boss regrets shortcomings in services

Civil Defence director John Hamilton, who was given sweeping powers to manage the response to the earthquake, says he has been determined to implement lessons learned from the tragedy.

He was Civil Defence's national controller from February 23 till April 30, when the response was handed over to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.

The Wellington-based Mr Hamilton, 58, was educated in Christchurch and said he now felt a deeper emotional connection with the city.

"There was sort of an overwhelming sadness for the situation that the Christchurch residents found themselves in."

Mr Hamilton believes the initial response was successful overall, though he has frustrations in hindsight. "There are quite a large number of issues and lessons which we can draw from the experience. It is overwhelming. The scale of the thing is so big that it kind of overpowers you.

"I'm frustrated with our inability to plan and deliver some of the services that the community were crying out for. We were probably a bit short in having the community more deeply involved in the response operations."

Families' hopes a tug at the heart

For Jim Stuart-Black, the hardest part of leading the search and rescue effort after the quake was facing up to the families of those who lost their lives.

As the Fire Service's director of special operations, Mr Stuart-Black, who lives in Wellington, was based in Christchurch's Latimer Square and became the face of the Urban Search and Rescue effort as he led more than 300 team members from more than seven countries.

He stayed in Christchurch until his help was needed in Japan after its magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11. There he led a 52-strong team searching for survivors in coastal towns.

Mr Stuart-Black, 37, said he was proud of the work of his team in Christchurch, though facing up to the expectations of those hoping their loved ones would be found alive was a low point.

"I met with the families most days and I'm really pleased as an organisation we were able to ... but it was very, very tough. There is an expectation on all the families' faces and unfortunately so often we were dealing with bad news.

"We have all got families and many of us have children and it is hard not to put yourself in the shoes of the families."

Over the past year, the quake has never been far from his mind. "I still continue to do my job and my private life continues. I'm very fortunate in that sense, it's just one of those things that drifts in and out of your consciousness.

"When I'm in Christchurch for work or in a personal capacity, I'm very aware of what happened down there. It is seldom far from the forefront of your thinking."

The moment that has stuck with him most is the two-minute silence held on the one-week anniversary of the earthquake. "I was by the art gallery at the time and there was the karakia and the two-minute silence ... that was a powerful moment."

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Christchurch mercy dash woman: I wish I'd done more