freitasm: For those non-tech geeks around, if you need some help with email setup, temporary servers to run your business, etc: https://sites.google.com/a/waveadept.com/get-christchurch-mail-flowing/home

Christchurch Airport open and fully functional

Christchurch International Airport re-opened at 1.30pm Saturday 4 September after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

Both domestic and international terminals and the runways have been certified by engineers as structurally sound. All public areas are open and fully functional. All retail, including food and beverage outlets, are also operating as normal.

Passengers travelling to or from the airport could face minor delays and are advised to confirm their flight details with their relevant airline prior to coming out to the airport.

Christchurch Airport CEO Jim Boult said ?we have been very fortunate and received minor damage to our airport. All our key infrastructure, terminals and runways are operating as usual. Safety to all passengers, tenants and staff is our priority so we will continue to survey all areas over the coming weeks and months and we don?t expect any additional issues.?

Christchurch International Airport Limited?s corporate office has been temporarily closed and staff have been re-located to sites within the campus. Contact numbers for all staff remain the same.

BNZ backs businesses and customers in Canterbury

Beyond BNZ’s Million Dollar fund the bank has set up a range of initiatives to support customers and rebuild businesses impacted by the earthquake.

BNZ CEO Andrew Thorburn says the package “includes waiving penalty interest fees for late credit card
payments and suspending home loan repayments for up to 90 days. 

“Our priority has been to keep our banking network operational and now we need to let our customers know that we are working hard to give them the support they need to get back on their feet.”

The bank’s ‘Customer Support Package’, to provide flexibility and assistance in customers’ finances, is
in addition to the Bank of New Zealand’s ‘Million Dollar Plus Earthquake Recovery Programme’. 

The Customer Support Package can include: 

For BNZ Partners' clients (Business, agriculture, property and private clients):
• Up to $500,000 temporary overdraft limit for 90 days subject to insurance
• Up to $100,000 temporary overdraft limit for 90 days to cover other short term funding
• Suspension of loan repayments for 90 days
• All fees and margins waived for temporary funding
• Waiver of early withdrawal costs for term deposits  

For Retail and Small Business customers:
Housing and small business loans: 
• $10,000 temporary overdraft limit for 90 days maximum, subject to insurance, at an interest rate of 5%. 

Credit card customers: 
• Waive the penalty fees on late credit card payments for those customers who are unable to make a deposit.
• Temporary overdraft facility for 90 days to a maximum of $5,000 or double their existing credit card limit, whichever is lower. This will be at the normal interest rate cost. 

Customers without lending: 
• Customers who only have deposit funds with BNZ can have access to a $5,000 temporary overdraft facility.  

“We’ve already donated $250,000 to the Salvation Army and $250,000 to the Red Cross who are working locally to supply practical and immediate support and have allocated a further $250,000 to the Mayoral Fund “

“We’ve just sent down 12,000 bottles of water to 3 BNZ store locations and are working with Foodstuffs
locally to provide food vouchers,” Thorburn says. 

The BNZ  says for specific details on how they can assist, please contact your BNZ Partner, visit your nearest store or call 0800 275 269. Small business customers can contact 0800 BNZ SME.

Continuously updated information BNZ services can be viewed at bnz.co.nz 

Summary of the ‘Million Dollar Plus Earthquake Recovery Programme’: 
 
• A one million dollar donation comprised of;
• $250,000 donated to the Salvation Army
• $250,000 donated to the Red Cross
• Foodstuffs vouchers
• Assistance package for customers
• Assistance package for staff 
• Five additional days paid volunteer leave over the next three months to work in the community.

Major Network Failure due to Earthquake

TelstraClear: Christchurch Network update:

- TelstraClear's fixed telephone line network is operational. However, please be aware that services to individual properties may be disrupted not because of network problems, but because of damage to these properties.

- If you do not have power to your house, any cordless landline phones you may have will not be working as they require power. If you have analogue non-cordless landline handsets, you should use these as they work without power.

- Some parts of our cable network are still without mains power. This means some of our customers may not have broadband or cable TV services at the moment. We are working on getting power to these sites.

- If you are a Christchurch customer and you do not have all of your TelstraClear services, you can do the following to contact us:

Residential customers can call 0508 888 800

Business customers can call 0508 555 500

Please be aware that call volumes may be heavy. We do have a call-back option and call-back requests will be reviewed and prioritised on geographic priority

If your request is not urgent email us a question via our on-line help page https://telstraclear.custhelp.com/app/ask/session/L3NpZC9jVzVZY2k5aw%3D%3D  

- Our social media functions twitter and facebook are also available

- Our focus is on restoring core network faults and working to fix these as soon as possible. This means there may be some delay in responding to individual customer issues. We will keep customers updated on service delivery times.

- Meanwhile, if you are phoning our contact centres from anywhere in New Zealand, please be aware that not all of them are available, and you may experience longer wait times. If your enquiry is not urgent, we kindly ask that you call us back another time.

savag3: There has just been at least 2 aftershocks - 1 huge and another pretty big at approx 10 minute intervals. Wouldn't be surprised if there is more damage.