New Zealand Quake : NZ offers free stay to survivors

KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of New Zealanders are offering help, including free accommodation and transport, to survivors of the devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake which shook Christchurch on Tuesday.

Malaysian student Khairul Anuar Kamaruddin, 36, a postgraduate accounting student at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), said he found more than 2,400 free accommodations arrangements from Bluff to Auckland being offered to the quake victims on the Internet.

He said the assistance was also extended to tourists and emergency personnel.

"I am really impressed with what the Kiwis are doing," he said in an email to Bernama here yesterday.

Spencer on the Byron Hotel spokesman Carl Corbett said: "This offer to help is for individuals, couples or students, or small families who can be accommodated together in a single bedroom suite in the hotel on Auckland's North Shore's Takapuna Beach.

"The offer is open for two weeks from today, or until the Malaysian operations centre in Christchurch or the New Zealand Welfare Centre takes over the responsibilities.

"We are also arranging for 'return transfers' from Auckland International Airport to the hotel to traumatised Malaysians who take up this offer."

Corbett added that it was the hotel's way of returning the goodwill extended to it in the past during business travels and operations in Malaysia.

He said funds allocated for the assistance, if not taken up by Malaysians, would be donated to the Red Cross.

Corbett can be contacted at 064-09-488 9300 or 064-21-503034 after office hours.

Malaysian High Commission in New Zealand First Secretary Nor Ayuni Zainal, meanwhile, welcomed such moves, especially in these difficult times.

She suggested that Malaysians needing a break from Christchurch to take up the offer to stay in Auckland.

The quake is the deadliest to hit New Zealand since a 7.8-magnitude quake killed 256 people in the Hawke's Bay region in 1931. -- Bernama

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