“Within two hours [after the earthquake struck] I had received an email from LCIF saying that an emergency grant of $US10,000 was available immediately,” said Past International Director Ron Luxton of Temuka, New Zealand. “Within 48 hours LCIF made a major catastrophe grant of $US100,000 to the Christchurch earthquake recovery. Within 72 hours LCIF had opened a Christchurch Earthquake Recovery appeal that Lions, clubs and districts could make donations to. The result was hundreds of thousands of dollars being available for recovery projects by Lions in the city of Christchurch.”

“There has been tremendous support for New Zealand with responses coming from all parts of the globe,” Mr Wirfs said. “We believe this is just the beginning of a substantial Lions campaign of support to help the people of New Zealand through the recovery period.”

 Mr Wirfs, the immediate past International President, and his wife Margit were in New Zealand from Germany to tour the devastated areas of Christchurch and fly over the “broken city” by helicopter two weeks after the February 22 earthquake. He got a small taste of what Christchurch people had faced when a 4.3 aftershock swayed his second storey hotel room during his visit.

“He became very alarmed at what he felt, even though it was a harmless shake,” PID Ron Luxton, who was accompanying Mr Wirfs, said. “We took him on a tour of the eastern suburbs and he was able to see the damage first hand and would later describe his feelings about the degree of devastation to the global Lions audience as part of his appeal.”

Mr Wirfs met local Lions volunteers as they walked through the suburbs checking on the welfare of families, offering fresh water, food vouchers, petrol and hand sanitiser where it was needed. A number of traumatised families have been given travel vouchers to give them a break from Christchurch with their families for a few days and stay in Lions sponsored houses away from the ‘quake zone in areas like Hanmer Springs.

 “Mr Wirfs heard many terrible stories first hand from Lions and was visibly moved by the extent of the devastation. He was also amazed at how stoic the people of Christchurch remained after such a traumatic experience,” Mr Luxton said.

Some of the early work by Lions in the first 48 hours was distributing bottled water, which was very welcomed, Mr Luxton said. Later Lions gave out hand sanitiser, which might not sound like much, but for people with no running water, no sewerage system and no electricity there was a real risk of a disease outbreak and it was gratefully accepted.

Lions from less affected areas to the north and the south were regularly travelling to Christchurch (some from as far away as Geraldine and Timaru) to help with the volunteer effort.

As part of the tour Mr Wirfs visited the Red Cross office and spoke to the national president Penny Mason and chief executive John Ware. Former International President Al Brandel signed a memorandum of understanding in 2009 with the International Red Cross, where the two organisations pledged to work in a partnership during worldwide disasters.

Mr Luxton said the Christchurch earthquake was the first time the agreement had been enacted. The head office operations room in Wellington was manned on a daily basis by two Lions from District M. District E Lions volunteers were co-branded along with Red Cross volunteers and were deployed to door knock through the eastern suburbs to check on local people and help where they could.

Red Cross have said they will be taking the story around the Christchurch Lions-Red Cross joint venture to their next international forum as a glowing example of the working partnership in operation, Mr Luxton said.

Mr Wirfs also spoke to Mayor Bob Parker and pledged the support of the international Lions Club network.