Businesses reach out to colleagues

Tauranga businesses are reaching out to help their shocked colleagues in Christchurch.
Kiwi Bus Builders' operations manager Rob Garrity said all their efforts since the earthquake struck was arranging to get 20 staff in the company's Christchurch branch to Tauranga as soon as possible.
Mr Garrity said details are still sketchy but the company's leased building in the central business district on the corner of Moorhouse and Fitzgerald Avenue has been condemned, with walls and roofs down. Both sides of the street and areas around it are "no-go" zones.
The company apartment is also condemned and some staff housing across the city is also damaged, but luckily other staff who lived on the outskirts of Christchurch weren't badly affected, he said.
Mr Pearson said the Christchurch branch manager Craig Carr is an ex-Tauranga man who recently relocated to the city, and one of company's auto-electricians Ian Baird was down in Christchurch helping out.
"When you personally know the people involved in something like this, it makes it feel really close to home," he said.
"There is a very sombre mood in the office and feelings of hopelessness, but we have a very supportive staff who all want to help in anyway they can."
Toni Palmer, a partner at Tauranga's Tabak Business Sales, said it was just "petrifying" waiting to hear what had happened to their colleagues at the firm's Christchurch branch in the central business district.
Ms Palmer said when she finally was able to contact the branch's owner-manager Damien Fahey, she was relieved to be told that everyone managed to get out of the wrecked building and was okay.
Because Mr Fahey had no way of getting home he walked to his Sumner home to get to his family, at least a two-hour walk. His administrative assistant had an anxious few hours waiting to make contact with her sister who was missing and then learned her house was also damaged, she said.
Ms Palmer said luckily due to modern technology all the staff can work from remote locations and because the computer systems are not backed up from the Christchurch office no vital information was lost.
Fortunately her "lovely brother" Andrew, who works in the IT industry in the central business district, sent her a text pretty much straight away to say he was okay. He also walked from his office to his home which is about 7 km away.
Ms Palmer said her brother, his wife Carol and their two young children have since relocated to Motueka to stay with his mother-in-law.
"It's a horrific situation ... it's life-changing stuff for a lot of people."
A spokesperson from KPMG in Tauranga said about 60 staff work in the Christchurch branch and so far there are no reports of any loss of life or significant injury.
She said because it was a modern building apart from the damage inside, the exterior is largely intact however it will remain closed until further notice.
"It is hard for staff to be thinking about business as usual when our colleagues are going through this amount of trauma," she said.