Christchurch Earthquake: Hawke's Bay businesses react to quake

The forced evacuation of Mr Apple's parent company's office in Christchurch has not affected the apple harvest, which is going "really well" despite the loss of its parent company's head office.
Chief executive Andy Borland of Scales Corporation said it was business as usual for its Hawke's Bay operations.
Scales' operations in Hawke's Bay included bulk storage, pet food processing, cold stores for meat and fruit industries, and industrial landholdings and Mr Apple, the largest apple producer in Hawke's Bay.
Its head offices were inside the cordoned off zone in the Christchurch CBD. There were no injuries.
"No one's allowed back in and we can't assess the damage, but all we need for head office to continue running is a telephone and desk." Mr Borland said.
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce Murray Douglas said the chamber was assisting Scales to reconstitute their paperwork.
All exporters from Hawke's Bay needed a certificate of origin, which the chamber provided along with an export documentation service. He said the chamber was working with other Hawke's Bay businesses with Christchurch connections.
Unison general manager networks and operations Jaun Park said that an offer had been made to the Christchurch lines company Orion.
"We have good people willing to go down," he said. He was not expecting an immediate response, as neighbouring lines companies were assisting in getting the network operational.
"We have extended our offer to the long term, we have the skills and expertise to help with work like putting cables under the ground."
Watties in Hastings has made contingency plans to send staff down to its Hornby plant in Christchurch, which had shut down to allow employees time to attend to their immediate needs, and for the company to complete a damage assessment.
Human resources director Bryce Dyer said all employees on site at the time of the earthquake were safe, and every effort was being made to contact employees not on site on Tuesday afternoon.
"At this time it appears that the plant has not been adversely affected by the earthquake."
Production was due to restart February 25.
Watties had donated canned food and infant formula to the Salvation Army.
McCain reported no adverse effects to its operation in Canterbury.
Napier based Big Save furniture had emptied its Christchurch store of all of its 42 mattresses and donated them to shelters. Big Save was talking to its supplier of foam mattresses.
Mr Borland was in Hawke's Bay when the quake struck and said he was surprised at the scale of the devastation upon his return. "Its tough, no doubt about that."