Appeal for info on solo pensioners after earthquake

Paula Bennett said efforts had been made to get hold of all retirees living alone in Canterbury to check on their welfare after the Christchurch earthquake. File photo / Daily Post

Welfare staff are unable to contact thousands of solo pensioners in Canterbury and the Government is urging anyone who is looking after such individuals to get in touch.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said today efforts had been made to get hold of all retirees living alone to check on their welfare, but many may have temporarily moved from their homes.

"We've got hold of about 11,000 elderly people. By our reckoning in the whole region we are looking at about 18,000 that are on their own," she said. "We are not able to make contact with quite a few and are saying to people if you have taken someone into your home... could you get hold of us and let us know they are okay."

By this morning there had been about 5000 calls to the 0800 779997 earthquake government helpline.

Ms Bennett said callers were generally concerned about whether they could check in to welfare centres, wondering about structural damage or wanting to know what assistance options were available.

Petrol costs, emergency food rations and clothing were all being requested and there was a specific fund available for people unable to live in their own homes.

Ms Bennett also urged people experiencing hardship because of a loss of wages to call the helpline.

Prime Minister John Key said the Government was today finalising options for supporting those people and officials had been talking to counterparts in Victoria who faced the same issue when bush fires caused widespread destruction in the Australian state early last year.

Announcements on that were expected this afternoon and were likely to involve temporary payments or possibly grants through the emergency welfare benefit.

Some quake victims have reported having difficulty getting through on the 0800 helpline, but Ms Bennett said the call centre was managing well with the workload and most calls were being answered within 20 seconds.

She said people needed to ensure they were calling the correct number.

Agriculture Minister David Carter said latest information he had received was that there were no animal welfare issues as a result of the quake and power had been restored in most of rural Canterbury. Generators were being used where necessary.

He said there was significant damage to farming infrastructure, but farmers were using initiative to solve problems and going out of their way to help each other.

- NZPA