Lotteries Board donates $6m to Christchurch quake appeal

Christchurch's recovery from its recent devastating quakes has been made easier through a number of sizable donations. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal has been boosted by a lottery grant of $6 million, bringing the total donated or pledged to $84 million.

The money has come from the Lotteries Board and is on top of the $8 million that came from a special lottery earlier this year.

So far just $4 million has been channeled into the devastated city but Appeal trustee Rod Carr says it is not as simple as just spending the money in a city that needs every cent it can get.

"If we just wanted to dole it out we could dole it out really quickly but the important thing is to make sure first of all that the donor's intentions are honoured and secondly that the projects we fund are in terms of our trust deed and our obligations and have that medium term perspective."

He expects all the money to be spent over the next year.

The fund was also boosted recently by an anonymous donation of $5 million, but Dr Carr wouldn't say who the donor was or even where he or she came from.

"I know the name of the individual, I know their association with New Zealand," he says. "The direct answer to the question is it a New Zealander? I don't know whether they're a permanent resident, a New Zealand citizen or what their standing is."

- Newstalk ZB