Portaloos, chemical toilets for Kaikoura as repair of town's sewerage system 'can take months'

Around 50 per cent of buildings in Kaikoura have had their rapid assessment completed.

But repairing the sewerage system "could take months".

Civil Defence controller John Mackie said Police are pushing out into rural areas to check on communities and deliver food parcels.

"It's our intent not to leave anyone."

Mackie said there are around 80 portaloos in town and 900 of the 1500 chemical toilets have been rolled out. Around 40 per cent of the town have received them and the chemicals are on their way.

Discharge tanks are coming up on the next run on the HMNZS Canterbury which should be around Tuesday.

The discharge tanks aren't urgent as there is around seven days storage in the toilet itself.

Damage assessment of the sewerage system with CCTV cameras will start in a matter of days but "it could take months" to get the system back to normal.

"It's probably full of cracks ... it's not very earthquake resilient.

"To get it up and running will be a long sail. Hopefully not as long as Christchurch. But the temporary toilets buy you the time you need.

"Not only do you have to have a network but you have to have a method of treating the sewerage."

About 95 per cent of the town have an intermittent supply of water. It's fragile and is still vulnerable to bursting or being affected by an aftershock.

Mackie hopes to get schools up and running in the not too distant future. The school principals are meeting tomorrow.

The defence force have a portable shower solution for people at the rugby ground. Women can shower between 4pm to 5pm and men shower from 5pm to 6pm. Bring your own towels, soap and shampoo. Call (03) 319 5206 to register.

Mackie urges people to carpool to conserve petrol. Petrol is difficult to transport as it is more hazardous than diesel.

He also said there is no word on when Inland Rd will be open to the public.

"It's still a very very hazardous route ... It's not about the driver capability it's about the landslide rock fall risk. We can't afford to have people put at risk. Nor do we have the emergency response capability to deal with people trapped under a rock fall."