Spontaneous Volunteers

Ordinary People in the Central City

Luis Paterson

In the immediate aftermath of the February 22nd earthquake, a significant number of the first responders were not professionals but ordinary people. These spontaneous volunteers (as the Civil Defence Emergency Response Review defines them) served a vital yet unofficial role in the initial rescue effort. Most successful rescues are achieved shortly after a disaster event and spontaneous volunteers are crucial in locating survivors, extricating them, and applying first aid before emergency services and Urban Search and Rescue arrive. Because they were first on the scene, many of these ordinary people encountered the 185 fatalities and hundreds injured during the quake. The spontaneous volunteers of February 22nd – such as the 22 recognized with awards for heroism at the anniversary ceremony in 2012 – displayed the strength and resilience often seen in response to crisis. This page contains information and resources connected to some of the spontaneous volunteers who emerged during the Canterbury earthquakes.

Spontaneous Volunteers working at the Pyne Gould Corporation Building, 22 February 2011

Credit: John Kirk-Anderson, Fairfax Media New Zealand. Source: https://quakestudies.canterbury.ac.nz/store/object/88842

Resources

• Review of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Response to the 22 February Christchurch Earthquake 29 June 2012 - Extensive independent review detailing the Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) response from the 22 February until 30 April 2011 when the recovery process was taken over by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA). Alongside assessing the actions of official Police, Fire, Ambulance, Defence, and Health Services, the report recognizes that the success of the emergency response was ‘due to the resilience of the Christchurch community and work by community organizations,’ and that ‘most rescues were by people close by.’ p. 10. These rescuers are defined as ‘spontaneous volunteers,’ yet there is little specific data available on their role in the report other than a brief paragraph at the start of Section 8.2 Volunteers p. 180.
• ‘Spontaneous’ volunteers? Factors enabling the Student Volunteer Army mobilisation following the Canterbury earthquakes, 2010–2011 – 2020 academic article by Sylvia Nissen et al and Sam Johnson. While primarily about the SVA it features a current academic definition of spontaneous volunteers s. 2 p. 2 and discusses both their utility and potential difficulties in integrating with official disaster response authorities.
• Christchurch Press 23 February 2011: Section O, Page 1 | “Our worst day: Toll rises in shattered city.” - The front page of the first emergency issue of the Press the day after the earthquake depicts nine spontaneous volunteers rescuing Margaret Neal from Cashel Street Mall.
• Christchurch Press 22 February 2012: Section A, Page 1 | “From the midst of chaos, a special friendship.” - Eight of the nine spontaneous volunteers were subsequently identified and reunited for the front page of the 2012 anniversary issue. Margaret Neal and her rescuers give their narrative of the event.
• Christchurch Press 23 February 2011: Section O, Page 2 | “Streets filled with death and despair.” - Content warning: blood, injury. Press reporter Olivia Carville reports from the streets immediately after the earthquake. Carville is depicted assisting an injured woman and took part in a collective effort to aid another seriously injured woman by ‘holding her pelvis together.’ A man comforts a young girl as spontaneous volunteers work alongside Civil Defence to clear rubble at Cashel Street Mall. The group includes Garry Pierce, who helped to rescue Margaret Neal.
• Christchurch Press 23 February 2011: Section O, Page 6 | “Screams as cathedral collapses." "Paper hits deadlines despite damage to Press building.” - Two articles on this page discuss the efforts of spontaneous volunteers. In the first, insurance assessor Russell King rescued an injured woman from the first floor of the Cathedral using a ladder from his office. The second article focuses on the search and rescue operation in the Press building, led by the Fairfax South Island regional manager.
• Christchurch Press 23 February 2011: Section O, Page 13 | “Woman dies fleeing shop; apparently hit by debris.” - Tom Brittenden leads a collective effort to rescue a mother and baby who were crushed by bricks at Cashel Street Mall. She died protecting her child. Brittenden then entered two different buildings, rescuing two other injured survivors. He stayed with a man who had severe ribcage and pelvis injuries for an hour before taking him to hospital on the roof of a police car.
• Christchurch Press 24 February 2011: Section A, Page 7 | “Search of CTV building called off.” - A Japanese group of spontaneous volunteers refuse to give up hope at the CTV building, even as official USAR efforts are redirected to the Pyne Gould Corporation building due to safety concerns and a low likelihood of finding survivors.
• Christchurch Press 25 February 2011: Section A, Page 6 | “Amputation only option." - Australian urologists Lydia Johns Putra, Bryce Curran, and Stuart Philip perform an emergency amputation of Brian Coker’s leg at the Pyne Gould Corporation building (the surgery is also detailed in Christchurch Star 26 February 2011 A6 "Horror surgery."). The operation was performed with a Swiss army knife and a hacksaw. Putra returned to Australia soon after the operation.
  • A second article on this page is titled "'I thought I have air and room; I can survive this'." It chronicles the rescue of Ann Bodkin after 25 hours trapped in the rubble of the Pyne Gould Corporation building. Reporter Simon Bouda and cameraman Shaun Wellfare from Channel Nine television Australia heard Ann Bodkin’s cry for help and assisted New South Wales USAR in the rescue.
• Christchurch Press 26 February 2011: Section A, Page 13 | “Joe Pohio died helping others.” - Joseph Pohio, a design draughstman and Civil Defence member, died as he was helping an injured women from the rubble at the High Street Food Court. Pohio was the first official fatality named by police on Thursday 24 February, though police unofficially informed the family on the 22.
• Christchurch Star 26 February 2011 A6 | "A spark of wedding joy amid the agony." - Chris Greenslade marries his partner Emma who he saved alongside others from the Pyne Gould Corporation building (detailed in Christchurch Star 25 February 2011 A11 "Wedding out of the ruins.").
• Christchurch Press 23 February 2012: Section A, Page 2 | “Ceremony for quake heroism.” - 22 spontaneous volunteers awarded for heroism by Mayor Bob Parker at an anniversary ceremony. Arnold and Joy Pohio are depicted receiving their son, Joseph Pohio's posthumous medal.

Credit: Garrick Tremain, "Heroes in the Christchurch Earthquake", Otago Daily Times, 25 February 2011. Source: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22369316

General Searches

For more information regarding spontaneous volunteers in the central city immediately after the February 22 2011 earthquake click here