St John Media Release
21 December 2007

St John has busy night after Gisborne earthquake

St John has had a busy night, assistingwith the aftermath of the earthquake near Gisbornelast evening. St John Major Incident Plans were activated soon after the earthquake and remain in place today.

After the earthquake struck, St John Emergency Ambulance Communication Centre received a number of calls and responded to in excess of 20 callouts. These were primarily from customers whose medical alarms had activated. Additional Emergency Ambulance Communications Centre staff were dedicated to dealing with the Gisborne needs.

St John transported five patients to hospital, including three who received minor injuries during the incident and two for medical causes.

The St John incident response is being led by Midland Regional Operations Manager Brent Nielsen. The local response is being managed by Gisborne Team Manager Shane Clapperton who is supported by a committed St John team.

Brent said, “We have detailed plans in place for situations like this and these were put into action immediately. Everything has gone appropriately in Gisborne and we will continue to monitor the situation closely throughout the coming days. All emergency services in Gisborne are working together following the earthquake.”

In addition to responding to calls from the public St John has taken time to make contact with and check on the welfare of all our own members. St John will continue to do this today.

We are able to continue to fully operate and respond from our facilities.

St John has the following in place today and are ready to upgrade our response if required:

- We continue to liaise with other emergency services in Gisborne

- We have St John vehicles in Gisborne able to respond to 111 calls. We also have a number of members on standby around the region, able to respond to Gisborne at a moment's notice

- A St John major incident vehicle located in Gisborne is on standby and ready to respond if required.

ENDS

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