One year ago more than 140 Australian disaster
assistance specialists made their way to New Zealand to rescue and
assist people caught up in the country's most deadly earthquake.
On
the anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake, those emergency
taskforce members will be honoured with a plaque at a memorial service
in the still damaged city.
Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW), who led
the two Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Australian task forces, will
represent emergency workers at the service on Wednesday, with Deputy
Commissioner John Benson accepting the plaque from mayor Bob Parker.
A total of 185 people were killed when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit on February 22 last year.
Australian
task forces, which included paramedics, doctors, firefighter rescue
specialists and other trained personnel, landed in the city one day
later and were the first international rescue team to arrive.
FRNSW Commissioner Greg Mullins said the task forces worked tirelessly searching for people and assisting those in need.
"The scale of the emergency was incredible," he said in a statement.
"Over 23 days, the task forces worked for hours on end searching for people in the rubble...
"NSW
firefighters were able to rescue one person from the Pyne Gould
Building, which was a wonderful experience given the extent of the
damage around them."
NZN