A FORMER Huddersfield man has revealed details of the humanitarian efforts being made in the wake of the terrible New Zealand earthquake.

John Costello, who lives with his wife Erika 20km north of Christchurch, has been moved by the relief work being undertaken after the quake, which killed at least 154 people.

And they also took part in a special memorial, a week after the terrible earthquake.

Police have so far pulled 154 bodies from the wreckage and authorities said the death toll could be at high as 240.

More than a week after the earthquake, large parts of the Christ-church area are still waiting to be cleared.

Mr Costello, who emigrated to New Zealand in May 2003, said: “All attention continues to be given to the central city, but it is in the eastern suburbs where most of the damage has been done.

“A week on and most of it still looks like a war zone, but the communities are starting to clean up and rebuild.

“In Avonside, Bexley and Dallington, all badly hit by the September quake, the roads are buried under silt and riddled with cracks.

“Most people do not have power, water or sewerage and only a few Portaloos dot the streets, but here, the residents are busy cleaning.

“Hundreds of volunteers have hit the streets. 3,000 students from Canterbury and Otago Universities have formed the Student Army, as they did after the September quake, and move round from house to house, street to street and suburb to suburb with barrows, shovels and brooms piling all the silt into heaps to be collected by an army of truckers.

“An estimated 1,000 farmers have joined in bringing along their tractors and trailers. People have been collecting and distributing food to neighbours and strangers alike.

“Some houses have become collection points for the food and have now become meeting points for traumatised residents and the army of cleaners.