Christchurch was struck by a 7.1 earthquake on 4 September, 2010 and again on 22 February, 2011 with a magnitude of 6.3.The second quake was far more devastating due its location and depth in relation to Christchurch's CBD. Many lives were lost with the second quake.

Students from Canterbury University rallied support from more than 15,000 students and other volunteers, forming the  Volunteer Student Army (VSA). They were attempting to communicate with each other and dispatch jobs using social networking tools, but it was difficult.

We approached VSA with an offer to use GeoOp at no cost. Now they could enter all their jobs into the GeoOp system, dispatch them via SMS and using iPhone 4s donated by Apple and data cards donated by Vodafone, 2Degrees and Telecom, they could update jobs, add notes and take photos in the field. Central command could then track progress of the team who were disbursed throughout the region, and send them to their next task, relative to their location.

With this level of visibility and team management, thousands of jobs were processed and managed in the GeoOp system using both the online and mobile platforms. The clean up in Christchurch continues today and our system is ensuring the task at hand will be a lot smoother and quicker than it otherwise would have been.

Thanks to the following companies for their donations with respect to this project:

Telecom: Data cards and x10 Xperia X10a phones
Vodafone: Data cards
2Degrees: Data cards and x5 phones
Apple: x3 iPhone 4s.

Other links
High tech aid for helpers - NZ Herald
Volunteer army of students uses 'MWM' tool... - infonews.co.nz
Volunteer army and GeoOp - NZ Herald