10 Sep 2010

On Saturday 4th of September at 4.36am a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Christchurch, causing devastating destruction to many buildings and homes.

Frucor Beverages have a warehouse in Christchurch, a water bottling plant in Kaiapoi and 42 staff in the region - miraculously all have survived relatively unharmed.

Business as usual
The Kaiapoi plant was back in operation on Tuesday the 7th of September, producing much needed bottled water for local distribution via Emergency Services and Civil Defence.

The company’s Christchurch warehouse (pictured) took a battering during the earthquake, with large amounts of racking destroyed and stock thrown all over the floor. Engineers have done a preliminary assessment of the damage and a good proportion of the stock may be salvageable, once it is able to be accessed. New racking is on its way to Christchurch from the company’s Wiri plant in Auckland.

Despite the disruption Frucor have supplied around 40 pallets of much needed bottled water and other products to the local community via Civil Defence and Emergency Services. The Frucor team has also been working hard to resume supply to customers as quickly as possible.

In true ‘Go For It’ Frucor style, staff in Christchurch and Kaiapoi have got the business back up and running, while also managing a range of personal challenges. All the while they’ve been supporting each other.

Janine Reynolds says although it’s hard, it’s all about having a positive attitude.

“I was lucky and only had a few cracks in my roof, so I was back to work Monday and although you can feel the shakes in the office, it is business as usual.

“Everybody here is pulling together and everybody is being fantastic, especially the managers-Frucor cares and the managers really show that. It’s good to talk about it so we share our experiences.

“You just have to keep a positive outlook; it will stop in its own time. There’s light at the end of the tunnel you just have to move forward,” says Janine.

Frucor Sales Representatives are also back in the field, working hard with customers to replenish stocks as quickly as possible.

Queries
If you have any queries regarding sales or Frucor operations in the Christchurch region please feel free to contact your regular sales representative. For general enquiries contact Anton Worley on 021-987-215.

Frucor sends our thoughts and best wishes to all of those affected by the earthquake, and subsequent aftershocks.