On 22 February 2011, not long after midday, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch - New Zealand's second largest city - and its neighbouring port of Lyttelton. The disaster claimed the lives of 185 people, left many thousands of residents homeless and destroyed much of the city's infrastructure. Coincidentally, four Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) ships - the multirole sealift ship HMNZS Canterbury, the offshore patrol vessel (OPV) HMNZS Otago, the inshore patrol vessel (IPV) HMNZS Pukaki and the survey vessel HMNZS Resolution - were close at hand and were immediately pressed into action as part of the ensuing humanitarian aid/disaster relief (HADR) operation.
展开▼
