The Canterbury region has had it rough lately, with 2 major earthquakes in the last 6 months.

As a number of our team live and work in Christchurch (their office is adjacent to Christchurch Central Hospital), we’ve seen first hand the devastation caused by these events.

Our thoughts are with all those affected by the recent tragic event.

But, we’ve also seen the incredible power of community, as New Zealanders have banded together to help family, friends, businesses and neighbourhoods in need. A prime example of this is The University of Canterbury Student Volunteer Army. This 15,000 strong group of students has done a remarkable job of providing bulk help to those in some of the worse affected areas.

However, it’s not only local support that has helped Christchurch on the road to recovery quicker, but also the sheer volume of international aid that was offered within hours.

I know for me personally, to wake up on the morning following the earthquake and hear that Australian Search & Rescue teams were already in the country, and that teams from afar abroad as Taiwan, Japan and the USA were on their way was overwhelming. I’m sure many other Christchurch residents feel this way.

As a cloud-based organisation, our staff in New Zealand were able to get back on their feet quickly and continue to work remotely (they are now safely back in their office), keeping all systems running smoothly for our customers.

Unfortunately, not all businesses have got off so lightly, so to help Christchurch businesses not only rebuild, but better prepare themselves for the future, we’re offering Saasu completely free to those affected until 31 March 2012.

12 months of secure, worry-free accounting until 31 March 2012

To take advantage of this offer, simply sign up to our free plan, and contact service (at) saasu.com with your details.

For those businesses requiring additional support, or who are looking for an accountant or bookkeeper nearby to offer sound advice in these trying times, our Accounting Partner listing page is a great place to start.

To pay respect to those who lost their lives in the February 22 earthquake, today the Christchurch community will come together for a day of remembrance, as the New Zealand Government holds a National Christchurch Memorial Service. This newly created regional holiday will provide locals with the chance to take a day off to reflect on the past month.

Image source: twitter.com

Saasu operates our new New Zealand business from Christchurch out of the Acclipse head office. Many of the staff have been traumatised by this event and we have also learned that one of our Saasu Accounting partners was lost in one of the collapsed buildings. Our thoughts go out to the families who have lost loved ones and in many cases are still in an agonising wait for news.

I’m sure we’ll learn of more tragedy so people will have to be brave in coming weeks. If anyone can do this, these Crusaders of Christchurch can. As a Director of Acclipse I’ve met many of them and they are a truly special group of people with bigger than normal hearts.

Rhys Taylor, our Saasu Marketing Manager, was in the office at the time the quake struck and captured the footage and told his story to CNN as it unfolded. Reading his twitter feed was a real life sobering account of events.

The team in Christchurch have been going through a continual nervous existence for months now. It hasn’t just been this event. Numerous evacuations, lot’s of uncertainty and ongoing engineers reports to check the building above their heads will hold up. It’s a harrowing daily existence. Even on my last visit there was a tremor in the middle of my presentation to 60 accounting firms in Christchurch. So I imagine that it must start to send you crazy not seeing an end to it. The human toll has been enormous and that should be the only focus for the time being. We’ll announce support plans for affected businesses in the coming week after we get through this period of triage. People first.