The Canterbury Employer's Chamber of Commerce says the distribution of government subsidies for people struggling as a result of Saturday's earthquake has started.
Small businesses with fewer than 20 staff will get a $350-a-week subsidy for each employee, backdated to Saturday 4 September.
Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend says payments began being processed overnight on Thursday.
He says it is unclear at this stage how many of Christchurch's small businesses have been affected by the disaster.
