Clean up 'armies' back in business

8:04 am on 26 December 2011

The Student Volunteer and Farmy Armies are re-forming on Boxing Day in a bid to help clean up Christchurch's eastern suburbs before the New Year.

A series of strong earthquakes - the largest a 6-magnitude tremor - shook the city on Friday, causing more liquefaction and damage to roads and some buildings.

Volunteers were being asked to head to the QEII stadium from 9am on Monday, where they'll be assigned to various activities across the city.

Farmy Army spokeperson John Hartnell says he's not sure how many people will be able to turn up as it's a busy time of year for farmers.

Student Volunteer Army founder Sam Johnson says the teams will deal with urgent requests and will be focus on helping people living long term in their homes.

Mr Johnson told Summer Report there's already a list of jobs for volunteers to work on but any other residents who need help can still register via its website, www.sva.org.nz.

This will be the sixth time the groups have co-ordinated clean-ups since the earthquake on 4 September 2010.