More than 2200 Christchurch quake refugees are known to have entered Otago and Southland, but there could be many more.
District and city councils and welfare centres have been helping hundreds of people cope with displacement from their homes and workplaces since the February 22 quake.
Dunedin's Christchurch Embassy, established at the Dunedin Railway Station on Tuesday last week, received 300 people between Thursday and Sunday.
Dunedin City Council community adviser Michael Laufiso said the facility, which brought together the council, community groups, and the Otago University Students' Association, was trying to "trouble shoot" people's issues.
He was unsure how long the embassy would be required, but its role and structure would be re-evaluated next week.
Co-ordination team member Sue Russell said people were arriving at the centre in varied states of preparedness and were largely "on edge".
Some wanted help to relocate, some wanted to know what was going on in their home neighbourhood and others were in search of respite.
Ms Russell had been "floored" by the generosity of the Dunedin community which she thanked for the support to get the facility running and keep it going.
Queenstown District Lakes Council communications officer Jo Blick believed there could be as many as 1000 Christchurch residents in the area.
"We are just estimating, we have asked people to register and many people have not because they are just here staying and there's no legal requirement for them to register.
"We have 491 [Christchurch] pupils registered at local schools ..."
The Central Otago i-SITE network developed a register of residents in the district happy to provide free temporary accommodation to people affected by the earthquake, Central Otago visitor information centres manager Ingrid Temple said.
There were 400 beds on the register but only four families had taken up the offer so far, she said.
The network was also managing a register of commercial accommodation, which had been used by 25 families, Mrs Temple said.
There were also an unknown number of people staying with friends and family, or in holiday homes they owned in the district, she said.
Schools in the area had between 110 and 112 extra children in them, due to the earthquake, she said.
Waitaki Civil Defence is continuing to provide a welfare response with 32
1 registrations, comprising 81 families and 57 individual registrations, at a welfare desk at the Winz office in Oamaru.
Clutha District Council knew of eight Red Cross registrations in its area, but was unsure if they were for individuals or families.
Emergency Management Southland regional controller Warren Tuckey said 648 Christchurch residents were now living in the region and there had been 268 enrolments in Southland schools.
Otago's school rolls are continuing to grow, but the influx seems to be slowing.
Last week, 1010 pupils from Christchurch flooded into Otago, but this week the number has only grown marginally to 1061.
The trend was reflected nationwide.
Until Wednesday last week, Christchurch families had sent 2250 pupils from the city to be enrolled elsewhere in New Zealand.
At the end of last week, that number had grown to 4879, and by yesterday was 5418 pupils.
A Ministry of Education spokesman said at least 40 schools in Christchurch were expected to reopen by the end of this week.
Ministry of Social Development spokeswoman Ruth Berry said 50,647 Civil Defence payments have been made nationally, 3390 of those were in the Southern area.
People receiving Civil Defence payments:
Alexandra - 61
Balclutha - 10
Dunedin Central - 305
Gore - 52
Invercargill - 266
Mosgiel - 50
Oamaru - 149
Queenstown - 65
South Dunedin - 141
Timaru - 644
Source: Ministry of Social Development.
Enrolments in Otago
March 2 Total: 849 pupils
March 4 Total: 1010 pupils
March 7:
Queenstown Lakes district - 385
Dunedin City - 328
Waitaki district - 171
Central Otago district - 126
Clutha district - 51
Total - 1061 pupils
Source: Ministry of Education
