While St John normally attends 250 calls a day, in the first two hours after Christchurch's 6.3 magnitude earthquake it responded to 350.
Speaking at a preview for a St John charity auction last week, St John southern region area committee relationship manager Darrel Robinson summed up St John's involvement after the quake.
"Within one hour of the first quake, arrangements were in place for the first ambulance officers outside Canterbury to be sent to assist, and the initial Dunedin-based response was three helicopters, nine ambulance officers and 200kg of mass casualty gear."
By Wednesday afternoon, the team was supplemented by 150 ambulance officers and 20 ambulances from outside Christchurch, he said.
Dealing with injuries largely ended on the Thursday after the quake, he said. Teams were continuing their involvement at welfare centres, and they would rotate staff from outside Christchurch.
St John suffered damage to 10 buildings in the September earthquake, but now its temporary buildings and central clinic are severely damaged too.
Mr Robinson said St John was still responding to calls outside Christchurch, and its telephone contact service, Caring Caller, was being handled by volunteer teams in Queenstown.
