The residents of town cut off by last week's New Zealand earthquake have received somewhat unusual but welcome air delivery – enough fast food to feed small army. The mercy mission to town of Kaikoura was organized by plasterer from town of Nelson 130 kilometres to north. Robert Coombes, 49, spent three days gathering donations from people and bought as much fast food as he could with the cash. He filled friend's light aircraft with 400 pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken, 300 McDonald's burgers, 50 Domino's pizzas, and hundreds of candies. His cargo of tasty treats landed in Kaikoura in time for lunch on Friday. Kaikoura was town worst hit by magnitude 7.8 quake.
Mr Coombes explained to reporters that he wanted to "put smile on people's faces, even if it's only for one day". He added: "There's necessities, but with kids, you need bit more than bread and water. I just thought I'd fill plane with junk food and bring little bit of happiness to place…. It's just being good human being." Coombes said manager of KFC and McDonald's supported his idea and their staff started work two hours earlier to prepare goodies. Main roads and rail links to Kaikoura have been severed by massive landslides. There have been well over 2,000 aftershocks since Monday and government is warning that there are likely to be more.
