Microsoft New Zealand has offered a helping hand to those affected by the Christchurch earthquake.

“Microsoft New Zealand is making the following support offerings available to affected customers and business partners,” the company said in a statement.

“We hope this will help our customers as they respond to the disaster and rebuild their IT capability in the coming weeks and months.”

The offer is available for customers in the Canterbury Region for an initial 90 day period. Microsoft will then review the offer and the period as it learns more about the precise assistance most commonly needed.

For consumers (typically with 1 or 2 standalone PCs) experiencing software issues related to Microsoft products, as they restart their PCs, or have to reload software on new PCs, please call our support line for free telephone based support on tel 0800 800 004 - Option 1 and then Option 2.

For small businesses affected by the earthquake (typically with 1 or more PCs and Servers, and not actively managed by a Microsoft Customer or Partner Account Manager), Microsoft is making available telephone based service incident support calls free of charge by calling 0800 800 004 - Option 1 and then Option 2.

In addition to the above, Microsoft Managed Partners and Enterprise Managed Customers (defined as the Customers and Partners that have a Microsoft Account Manager) should contact their Account Manager to discuss how Microsoft can help or alternatively utilise the available free priority telephone based technical support (on tel 0800 800 004 - Option 4) .

Microsoft is also making available, on a case-by-case basis, access to assistance and advice from its Consulting and Premier Support personnel, and access to free Microsoft Online Services (Microsoft Cloud based Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting) for situations where infrastructure is damaged.