“No black helicopters”
Ōpōtiki District’s Civil Defence Controller, Gerard McCormack, said that the recent reviews into the local and national responses to events such as Cyclone Gabrielle provided a lot of recommendations and opportunities for change in the sector. But he said that there were some important points for local communities as well.
“I think it can be easy to think of civil defence as a team of people in uniform ready and waiting for a natural disaster or other emergency and they will swoop in with black helicopters to save the day.
“If recent events, particularly around Tairawhiti and Hawkes Bay remind us of anything, it is that there is no such thing. ‘Civil Defence’ less of an organisation and more of a process - a way of getting all the different services (emergency services, health providers, welfare centres, utility companies and all the rest) working together on a joined up plan to get through a tough situation.
“So while there are a small handful of incredible, hard-working professionals (and an organisation who can help), in a very real sense, civil defence is everyone. It is all the things we can do to be ready BEFORE an emergency – a whānau plan, a workplace plan and wider community planning to keep ourselves safe,” Mr McCormack said.
Councils have an important role in Civil Defence and Emergency Management and Mr McCormack explained that in times of disaster, it is local councils that step in to lead the response and recovery efforts in their regions and communities. They have an important part to play in all hour stages of emergency management – reduction, readiness, response, and recovery.
“When people talk about ‘civil defence’ they are often just mean the response part – “who will tell me to evacuate in a tsunami?” or “who will help my elderly neighbour if we need to get to higher ground?”
“In general, the answer to that is “you”. The best thing people can do to help themselves in a disaster situation is to be prepared for it. We can all work on the other parts of civil defence, particularly readiness. That means things like knowing where you family will meet up or how you will find each other if mobile towers are down. Making sure you have extra medications on hand to bring with you if you have to evacuate. Knowing local risks like tsunami evacuation areas and where to go. And remember your neighbour who only has a landline and how you might let them know about a Emergency Mobile Alert. Start with a plan for yourself, you whānau, and then your wider community,” Mr McCormack said.
While a lot of the recommendations from the reports and reviews into recent events focussed on improving our national civil defence structures and processes, there were also practical lessons learnt that could change plans and preparation communities might already have in place.
For example, in an emergency where people are trapped at home with roads and lines down, people should be prepared with enough food and water for AT LEAST three days but more likely seven days after an event. It took even longer than that for some isolated areas to get access to basic help they needed.
“It was clear in those events that it was impossible for emergency services to be everywhere at once and that it takes a lot of time for power, water, wastewater, and phones to be restored and even longer for roads and bridges to be repaired.
“There are great resources online to get your started and thinking about how to slowly stock up on a few extra canned items here and there to start a stash of emergency supplies and things you possibly already have around the house that can be repurposed. Start the conversations with those who care about today,” Mr McCormack said.
Ends
More info at getready.govt.nz
