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Be prepared
How would you cope if you had to suddenly leave your home? How you would get along if you had to stay indoors for three days or more, perhaps without power and water? What you would do in a flood, dangerous gas leak or earthquake?
Flooding in February 2004 caused widespread damage in the lower North Island.
Being prepared
Every city or district council is required by the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 to plan to deal with an emergency. The council must also maintain a civil defence organisation and appoint someone to be a civil defence controller. The controller assumes control of the response effort once a civil defence emergency is declared.
Councils are also responsible for ensuring that their local communities are aware of the plans and provisions made for civil defence emergencies, and know what to do. An essential part of this is making sure residents are prepared to be able to look after themselves and their families with emergency supplies of food, water and medicine.
The new Act in action
The February 2004 floods in the lower North Island, the biggest emergency event in New Zealand for 20 years, were the first event to be managed under the 2002 Act.
John Norton, Director of the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management says, “we saw coordination of agencies across the regions that we have not seen in other recent events.” (See page 50 for more about the 2004 floods. Also see www.decisionmaker.co.nz for an interview with John Norton.)
Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) plans address the four Rs of emergency management:
- Reducing the effects of hazards as far as practicable.
- Ready to respond if an emergency or hazard event occurs.
- Responding appropriately.
- Recovering as quickly as possible after the event.
- strengthen relationships between agencies involved in civil defence emergencies
- encourage cooperative planning and action between the various emergency management agencies and the community
- deliver more effective civil defence emergency management through risk reduction, readiness, response and recovery.
