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31 August 2020
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NEMA News
NZ EMAT announces third-round of recruitment
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is pleased to announce the third New Zealand Emergency Management Assistance Team (NZ EMAT) course will be from Sunday 28 February to Friday 12 March 2021.
The course is focused on increasing the effectiveness of NZ EMAT members to support and assist Controllers and Incident Management Teams through developing interpersonal skills, including coaching, leadership and problem-solving approaches. The course provides a capability step for the sector and is a significant personal development opportunity for individuals, while strengthening the capability of participants' home agencies.
Applications for the third intake are now open, closing Friday 18 September 2020, with interviews scheduled from Monday 5 October to Friday 16 October 2020. Successful candidates will be asked to complete a series of psychometric tests before being invited to attend the initial training course as the final stage of assessment.
NZ EMAT is a capability within the emergency management system that has been part of the wider sector capability for approximately 12 months. The establishment of NZ EMAT was the Government’s response to the recommendations to establish a ‘fly-in team’ in the Technical Advisory Group’s 2018 report on better responses to natural disasters and other emergencies. To date, EMAT has been engaged on deployments assisting with West Coast flooding, Southland flooding and in support of the National Crisis Management Centre and Queenstown EOC’s for COVID-19. Find out more about NZ EMAT on the NEMA website.
For more information about this round of recruitment and the application forms please see www.h2r.co.nz/nzemat/.
New Zealand Tsunami Monitoring and Detection Network second deployment voyage
The New Zealand Government is currently implementing a Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) network, to detect tsunami threats from near New Zealand and the wider south-west Pacific area. Four DART buoys were deployed in December 2019 along the Hikurangi and southern Kermadec Trenches. On Friday 28 August, the second deployment voyage by the NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) vessel RV Tangaroa commenced.
This voyage will deploy a further five DART buoys near the Tonga Trench and the Kermadec Trench. The final three buoys to complete the network will be deployed in 2021 near the New Hebrides Trench.
DART buoys are the most reliable method to determine whether a tsunami has been generated following large earthquakes or other sea floor disturbances. DART buoy data will be interpreted by GNS Science staff at the National Geohazards Monitoring Centre and feed into the tsunami threat assessment process. The DART buoys will provide more accurate information on the size and arrival times of any tsunami they detect.
Our DART buoys have already ‘triggered’ during recent large earthquakes near the Kermadec Trench, and confirmed that no tsunami had been generated on these occasions. The DART buoy data also feeds into the Pacific Tsunami Warning System, contributing to more timely and accurate warnings for our Pacific neighbours.
Check out the experts explaining the DART Buoys in the video below:
Help for coastal communities at risk of tsunami
Information released by the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) Building System Performance team and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) will help communities across New Zealand address a crucial issue – how do people living in low-lying, coastal areas evacuate in time from an impending tsunami?
To address this issue, MBIE has worked with NEMA to produce a document that provides technical information on how to design tsunami vertical evacuation structures that can be used as a last-resort refuge for people in the event of a tsunami.
“As New Zealand matures in its approach to tsunami risk management, we continue to address some of the more difficult challenges we face in managing tsunami risk,” said Sarah Stuart-Black, Director Civil Defence Emergency Management.
“Tsunami vertical evacuation structures provide a last resort option for life safety that Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups may wish to consider. Their use is most appropriate during local source tsunami events, when available evacuation time can be minutes.
“The two-phase information produced by the National Emergency Management Agency and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment will help Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups ensure they are implementing the most appropriate and practical tsunami risk management measures, when considering tsunami vertical evacuation in their areas.”
Sign up for New Zealand ShakeOut 2020
We now have over 400,000 people signed up for this year’s New Zealand ShakeOut, our national earthquake drill and tsunami hīkoi.
On 15 October at 9:30am, New Zealand will have the opportunity to learn and practise the correct actions to take during an earthquake and tsunami by participating in ShakeOut drill day.
Wherever you are during New Zealand ShakeOut, you can take part in the drill. Just Drop, Cover and Hold for up to one minute, and if you're in a coastal area practise your tsunami hīkoi.
ShakeOut videos now available
If you have already signed up, share the ShakeOut. This year's New Zealand ShakeOut videos are now available on Get Ready in English, te reo Māori, and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). A descriptive text transcript is also available.
Sector Spotlights
When is the best time to run an emergency exercise?
Alexander Graham Bell once said ‘Before anything else, preparation is the key to success’ and that was certainly the case for Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) staff this year. LINZ held their first emergency exercise just two weeks before lockdown and the activation of their Geospatial Incident Management Team to support the COVID-19 All of Government response.
In early March, 24 LINZ staff from took part in an emergency exercise to put their CIMS training into practice, and test their processes to provide geospatial support during an emergency. The exercise was facilitated by Joe Kennedy, Nelson Tasman CDEM Manager, Claire Pettigrew, Capability Development Advisor at NEMA, and Charlotte Penman, Emergency Management Advisor at Ministry of Transport.
Based on the February 2019 Pigeon Valley Fire, participants were assigned functions and asked to support the Emergency Coordination Centre by delivering critical information such as confirming the extent of the fire, providing situational awareness maps and identifying sources of imagery.
Jan Pierce, the Deputy Chief Executive responsible for LINZ’s response, saw the value of the exercise. “The timing of our emergency exercise gave LINZ the confidence to ensure we were ready to provide the right data, to the right people at the right time to support the national COVID-19 response," she said.
LINZ’s role as a support agency to the COVID-19 response included performing spatial analysis to inform decision making in the Operations Command Centre, data validation of important datasets, and preparing customised topographical maps for CDEM groups. In addition, 10 LINZ staff were seconded to assist with the COVID-19 response in the National Crisis Management Centre.
For more information about how LINZ can support your emergency response team please take a look at their website or contact the Resilience Team on resilience@linz.govt.nz.
Volunteer helps provide community support during Northland floods
Heritage New Zealand Director Mita Harris recently found himself in the middle of rising flood waters – thanks to Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM).
The Northland-based Kaiwhakahaere Tautiaki Wahi Taonga (Māori Heritage Team Leader) was helping Northland CDEM during the recent weather bomb event that saturated much of Northland in mid-July.
Mita is part of a Kerikeri-based volunteer community group that operates ex-Army Unimog 4-wheel drive trucks for emergency relief and other community initiatives. He was asked by Northland CDEM to pitch in with the massive all-terrain vehicle to help people caught out by flooding in different parts of Northland.
As well as delivering patients unable to be reached by ambulance in Kawakawa because of deep surface water, Mita and his team also delivered urgent medical supplies to other people who had been cut off in the Hokianga.
“The great thing about the Unimog is that it can go practically anywhere in all conditions,” says Mita. “It’s the perfect vehicle for reaching people who would otherwise be out of reach.”
Drivers of the Kerikeri-stationed Unimogs must have completed a special training course run by the New Zealand Army before being approved as Unimog drivers due to the size and complexity of the vehicle.
Mita also recently worked with a team of Ngāpuhi volunteers who used the Unimogs to distribute food, medical supplies and other essentials to elderly whānau who were affected by COVID-19.
Vacancies
NEMA vacancies
- Team Leader, Recovery - this role will provide an opportunity to engage with a broad range of stakeholders and make an impact at the national level. This is your chance to be part of a team that is influential and passionate when it comes to building New Zealand's disaster risk management and resilience.
- Team Leader, Financial Assurance - this role is within the Regional Partnerships Business Group and is accountable for leading the management of Government financial assistance provisions to CDEM Groups and local authorities through special funding and cost recovery mechanisms.
- Senior Regional Emergency Management Advisors (Auckland and Christchurch based) - these two roles are within the Regional Partnerships Business Group and are accountable for engagement with regional CDEM Groups on their statutory responsibility for delivering all aspects of CDEM to their communities, as well as with local authorities and other local stakeholders on their roles in this regard.
To list a Civil Defence Emergency Management sector role, please email the National Emergency Management Agency communications team. We'll include your listing on our website and in upcoming editions of e-Bulletin.
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eBulletin provides newsworthy updates about Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) and related information from the sector. It is for people in the emergency management sector and/or those with an interest in emergency management. eBulletin shares news, information, case studies, best practice, research and reports, and celebrates successes.
Some topics for content include:
- upcoming events and activities
- information about responses to emergencies
- information about research (keeping in mind it is not a peer-reviewed journal)
- reports on what has been happening around the sector
- announcements of new publications and guides
- information about courses (ones you have been on and ones coming up), and
- celebrations of successes.
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