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ShakeOut Participant Newsletter - August 2015

Less than 2 months to go!

Thank you for signing up to take part in New Zealand ShakeOut, our national earthquake drill at 9:15am, 15 October 2015.

In a little under two months, you’ll be taking part in New Zealand ShakeOut, our national earthquake drill. With over 650,000 people signed up to take part, we’re almost half way to our target of 1.5 million.

In 2012, 1.34 million Kiwis took part in the drill, many of them from businesses and workplaces.

ShakeOut tip – Have a plan at work

As well as having a plan and emergency supplies at home, make sure you’re prepared when you’re at work as well. Keep essential items at work, including sturdy walking shoes, waterproof jacket, torch, snack food and water. Make sure your plans include how you’ll get home in an emergency, remember your usual transport and route may not be available, know where you’ll meet up with your household if you can’t get home, and decide who will pick the kids up if you can’t get to them.

If you’re a business owner, Resilient Organisations has a great guide called Shut Happens (http://www.resorgs.org.nz/Booklets.html) with simple steps that you can take to help your business ‘get thru’, which includes these tips for getting back together:

  • Do you know how to contact your staff, your suppliers and your key customers if your IT system is down and you cannot get into your office?
  • Do you have alternative contact information for when landline or mobile networks are down?
  • Does anyone else in your organisation know where to find this information if you are not there?
  • Do your staff and their families have a plan for communicating in a crisis?

Just do it! Compile a list; make multiple copies in both electronic (mobile phone, USB stick or in the cloud) and paper format and diary a reminder to check that it is up to date periodically. Talk to your staff about what they, and their families, would require.

Being able to contact each other is a key first step to beginning recovery from a major disaster. How much of those precious first few days following a disaster do you want to have to spend on such simple tasks when you could be getting on with the process of getting back into business.

Planning your drill

Have you thought about how you’re going to signal the start of your drill? You can use an airhorn, a PA system, a whistle, someone with a loud voice, the radio or one of our videos – the trigger you use will depend on your situation. Download our guide to triggering your drill (www.civildefence.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Shakeout2015/Triggering-Your-Drill.pdf) from the www.shakeout.govt.nz website.

Miramar Community Creche – aiming for their own record

Miramar Community Creche will be trying to break their own record as part of ShakeOut 2015. In addition to the Drop, Cover and Hold drill they aim to cut one of their emergency evacuation drill times almost in half!

In the build up to ShakeOut they will be including information and relevant websites in their weekly newsletters and encouraging parents to evaluate their preparedness at home, teaching children the Drop, Cover and Hold drill and identifying local hazards.

Each staff member is equipped with a ‘get away bag’, containing essential items to ‘get through’ and doubling as a child carrier. The centre also has a comprehensive Civil Defence kit containing supplies in case a lengthy stay at the Creche is required.

At 9:15am on 15 October they will perform the Drop, Cover and Hold drill at 9.15am then hold a trial tsunami emergency evacuation. And in the spirit of community they have invited their neighbours to join in too.

The big goal is to set a new personal record getting everyone past the blue line to the tsunami safe zone within 10 minutes! All the children and staff will evacuate the Creche on foot following the ShakeOut drill, being sure to keep together and hold onto a knotted rope until they reach the tsunami safe zone. Their previous record is 19 minutes – we wish Miramar Community Creche all the best with their ambitious new goal!

Share the ShakeOut

Encourage others to take part in New Zealand ShakeOut by sharing our Facebook and Twitter posts:

www.facebook.com/nzgetthru

https://twitter.com/nzgetthru

Visit our website to download poster, flyers and newsletters to encourage friends and workmates to sign up:

www.shakeout.govt.nz/resources

If you have any questions please contact us at shakeout@dpmc.govt.nz