Welcome to the E-Bulletin for September

MCDEM News

MCDEM has recently upgraded its National Warning System platform

What is the National Warning system?

The National Warning System is the system through which MCDEM:

• assesses and responds to hazards for which CDEM is the lead agency (including earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic activity, severe weather events)
•  issues National Warnings or Advisories
•  provides public information and advice

What does the new platform do?

• automates many of the current manual steps in the process of assessing hazard information and issuing a National Advisory or Warning message.
• allow us to activate the MoU with broadcasters at the same time a National Warning message is issued
• ensure that essential safety messages get to the public faster.

However, it is important to remember that locally generated tsunami can arrive in minutes, which means an official notification is unlikely to be issued in time. 

That’s why the best warning is natural warning signs – that is, if you feel an earthquake and you’re near the coast, you need to take immediate action.

If you remember one thing, remember: Long, or strong – get gone. Long means shaking that last more than a minute. Strong means too strong to easily stand up in or walk.  Either of those types of shaking are the earliest and best warnings you will get for locally generated tsunami. Evacuate immediately if you are in a coastal area.

More information

If you have any questions about the National Warning System, please contact the MCDEM National Operations Team on OPSteam@dpmc.govt.nz

Information about National warnings and advisories can be found in Section 25 of the Guide to the National Civil Defence & Emergency Management Plan 2015

Emergency Mobile Alerts

In a few months the Government is launching a new service to keep people informed in an emergency. Led by MCDEM, Emergency Mobile Alerts can be used by NZ Police, Fire, MPI, Ministry of Health and CDEM Groups to alert people if their lives, property or health are at serious risk.

The system uses cell broadcast to send messages enabled phones, so alerts can be targeted to specific geographic locations. People won’t need to sign up to receive alerts, or download an app, they will be sent to every enabled phone in the region.

This is a very exciting development towards strengthening our emergency alerting systems across New Zealand, but it doesn’t replace existing channels and natural warnings. It’s another channel for warning people when there is a serious risk.

The project team is working on a multi-media advertising campaign to make sure New Zealanders know the system is coming and what to do when they receive an alert. We are on track to start using the system by the end of the year.

We’d like you to help promote Emergency Mobile Alerts. We will have posters, flyers, content for intranets, websites, social media, and a campaign guide to help your team to help us.

Please pass this on to your Comms, Health & Safety, and HR teams and get them to make contact with Fiona Mayo (fiona.mayo@cass.govt.nz), who is leading communications on the project, or visit www.civildefence.govt.nz/emergency-mobile-alerts for information (and resources as they become available). It’s up to all of us to make sure we help people to stay safe and stay informed.

Get Ready Week

The week, which starts 9 October this year, is an opportunity for MCDEM, CDEM Groups, partner agencies and other organisations to focus on public education and preparedness activities.

This year the theme for Get Ready Week is is Stay Safe, Stay Informed.  We'll be promoting the different ways people can stay informed during an emergency – which radio stations to listen to, which websites and social media to follow, the importance of getting to know your neighbours and checking if you can receive Emergency Mobile Alerts (see above).   

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be adding resources for you to share during Get Ready Week 2017. You can find out more at www.civildefence.govt.nz. If you want further information about how to get involved or have any questions, email emergency.management@dpmc.govt.nz. 

Recovery after the 14 November 2016 Earthquake

Recovery continues to progress well. Central and local government, iwi and NGOs are expediting solutions for people whose homes are not safe, warm and dry or whose livelihoods are precarious as a result of the earthquake.

Hurunui, Kaikōura and Marlborough District Councils are leading projects in their districts to identify and help vulnerable households with temporary repairs to make sure people are warm and dry. The MCDEM National Recovery Office (NRO) is supporting the council-led initiative with programme management, coordination and assisting in potential funding options. The councils have identified 150 vulnerable households and have started assessing their properties. The second phase in mid-July is allocating resources and case management processes to fix the identified properties through existing local trade resource.

Government continues to facilitate temporary accommodation options for those who need it. Sixteen Rāwhiti units (ex-Christchurch recovery) have been relocated to farms, and another four in Waiau as a ‘temporary village’. Tenants will soon be moving into these units.

EQC received over 38,000 residential damage claims; mostly from Christchurch, Wellington, North Canterbury and Marlborough but claims also came from Invercargill to Northland. At 31 May:

• over 40% of building and land claims have had an initial assessment and 21% are settled
• 55% of initial building assessments have been completed in Marlborough, 75% in Kaikōura and 50% in Hurunui
• of the 5,500 claims with EQC to assess and settle, 50% of building and land claims have had an initial assessment and 39% are settled. 75% of land and building assessments are completed.

The MCDEM National Recovery Office is working with the councils on hazard assessments at key sites and business cases on joint risk management options. Councils aim to have hazard assessments completed at Rakautara, Dempsey’s Track and Oaro Boat Harbour by mid-July and are updating their assessments of placarded buildings in parallel. This will help inform any significant further investigations, mitigation options and community engagement in coming months.

The NZTA KiwiRail alliance, NCTIR, is progressing work to reopen critical road links into Kaikōura, although weather and seismic events continue to challenge land stability. The road and rail corridor north of Kaikoura is expected to be open before Christmas. Five of the ten large landslides north of Kaikōura have been cleared. NCTIR estimates clearing the transport corridor north of Kaikōura is more than half done and about 70% of the slip material has been removed to temporary and permanent stockpiles. NCTIR has increased face to face engagement with local communities about stockpiles and other concerns to help manage expectations.

SH1 South of Kaikōura is open again but subject to a weekly schedule of closures until the end of September as work continues to repair the highway.

The Inland route remains fragile but continues to hold up well.

Many initiatives are underway to keep the Alternate route from Picton to Christchurch (via Lewis Pass) safe and reliable, eg new weather stations provide localised information to the 24/7 crews.

Great progress is being made on reconnecting the rail line for work trains - only 23km more of rail repairs are needed.

The Kaikōura harbour should be fully operational by the end of October, ready for the tourist season.

Contact: Dave Brash on 027 547 3166 dave.brash@dpmc.govt.nz.

Recovery after the Whakatane District Flooding 

The recovery is progressing well although stakeholders generally acknowledge much is still to be done. The local transition period has been extended to 14 July.

The Local Recovery Manager and local recovery office are firmly established in the community and working well with government and community stakeholders. A formal structure identifying roles and responsibilities has been agreed.

A useful document developed by the local recovery office outlining critical recovery objectives, outcomes, success factors and milestones in the social, economic, built and natural environments will soon be finalised for consultation with recovery agencies and the community.

Alongside the practical tasks of rebuilding affected communities, another vital recovery process is looking after health and wellbeing. The psychosocial recovery plan identifying key strategies and activities for the next six months has been developed. Another key focus is providing navigators to support flood-affected people with wrap around services through the many challenges faced, eg family, financial, housing and emotional wellbeing.

Meanwhile, the local recovery office is on the ground, keeping in contact with people to make sure they are ok and aware of available services and support. The team recently visited more than 600 homes in the Whakatāne District, meeting with about 200 residents and leaving information with others.

Stakeholders are working hand in hand to help affected people back into their homes as soon as possible and provide temporary accommodation options in the meantime. Work is underway to support flood-affected people with wrap around services through the many challenges they face, e.g. family, financial, housing and emotional wellbeing.

Government is supporting farmers and businesses.

Extra grants to help Bay of Plenty farmers and growers impacted by April’s storms and floods were announced on 8 June. Affected farmers and growers can apply for contributions from the new $200k Primary Industries Bay of Plenty Flood Recovery Grant to help with essential infrastructure repair as they continue to get their businesses up and running, such as re-grassing of pasture, re-sowing of crops, and clean-up of silt and debris. 24 of the 26 applications received so far have been approved to a total of $137,000.

31 applications have been received for the $250,000 funding package for businesses with 4 fewer than 20 employees affected by the flooding. The Mayoral Relief Fund is now open and 23 applications worth $22,800 have been approved. Almost 3,000 civil defence payments have been made at a value of $848,559.

Contact: Dave Brash on 027 547 3166 dave.brash@dpmc.govt.nz.

Wellington Earthquake National Initial Response Plan (WENIRP)

The 14 November 2017 Kaikoura earthquake and tsunami had wide ranging implications for areas affected by the event including Wellington. As such, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet led a programme of work focused on rapidly enhancing the ability of the Wellington region to withstand, and recover, from a significant seismic event.

As part of this programme of work, MCDEM undertook an initial fit-for-purpose review of the Wellington Earthquake National Initial Response Plan (WENIRP), in advance of a comprehensive review, to ensure that, if a major aftershock occurred affecting the Wellington region, an effective response could be initiated. The review focused on the enablers of a response, the planning scenario and supply chain. The supply chain was identified as an area of critical importance as the enabler to an effective response at all levels (local, regional, and national). Accordingly, WENIRP 1.1 provides an initial supply chain model that has been designed to be flexible to the specific impacts and related consequences of a major earthquake.

Following the targeted WENIRP 1.1 review, a complete review of the document was initiated with WENIRP 2.0 scheduled to be completed in 2018.

The revised plan was endorsed in May by the Hazard Risk Board and is available to  downloaded at www.civildefence.govt.nz.

The more comprehensive WENIRP 2.0 review has now been initiated and will be completed in March 2018. The WENIRP 2.0 review will involve a full review of the plan focusing on prioritisation, de-confliction and interdependencies. MCDEM will be working with CDEM Groups (both affected and supporting) to develop and refine roles and responsibilities and ensure that the WENIRP can be activated automatically without direction from the National Crisis Management Centre in the event of a major Wellington Earthquake.

Contact: Alex Hogg on (04) 817 8564 alex.hogg@dpmc.govt.nz

Training and Resources

Controller Development Programme

To date 55 participants have completed the course in its entirety.  Nominations are now being sought for the next cohort (17/2).  This cohort’s residential phase will be in Christchurch and will be held on the 26th November – 1st December 2017 with the online phase starting beforehand in mid-October. 

After discussions with managers, potential participants should log into takatū and access the CDEM Controllers Development Programme page.  They can fill in the nomination form and send it to MCDEMCapDev@dpmc.govt.nz

All applications will be assessed (for priority reasons only as spaces are limited) and will be advised by the 1st October.

For ongoing participants that require assistance with the Professional Development component they are invited to contact their Massey facilitator or MCDEMCapDev@dpmc.govt.nz

Planning and Managing for Recovery

The MCDEM Recovery team are focused on developing recovery guidance to support the sector plan for and manage recovery.

The teams’ top priority is developing Director’s Guidelines for strategic planning for recovery to assist CDEM Groups state and provide for strategic planning for recovery specific to hazards and risks when amending their Group Plans by 1 June 2018. The team recently held a workshop with subject matter experts (SME) to inform the development of this guidance. The guideline has been issued to stakeholders for consultation, with feedback due on 22 September.

Other priorities for the team in 2017 are:

• Revising the Declarations Director’s Guideline (DGL) to incorporate guidance on transition period notices. The DGL will be published shortly. New prescribed forms for transition period notices are available in the CDEM Regulations 2003 on legislation.govt.nz.

• Refreshing the recovery sections of the MCDEM website making it easier to find recovery information, key documents and recovery updates. 

• Revising the Recovery Management DGL. Workshops will be held with SMEs later in the year so keep an out for the nomination process if you want to be involved.

• Revising the recovery chapter of the CDEM Group Planning DGL

• Supporting CDEM Groups to amend their group plans while the strategic planning for recovery DGL is in development.

  With appointment of Recovery Managers, it’s important to know the CDEM Competency Framework Role Map for Recovery Managers is still relevant for CDEM Groups with a stronger emphasis on leadership skills. Keep an eye on the MCDEM website for further updates or email us.

Southland's 'Emergency Management Hub' Website

Emergency Management Southland (EMS) has recently released its revamped website which will ensure that Southland residents are kept thoroughly informed during incidents and emergencies. The website is integrated with EMS’s new Information Management suite and combined they offer Southland a powerful communication tool for public awareness during emergency situations.

While the website contains essential ‘Get Ready’ information, the direction of the landing page has changed with focus being placed upon public situational awareness. To ensure that the public is informed, the website landing page is broken down into three main components:

Information and Emergency Situation Map

The Information and Emergency Situation Map is an ArcGIS Web Map application that is designed to capture operational information and display selected information on EMS’s public facing website. This feature permits the public to see exactly what the Controller sees, but allows sensitive or irrelevant information to be hidden (e.g. Logistics Assembly Areas).

As the public facing map is linked to the Controller’s Situation Map, any changes are reflected to the public in real time. This allows rapidly changing information to be communicated quickly and clearly to the public and responders during an emergency situation (e.g. Public / Firefighters could track an advancing fire front in real time).

Critical information that is common to response operations can be added and these may include but are not limited to; Active / Inactive Civil Defence Centres, Zones (Evacuation / Cordons / Flooding / Fire), Road Blocks, Welfare Specific Points (Food Distribution Points).

Below: Example Incident Control Point data and zones

During non-incident periods, the map is designed to inform the public. Hazard information is available so that the public can self-educate. Some of the information available includes; Tsunami Zones, Potential Floodable Areas, Snow Levels, Fault Lines, Liquefaction Risk, Recent Earthquakes (scraped from the GNS RSS Feed) and more.

Above: Hazard information on public facing map (website)

On the non-public facing side of this map, other operational information can be displayed. Needs Assessment location points / data and Crowd sourced Incident Damage information (once deployed) are also displayed on separate layers so that the Controller has real time decision making information available on one common basemap.

Above: Needs Assessment Data on Controller’s Situation Map

Alert Section

The alerting section presents clear and concise alert messages to the public. Formatted in accordance with the NZ Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), Emergency Management Southland’s ‘CAP Alerts’ are live, Google tested and ready for integration with the NZ Alerting Hub once established.

Above: Notification section and CAP Alert Creation form

Images and Notification Section

The images and notification section provides a mechanism for communicating timely and accurate information to the public. Images specific to an event can be uploaded rapidly so that a content hungry public can see visually what is happening.

While Facebook is incorporated in the site and a tool for informal communication, the notification section is designed for formal messaging.

Utilising EMS’s Information Management software, documents can be inserted into the notifications section by hyperlink so that responding staff have an additional degree of flexibility when communicating to the public. This section is also designed to display hyperlinks for Online Survey forms which facilitate the rapid collection of bulk data. This method of bulk data collection can be used for such things as Volunteer Requests, Offers of Assistance, Displaced Person Registration and other ad hoc forms as required (e.g. registration for persons who have left pets in an evacuation area). This integration avoids significant data entry and collation effort, which frees up staff for critical work.

Notification creation form and hyperlink entry

With the website live and due to the intuitive nature of the software, Emergency Management Southland is confident that its residents will now be better informed and supported during an emergency event.

Ian Cryer, Emergency Management Advisor, Emergency Management Southland

CDEM Group Individual Staff Member Profile (New Feature) 

e-Bulletin contains news from MCDEM, stories from across the sector, training opportunities and more. If you have colleagues who wish to receive the e-Bulletin, they can subscribe here: http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/resources/e-bulletin/

For future editions we would like to invite your CDEM Group Managers to contribute to a new feature profiling an individual from your group and sharing their responses (and a photo) with us.

While we already invite all those in the CDEM sector to share stories and events in the e-bulletin, we hope that this feature will help to highlight some of the individuals working within CDEM, the jobs they do, and promoting the more human side of the work we undertake.

We envisage that the questions asked would remain the same each time. The questions are:

-          What is your role in CDEM?

-          Tell us about something you’re working on?

-          What do you find most interesting/enjoyable about the job you do?

-          What do you like doing when you’re not at work?

-          Tell us an interesting fact about you?

Answers should please be fairly brief (maximum 3 sentences).

If you would like someone from your CDEM Group to be featured, please email us their responses to the questions, along with an accompanying photo to MCDEM.Communications@dpmc.govt.nz.

The e-Bulletin goes out during the first weeks of February, April, June, August, October & December. Please send us content by the final day of the preceding month to be included in an edition.