4 December 2020

eBulletin is your regular source of emergency management news, information, case studies, best practice, research and reports.

Take a moment to find out the latest and celebrate successes from our sector.

NEMA News

A farewell from Sarah (Norm) Stuart-Black 

E ki ana te kōrero mai i o tātou tipuna There is a saying handed down by our ancestors

He manu katoa tātou e rere ana i ngā wa katoa We are all birds in flight

Ia wa ka rere, ia wa ka tau i runga i tētahi rakau We fly for awhile and land on a certain branch or tree

Ka tae ki te wa ka rere ano mai i taua rakau However after a while the bird continues its flight and departs from that tree

I tēnei wa kua rere ano tēnei manu ki tētahi atu rakau mo tētahi wa ano The time has come for this bird to continue its flight

No reira / ko tēnei taku  tino mihi  kia ora  koutou katoa Therefore again many many thanks to you all

Today marks the milestone that it is my last day after 17 years in MCDEM/NEMA and six years as the Director of CDEM.  

We have together, faced devastating tragedies and inspirational efforts to support those who live, work or visit New Zealand and made tangible progress towards building a more resilient New Zealand.

Emergency management takes a team effort, so thank you for your support, dedication and commitment to our communities throughout my time as Director.

It is hard to say goodbye and I hope I will continue to see many of you in my new role as Secretary General of New Zealand Red Cross.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we have done and our sense of team effort will continue to be required as we face new challenges in future.

No reira e te whānau ngā mihi aroha , ngā mihi mahana kia koutou katoa So again whānau my aroha and warm greetings to you all

E ai ki te kōrero kua rere ano tēnei manu ki tētahi atu rakau As the saying goes this bird continues its flight/journey to another tree

Waiho ake ma te wa ka tūtaki a kanohi ano Let time decide when we should meet again

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa

Norm

Some changes to NEMA's Senior Leadership Team

With some recent additions to NEMA’s Senior Leadership Team and the departure of Sarah Stuart-Black as Director of CDEM and NEMA’s Deputy Chief Executive Emergency Management, we thought now would be a good time to clarify who does what and introduce some new faces.

To start, NEMA welcomes Alan Cassidy, who has been appointed to the role of Deputy Chief Executive Strategic Enablement. Alan has had a distinguished career across the public and private sectors, most notably as General Manager Human Resources with MSD, GM People & Performance at the Ministry of Justice and senior roles with the NZ Police. 

From noon today, NEMA’s Manager National Operations, Roger Ball, became the acting Director of CDEM.

Roger joined NEMA in November as the National Operations Manager. Roger brings with him a wealth of emergency management experience, having worked with the Nelson Tasman CDEM Group since 2006 and as the Group Controller since 2015. Roger is well known in the sector for the outstanding role he played as Group Controller for the Tasman Pigeon Valley fires.

Roger has a proven record working at the local and central government level, having previously been Group Manager for Community Services at Nelson City Council as well as spending 12 years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which included four years as Deputy High Commissioner to Fiji. Roger’s understanding of both local and central government will serve him well in his National Operations Manager role and while he is acting Director of CDEM.

NEMA has also welcomed a new Manager Policy, Adam Allington. Adam started at the beginning of November, coming from his previous role as Manager of Governance and Enterprise Management at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Adam has also had manager roles in MSD, MBIE and NZ Trade and Enterprise.

And finally, we would like to re-introduce Gill Genet, who has been NEMA's Manager System Capability since late September. 

The recruitment for Deputy Chief Executive Emergency Management will begin before the end of 2020. If you or someone you know may be interested in this position, keep an eye on the NEMA website (www.civildefence.govt.nz/vacancies).

    Alan Cassidy, Deputy Chief Executive                            Roger Ball, Manager National Ops      

           Adam Allington, Manager Policy                         Gill Genet, Manager System Capability   

DPMC and NEMA Chief Executives formalise their working arrangements

On 1 December – the one-year anniversary of NEMA – the Chief Executives of DPMC and NEMA formalised their working arrangements by signing a Departmental Agency Agreement (DAA) and an accompanying Shared Services Agreement (SSA).

Both DPMC and NEMA play key and complementary roles in keeping Aotearoa New Zealand resilient, safe and secure. The DAA, agreed by the Public Service Commission, provides a framework for how DPMC (NEMA’s host agency) and NEMA will work together, and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of each agency. These roles and responsibilities are underpinned by legislation and Cabinet decisions. It also outlines the accountabilities of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Emergency Management to Parliament for their respective portfolio responsibilities in relation to the DAA.

Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet CE, Brook Barrington, and NEMA CE, Carolyn Schwalger signing DAA

One year on – Whakaari White Island

Wednesday 9 December 2020 marks one year since the Whakaari White Island eruption. This tragic event has changed the lives of many across Aotearoa and the world.

We remember those who have passed away, and stand in aroha and kotahitanga with the victims, survivors, and their whānau and friends at this time. We also acknowledge the lasting impact on first responders, witnesses, operational staff, Ngāti Awa hapū and iwi, and the wider Whakatāne and Bay of Plenty community.

NEMA has been working with the Whakaari White Island Recovery Project, which is facilitated by the Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management Group. NEMA, alongside leaders and other agencies involved in this work, continue to support the recovery of individuals and the broader community.  

Ngāti Awa will host the official remembrance event, Whakaari He Ra Whakamaumaharatanga, on 9 December for invited individuals and the families most affected by the event. This gathering will be broadcast live by Māori Television for people in the community and across Aotearoa, and those impacted overseas to pay their respects. There will also be a public gathering at Mātaatua Reserve in Whakatāne where a large screen will show the live broadcast, so the community can gather together.

The livestream can be viewed from 1pm on 9 December at: https://www.maoritelevision.com/shows/whakaari-he-ra-maumahara and on Māori Television on Freeview channel 5 and Sky channel 19.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) can confirm it is one of the parties that has been charged by Worksafe in relation to the Whakaari White Island eruption on 9 December 2019. NEMA will not comment further until the process has run its course.

Further information on Worksafe’s decisions can be accessed at www.worksafe.govt.nz

Impact Assessment Director's Guideline [DGL22/20] and the National Impact Assessment Dataset and Dictionary Technical standard [TS05/20] now available

The Director’s Guideline (DGL) on Impact Assessment and the Technical Standard on National Impact Assessment Dataset and Dictionary are both now available. These documents are complementary to each other and are intended to enable a consistent and coordinated multi-agency approach to reconnaissance, damage assessments and information sharing in any type of emergency.

The Guideline is intended to encourage a consistent and robust approach to both planning for, and conducting, Impact Assessments during and following an emergency. It provides a description of the Impact Assessment methodology, including:

• an outline of each of the phases of the Impact Assessment process
• how these are sequenced in an event (including they can be iterative), and
• agency roles and responsibilities in each phase.

The Technical Standard is a minimum set of standard data definitions agreed for collection and reporting at a national level by agencies and emergency services personnel during the Impact assessment process.

The systematic, coordinated approach encouraged in the guideline, and the standard data definitions in the Technical Standard enables responses from agencies to be directed more quickly and effectively and helps to build a strategic view to inform decision making and the long-term recovery priorities.

The Guideline updates information contained in the Rapid Impact Assessment Information for the CDEM sector [IS14/13]

The Impact Assessment Director's Guideline [DGL22/20] and the National Impact Assessment Dataset and Dictionary Technical standard [TS05/20] are available at www.civildefence.govt.nz

Last Alternative NCMC training for 2020

The last Alternative National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) training and orientation sessions for this year took place on 24 November at the Ellerslie Events Centre in Auckland. A wide range of government agencies were represented at the session and participants came with a variety of experience in emergency response.

The training and orientation sessions give participants an overview of the wider emergency management sector and how Alternative NCMC arrangements would work if the Wellington facility was unavailable. The sessions also cover how the Alternative NCMC would operate and what roles surge staff might find themselves in if the Alternative NCMC was activated.

Further orientation and training sessions will be scheduled in the new year. If you are interested in putting Auckland-based staff from your agency forward for Alternative NCMC surge staff training, contact CapDev@nema.govt.nz for more information.

Find out more about the Alternative NCMC on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) website.

Sector Spotlights

Better Together - Public Information Managers and Media Workshop

Taranaki CDEM and Manawatū-Whanganui CDEM together with NEMA delivered a workshop in November that brought 50 media representatives and Public Information Managers (PIM) together to discuss how to work closely in an emergency response.

Jana Rangooni CE of the Radio Broadcasters’ Association and John Barr from RNZ led the day with discussion around the value of radio as our number one emergency communications channel and how media/PIM relationships can be developed.

Brad Scott, GNS Science Volcanologist, introduced us to the natural hazards that the CDEM Groups face living on the edge of two tectonic plates with earthquakes, tsunami and volcanoes. NEMA communications manager Anthony Frith provided a behind the scenes look at tsunami warnings and the expectations and realities that NEMA and GNS Science face.

Dr Tom Wilson, University of Canterbury gave further insight into the impacts of a Mt Taranaki eruption and how this could have widespread and lengthy consequences.

To close the day the Horizons Regional Council team led us into the world of Whanganui River monitoring and flood response which has given us a new appreciation of the ongoing flood risks that Whanganui residents live with, given the river can rise as much as 20 metres.

The organisers are grateful to all who supported this hui. It was great to have a range of media that included Iwi Radio and Access Radio joining PIMs from two CDEM Groups with a view to building relationships to help keep people safe and informed.  NEMA, together with media partners, will continue to work with CDEM Groups to arrange Better Together workshops throughout the country to continue to strengthen how we work together in emergency response.

2020-21 Cyclone Season Now Underway

The start of November marked the official start of the South Pacific tropical cyclone season, which runs through to the end of April. For this season, set against a moderate to strong La Niña climate background, slightly lower than normal cyclone activity is expected with 8-10 named cyclones possible in the South Pacific and eastern Australia region. Based on previous seasons with a similar climate pattern, we can expect about three cyclones to be severe reaching category 3 or higher and a strong category 5 is possible.

La Niña also influences where cyclones form on average, and this season there is a higher risk of cyclones around the Coral Sea, especially late season, with an elevated risk of an ex-tropical cyclone passing near or over New Zealand (on average we see one ex-TC interact with NZ each year).

Expert meteorologists at MetService, New Zealand’s official Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre (TCWC), are closely monitoring the tropics and are publishing a daily tropical outlook covering the next five days available at: https://www.metservice.com/warnings/tropical-cyclone-activity

If there is a threat to NZ, severe weather advice will be published routinely through MetService’s Outlooks, Watches and Warnings.

World-first global conference on animals and disaster management

In a world first, the Global Animal Disaster Management Conference (GADMC) is attracting emergency and disaster experts, academics and practitioners from across the globe.

GADMC will take place from 14-24 February 2021, this online emergency management conference looks at the considerations for animals and brings together leading emergency experts in this field. Organised by Animal Evac New Zealand, the online format offers a staggered series of free-to-view, online and recorded webinars. 

The conference will draw from many perspectives and cover a very broad range of topics:

• Creating prepared and resilient animal-inclusive communities.
• Industry specific resilience programs for vulnerable animal groups.
• Policy, ethics, advocacy and law related to animals in disaster management.
• Lessons identified from past disasters and development of best practice.
• Farm animals, companion animals, zoos and wildlife reserves, assistance animals, and veterinary emergency response.
• Case Studies on COVID-19, Japanese tsunami and Nuclear Disaster, Australian bushfires, Lebanon explosion, Queen Hind shipping disaster and more...

The GADMC Committee are calling for speakers to present on animal disaster topics. To find out more about being a speaker or to register for the conference, visit the Global Animal Disaster Management Conference website. 

Vacancies

NEMA Vacancies

• Principal Advisor, COVID-19 (18 Months Fixed Term) - this role will lead NEMA's engagement with national agencies and groups in relation to COVID-19 response and recovery. It will also translate national COVID-19 direction to Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Groups and represent CDEM Group interests with regards to COVID-19 at the national level.

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.