Welcome to the E-Bulletin for October

MCDEM News

Get Ready Week

This week is Get Ready Week (9th- 15 October). Get Ready Week is held every year to mark the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction (13 October). 

This year's theme is Stay Safe, Stay Informed and focuses on providing information about how you and your loved ones can get ready and get through by knowing the different ways to stay informed. This means knowing 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.  

It has been fantastic to have so many CDEM Groups getting on board to help promote Get Ready Week, as well as the involvement of Bunnings, Neighbourhood Support and Countdown, who have also been wonderful in supporting our campaign and engaging with communities. 

Emergency Mobile Alert 

Emergency Mobile Alert is a new way of receiving information about emergencies in your area. If your life, health or property is in danger, Emergency Mobile Alerts can be sent to your mobile, without needing to sign up or download an app.

Many of you will be aware of - and some may have even received  - the alerts that were send out in the early hours of 4 October 2017.  These three test messages were sent in error by our European-based service provider while testing the new Emergency Mobile Alert technology.

Although the messages were only sent to Vodafone customers on 4G, the error was not Vodafone’s. We take full responsibility and are working with our European-based service provider to ensure this mistake does not happen again. To all those we woke, we apologise.

Once we launch the Emergency Mobile Alert system later this year, a test message will be sent to all networks (and at a reasonable time) to all phones who are able to receive it. Once launched, it will only be used for serious threat to life, health or property, and can be targeted to specific locations.

We suggest you advise staff to make sure their phones are updated and to check that they are capable of receiving Emergency Mobile Alerts.

Emergency Mobile Alert is expected to be available by the end of 2017.

Save the date: National Emergency Management Conference 2018 

We at MCDEM invite you to save the dates of 30th – 31 May 2018 to join us at next year’s National Emergency Management Conference.

It is New Zealand's turn to host the Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference so this will be held in partnership with the 2018 National Emergency Management Conference. 

Building on the success of this years event, 2018’s conference will continue to focus on providing relevant skills, advice and discussion that will be both engaging and helpful to emergency management professionals.

The conference will be held at Te Papa, where we are lining up a range of dynamic speakers to talk on various perspectives of emergency management, along with a number of more interactive sessions.

Following the main conference, a day of topical workshops will be held on 01 June, which are a great way of getting a more hands on perspective, as well as a fantastic opportunity to meet people from a range of organisations and sectors.

Keep an eye out in the e-bulletin for updates and more information about registration over the following months.

CDEM Sector News

South Island CDEM Conference 

Please save the dates of 30-31 August 2018

Marlborough CDEM Group will be hosting and organising next years South Island Emergency Management conference.

This years theme is on “On Track to Recovery”.

The venue will be the Marlborough Convention Centre in Blenheim and it is hoped to have the conference dinner at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre.

Early Registrations are encouraged - to indicate you interest please email: annette.wilkinson@marlborough.govt.nz

Insurance Council Annual Conference

Auckland 8 November 2017

ICNZ’s annual conference devotes the afternoon on 8 November to resilience. Speakers include Elizabeth Longworth, ex Director of the UN’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Dr Erica Seville, Co-founder of Resilient Organisations and Mike Mendonca, Chief Resilience Officer for Wellington City Council. Speakers also cover geo-political and finance risks and digitisation.

Training and Resources

Free event: Volcanic Impact Study Group seminar, Auckland 2 November

To all emergency and risk managers, government agencies, and those in the research and lifeline communities, you are all invited to the annual 2017 Volcanic Impact Study Group seminar.

The focus this year will be the Volcanic Ash Testing laboratory: celebrating achievements of the past decade, and a facilitated discussion of future research directions.

This free seminar will be held in Auckland on 2 November from 10 am – noon at the University of Auckland, Room 340 in Building 423, 22 Symonds Street.

To RSVP (by 26 October please) to this event, email Natalia Deligne at N.Deligne@gns.cri.nz.

Stakeholder Stories

Caring for CDEM and Council staff after an Emergency

Just after midnight, the 14th of November, I awoke to the shaking of a lifetime. We crawled over our stuff to get out and checked on the neighbours. Taking a deep breath, I turned to my husband, “I’ve got to go to work.”

What followed was a blur of aftershocks, heavy emotions, success, failure, new faces, helicopters, the kindness of strangers and the community. My co-workers made me proud as they pushed past their fears and worries to step up to work in our EOC.  Council staff and other professionals from all over New Zealand risked their lives to come and help us. It was an AMAZING effort.

Once the response ended and the adrenalin faded, the long slog began. Recovery, business as usual, and the clean-up from response began as the fear of aftershocks and an unknown future remained. Leadership was tasked not only with BAU but the rebuild, working with central government and a mountain of other demands. It was and continues to be a very challenging work environment. Pre-quake, we had about 20 staff, now over 35.

CDEM response, unlike other emergency services, does not have a debrief protocol with fresh, experienced people to come in and help EOC staff process the disaster/response. Few local governments would have professionals trained to respond to the specific effects of the stresses of working in a Council post-disaster. In their absence, Councils do their best to ‘keep calm and carry on’.

The policy and governance support provided by the Regional and National Recovery Office has been vital to Kaikoura's recovery efforts, but has mostly focused on infrastructure and helping the community. Limited resources have been spent on addressing the welfare needs of our staff and leadership as they try to rebuild their own lives, cope with a stressed community, understand their ‘new normal’ at work, and try to deliver a workload dramatically larger and different to their work pre-quake.

We must endeavour to improve our support of Council staff and CDEM professionals after a disaster. Many don’t realise they need help. So they fail to ask for the help that’s clearly required to cope in the fast-paced, stress-filled endurance race of the fluid post-disaster environment.

We, in CDEM,  know they will need help. CDEM needs to be prepared and resourced to the offer the support and guidance staff and leaders need for their own recovery and to better help their communities on the long road ahead.

KD Scattergood, Emergency Management Officer, Kaikoura District Council

Disaster preparedness projects: Wellington schools science fair

The Joint Centre for Disaster Research (Massey University/GNS Science) offers both junior (Years 7 and 8) and senior (Years 9-13) prizes in the NIWA Wellington Regional Science and Technology Fair for projects in the area of community resilience to disasters, increasing preparedness in the home, school or community, and improving response to and recovery from disasters. This year, over 20 students submitted projects eligible for these prizes.

The junior prize was won by Angus Miller, a Year 8 student at Wadestown School, for his project which asked the question “Do Wadestown residents have a sufficient emergency water supply?” Angus’s findings, which are probably typical of other Wellington suburbs, were that most households do not have enough stored water for an emergency.

An origami-inspired emergency shelter, designed by Year 10 student Elena Salmond of Wellington Girls College, was awarded the senior prize. Elena used origami techniques to come up with an optimal design for a lightweight, foldable shelter.

Other disaster-related projects that impressed the judges included designs for tsunami barriers, investigations of how landslides occur, designing emergency survival kits and managing human waste after a disaster. 

 Changes to Radio Licence Fees

Following a review of licence fees by Radio Spectrum Management, changes to the radio spectrum fee framework were implemented on 1 October.

Those that affect Civil Defence Emergency Management are:-

• Category B: Land mobile radio licences for repeaters up to a maximum of five locations on a common frequency throughout New Zealand - $600 (inc GST) 
• Category C: Land mobile radio licences for repeaters for an unlimited number of locations on a common frequency throughout New Zealand - $1500 (inc GST) 
• Category D: All other licences for Radio communications transmission and / or reception protection issued under the Radio communications Act not included in Categories B & C - $150 (inc GST) 

All licences in the Emergency Services (ES) band are held by the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management and consequently have been moved to the new fee structure with effect from 1 October.

These changes will result in increased charges to some CDEM organisations as 11 of the 25 repeater frequencies will incur the higher charge of $1500 under Category C. It is the intention of the Ministry to reconsider how we structure our licensing in order to reduce the total annual licence fees for these 11 sites. The preferred option will be to licence for five sites under category B and then for any additional sites to be  licensed under Category D.  

There will be a saving for simplex frequencies under Category D where the fees have reduced from $255 to $150 per annum. The current arrangement where organisations pay just one license fee for use of simplex regardless of the number of frequencies allocated remains. 

Once we have finalised the structure of licensing repeater frequencies each CDEM organisation will be advised as to the total license fees payable under the new framework.

The annual cycle of fee payment for use of frequencies within the ES band will remain. It is as follows:

• 31 March – MCDEM billed for all frequencies.
• 30 April to mid May – CDEM organisation receive invoices covering their allocated frequencies.
• 30 June – Reimbursement from CDEM organisations completed back to MCDEM for allocated frequencies.

If you have any questions please contact John Lovell, Senior Regional Emergency Management Advisor   john.lovell@dpmc.govt.nz 

Supporting people, whānau and businesses after the Whakatāne district flooding

The Whakatāne District Council’s (WDC) Local Recovery Office is working hard to support the communities affected after ex-cyclones Debbie and Cook caused severe inundation and storm damage in April 2017.

A local state of emergency for Whakatāne District was declared on 6 April when a breach in the stopbank in the Rangitāiki River caused massive flooding of the Edgecumbe township and the surrounding rural areas. Around 1600 residents were evacuated. Over half the 588 houses in Edgecumbe were red or yellow placarded, meaning people were prohibited or restricted from re-entering their properties. More flooding in May exacerbated problems for people trying to dry out their properties, delaying rebuild works and affecting farmers, especially in Tāneatua and Galatea.

The recovery is multifaceted. The key focus is getting people back home and helping them meanwhile with temporary accommodation and other support where needed.

Drying out the wet homes is not an easy or fast task. All the yellow-stickered homes must be stripped out, dried out, re-lined and re-fit. Insurers are managing most of the repair works.

Meanwhile Recovery Navigators provide personalised wrap-around help for flood-affected people to meet the challenges of getting back on their feet. The issues people are facing are mostly financial, housing, insurance and wellbeing. A huge variety of support is available from psychosocial support for groups, like school children and new mums, and free GP visits and flu vaccinations.

Farmers are aided with grants and psychosocial support where needed, along with community events. Businesses too have been supported with grants, networking and mentoring services.

As work continues in meeting the immediate needs of the community, WDC is partnering with residents, iwi, businesses, farmers and others on a forward-looking, strategic Community Plan.

MCDEM’s National Recovery Office is supporting the locally-led recovery, working with the district and regional councils, government agencies and iwi for a coordinated and efficient recovery. Government, territorial authorities and the community have provided over $21 million funding to support the recovery:

•           Central government: $7 million

•           Local authorities (Bay of Plenty Regional Council and WDC): $12.4 million

•           NGOs, lotteries and community groups: $1.8 million.

Barina Barrett, Recovery Communications Manager, National Recovery Office, Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management,  barina.barrett@dpmc.govt.nz

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e-Bulletin is put together using stories, resources and information that readers submit. Up until recently,  we've asked everyone who's subscribed if they have anything to contribute to each issue.

From now on, we'll only be regularly contacting people listed as Contributors. Everyone else will have the chance to send in their stories by clicking the 'Send us your story'  link at the bottom of each issue. So if you've got a one-off story you'll still be able to send it to us. 

Those who want to be added to the Contributors list, click the button below to email us

e-Bulletin provides newsworthy updates about Civil Defence & Emergency Management (CDEM) and related information. It is for people in the CDEM sector and/or those with an interest in CDEM. e-Bulletin shares information, case studies, best practice, research and reports and celebrates successes.  Topics may cover:

·          upcoming events and activities

·          descriptions of responses to emergencies

·          information about research (keeping in mind it is not a peer-reviewed journal).

·          reports on what has been happening

·          announcements of new publications and guides

·          information about courses (ones you have been on and ones coming up)

·          celebrations of successes.

Contributions for the December edition are due by 6pm, Monday 4nd December.