Kaipara emergency response teams leap into action during an emergency

KAIPARA

BY JULIA WADE

27 Mar, 2023

As Kaipara was whipped with wind, rain and thunder over the last month causing locals to negotiate flooded roads and scarper for shelter, amid all the chaos a team of people were prepped and ready to roll, ensuring locals had a safe harbour to turn to when circumstances became dire.

The combined task force Civil Defence Emergency Management [CDEM] leapt into action after the two recent catastrophic weather events, first establishing emergency shelters for the stranded to turn to at various locations, providing accurate up-to-date information to the public via various media and organising overnight beds for those who had nowhere else to go.

Support groups

CDEM is compiled of professionals from councils, emergency services, and critical infrastructure partners such as Northpower, and when the alarm is raised, Kaipara District Council’s [KDC] emergency management specialist, Laura Exton, says the team works as a collaborative unit.

“As every emergency is different, we coordinate together and share information to provide the best response for the community, we do this during peacetime as well,” she says. “We also have Community Response Groups [CRG] whose role is to be a conduit of information between the community and Civil Defence, sharing important information with the community, and also feeding information back to Civil Defence about what’s happening on the ground and what the needs of the community are.”

Run by local volunteers, another aspect of the CRG role is to prep and open Community Led Centre’s – either a local hall, club, marae or church – to act as a place of shelter for people who may have been displaced from their homes due to an emergency.

“During both Cyclone Gabrielle and the Mangawhai extreme weather event, Kaipara’s CRGs worked hard to support their community,” Laura says. “They were in touch with the council’s Emergency Operations Centre staff to coordinate needs. Many opened up their local Community Led Centre as a place of shelter for people who had to leave their home or as a hub for those who didn’t have power and needed a place to have a warm shower, hot kai or charge their mobile phones.”

Communication vital

Communication during emergency events is absolutely critical and the role of the Public Information Management or ‘PIM’, is to ensure the public have access to ‘factual, accurate information in a timely manner to the community and to media’, via many different platforms, including social media, printed fact sheets especially during a power outage and radio, which is especially useful as people can tune in to car radios.

Laura says there are always complications involved with coordinating emergency responses.

“By nature, emergencies are high stress situations with lots of moving parts which are constantly changing,” she says. “However, while there are difficulties, what I love about the role is the incredible resilience and manaakitanga [respect, hospitality, kindness] shown by emergency services and the community themselves, the way people come together to awhi [support] each other during Cyclone Gabrielle and the Mangawhai extreme weather event was inspiring.”

People welfare

As KDC welfare manager, Jenny Rooney’s role revolves around community engagement and when the council’s Emergency Operations Centre is activated in extreme weather events, she leads the welfare team for a Kaipara response.

“We operate alongside Civil Defence Northland [CDN] and other agencies to coordinate and provide for the needs of people affected by an emergency, to minimise impacts for individuals, families, whanau and communities. A lot of the planning is done during peacetime.”

When activated, Jenny works with the CRGs to set up and provide staff and volunteers to attend to the emergency centres.

“We also need to ensure that any evacuation centre or place of shelter is not at risk of also being affected and that it best caters for the needs of people. For example, in the Mangawhai extreme weather event, we set up both the council office and the golf club as places of shelter and then as the event continued there was a need to accommodate people overnight so moved around 135 stranded people to the Christian camps.”

The challenges of her role when coordinating welfare and support is to make sure the many different needs and situations of those affected are all considered often while having to deal with the same issues facing the public, such as power outages and loss of phone/internet connection.

“In the last month, KDC emergency operations welfare staff have set up and activated evacuation centres, coordinated and provided food parcels, clothing and bedding, Starlink connections and generators, conducted door-to door welfare checks with first responders, organised emergency and temporary accommodation, supported families to apply for funding and welfare assistance to name a few of the tasks,” she says. “All of this has been done in the KDC Emergency Operations Centre in co-ordination with Civil Defence Northland and other agencies and is ongoing in the recovery phase.”

Be prepared

Both women say the best thing locals can do in an emergency response is to be prepared beforehand and know where to source vital information.

“Preparedness is a key part of an emergency response. By being prepared, you can reduce the fear, anxiety and loss that can accompany disasters – you will feel confident that you will be more self-sufficient and know what to do,” Laura says. “The first thing to do in an emergency is to seek further information as every event is different, and the Northland Civil Defence Facebook page is a great way to learn more about the emergency, its effects on your community and what key things you need to do.”

Other advised ways of staying informed and connected are KDCs Facebook page, and downloading the Red Cross hazards app and Antenno mobile app, which is used by KDC to share alerts from CDN and council services notifications including road closures and facility information. Both apps have MetService alerts which provide information ahead of time if a weather event is expected.

Having a household emergency plan and kit, a grab bag and being aware of the key hazards in your area, are also recommended.

“You can also take a look at your area’s Community Response Plan on the NRC website. During a weather event, the advice we give to locals is to shelter in place – as we all saw during Cyclone Gabrielle and the Mangawhai extreme weather event, the roads were incredibly dangerous with trees and power lines down, and water across roads that was often difficult to see,” Laura says. “If you live in an area that is not a safe option such as a flood zone, seek shelter with friends or family, however if you can stay home, please do, as this is the safest place for you to be.”

n Emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere. You can learn more about how to get ready for an emergency at getready.govt.nz/en/. If anyone is interested in joining the Community Response team please get in touch with Laura.

A handful of the emergency crew who leapt into action during the recent weather bombs – KDC’s Emergency Operations Centre and Incident Management teams, including IMT lead Brian Armstrong (orange vis), KDC Civil Defence Controller John Burt (white vis), Public Information Management Ruby Mitchell (purple vis) and Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Specialist Laura Exton [second from right, yellow vis). PHOTO/SUPPLIED