A Word from the Mayor
How important is Civil Defence?
There are a raft of reforms dominating across all media.
Three Waters is so focused on meeting Drinking Water Standards, with little attention being focused on waste and storm water, while the Resource Management Act is being repealed and replaced with three new acts that will govern the future of our country — the Natural Built Act, Spatial Planning Act and the Climate Change Adaption Act.
These are considerable, and undoubtedly will change the landscape of our country.
Another legislative change, the National Emergency Management Agency, is planning to align three pieces of emergency management legislation that purports to build a modern, fit for purpose, enduring framework for emergency management so communities better understand the risks they face and are better prepared to respond to and recover from emergencies.
The Hon Geoffrey Palmer stated in 1989 ‘‘sometimes it does us a power of good to remind ourselves that we live……. Where two tectonic plates meet, in a somewhat lonely stretch of windswept ocean just above the roaring forties. If you want drama – you’ve come to the right place”.
The overall purpose during an emergency is to provide the response with overall direction, control, inter-agency coordination and resources to respond to the emergency or disaster.
It continues to be critical to have a strong, locally integrated system that can step up and into the disaster relief.
Resilient communities should develop their own strategies, and move away from a hierarchical agency structure of ‘‘doing to’’ communities to a more inclusive ‘‘working wit’’ to enable communities to be better prepared and more resilient.
Given that we have some of our communities that are at different stages of understanding and planning for emergencies, it may be helpful to understand what some groups are planning. The Hawarden Waikari Civil Defence team, along with critical emergency services are collectively to host a public meeting on May 26, at 7pm in Waikari Hall, to share information of how local responses work.
This is a fabulous initiative particularly for newcomers to the area, or those who are seeking an update, to better understand what risks the community faces and the work our emergency services provide in the community.
If other communities would like to host a similar information session, I welcome you to contact Allan Grigg on allan.grigg@hurunui.govt.nz.
Remember at its heart - CD, a shorten version of civilian defence – ‘‘locals looking after locals’’- is the best way to have confidence, and be prepared.