Complacency ‘a hazard’ to community preparedness for emergency events

Sunday, 9 January 2022

Nelson Tasman CDEM public information manager Paul Shattock and AF8 (Alpine Fault magnitude 8) programme lead Alice Lake-Hammond encourage residents to be prepared in case of an emergency.

Preparedness for an emergency tends to drop between events and such complacency has been identified as a hazard.

Nelson Tasman Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group manager of emergency management Joe Kennedy said complacency was “always a risk and we ourselves have to make sure we don't fall into that trap”.

The Nelson Tasman CDEM group is a partnership between Nelson City and Tasman District councils as well as key agencies including police, Fire and Emergency NZ, St John, Nelson Marlborough District Health Board and the Ministry of Social Development along with iwi.

“We can’t really be complacent because we live on an active tectonic plate boundary,” said AF8 (Alpine Fault magnitude 8) programme lead Alice Lake-Hammond.

Nelson Tasman CDEM manager of emergency management Joe Kennedy says complacency is always a risk. (File photo)

**READ MORE:

An indicative map of the Alpine Fault running under the South Island, supplied by GNS Science.

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Simulations are run at the Nelson Tasman CEDM Emergency Operations Centre, in central Richmond, so the group members can respond effectively in a real emergency situation.

AF8 is a collaboration between the six CDEM groups in the South Island and science, including research from six universities and Crown Research Institutes, emergency services, lifelines, iwi, health authorities and other partner agencies.

It aims to share the Alpine Fault hazard and impact science, and preparedness information widely as the next severe earthquake on the Alpine Fault is tipped to occur within the lifetime of most people alive today or their children.

The start of the Pigeon Valley fire in February 2019, which turned into an emergency event.

Lake-Hammond was in Tasman District recently and met Kennedy and Nelson Tasman CDEM public information manager Paul Shattock.

Kennedy said that during “business-as-usual” times between emergency events, it was important for the CDEM team, which had six people in 5.5 fulltime-equivalent roles, to help develop “community preparedness” for an emergency and understand the priorities for each community.

Civil defence bosses speak about the review into the Pigeon Valley fire response. Video first published in December 2019.

Lake-Hammond said those communities were not just geographical, they also included professional groups and “communities of practice”.

It was recommended that households have supplies to last a minimum of three days and up to 14 days if possible.

“That is quite a lot for some families, so we also suggest you don't need to do it on your own,” Lake-Hammond said in relation to the 14 days of supplies.

Households could organise those supplies in conjunction with their neighbours. Maybe one person in the neighbourhood had a generator that all could use.

“Sharing your resources and having those conversations beforehand is a great way to not only be prepared but to connect in your neighbourhood, build more resilience and also lessen the trauma, the mental stress, that it can cause when you start to think about some of these things,” she said.

Kennedy said people should be aware of the hazards in their location.

“Are you by a river? Are you by a steep slope? Are you by the coast? Then, have a plan.”

Discussion of what items occupants would take if they had five minutes to evacuate and then making the necessary preparations was also useful.

Shattock said as part of its own preparation, the CDEM group ran simulation events as if they were “real-life” emergencies.

“It’s incredibly helpful, so we can respond effectively,” Shattock said, adding the Nelson-Tasman region had also experienced real events, such as the Pigeon Valley fire in 2019.

Lake-Hammond said a rupture of the Alpine Fault had a “South Island-wide hazard footprint”.

While the Nelson Tasman region would not experience surface rupture, residents may have to deal with shaking of up to two minutes.

“Even if that’s a low level of shaking, that has the ability to cause a fair amount of damage,” she said.