CDEM | Civil Defence Emergency Management

Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM)
Other types of emergency management

Responding to emergencies is often one of the most valuable ways you can support the community. Your presence directly benefits people when they need help the most - often in life and death situations.

Being part of a team that helps their community in an emergencycan be very rewarding. It can provide you with a number of skills, a sense of achievement and lasting friendships. Your leadership and personal resilience will be improved as those around you see you as someone who can deal with emergencies. You will learn how to ease people who are distressed and you will have practical skills to help your family if they find themselves in emergency situations.

Volunteering in this field is demanding. Most positions require a regular weekly commitment for professional development and routine tasks such as equipment maintenance. This time must be spent in addition to any call outs that the unit responds to. Volunteers must also recognise that they may witness traumatic scenes and may work long hours.

Who is responsible for civil defence?

Civil defence is not a single organisation but the responsibility of all local authorities: regional, dsitrict and city councils. Each local authority decides what is best for its area based upon its unique emergency hazards and requirements.

Several local authorities around the country have a number of volunteers who assist in the event of an emergency. Some have dedicated teams that are very well equipped and can provide a mobile resource to the whole country. Other authorities prefer not to use the services of volunteers at all.

Contacting your nearest civil defence office

The Ministry website provides comprehensive local authority information. To find your nearest council click here. Many council websites have dedicated civil defence pages which include contact details. You can also simply contact your nearest council and ask to speak to the person responsible for civil defence.

What can I do?

In areas that utilise the skills of volunteers, there are several ways to help. These include:

Assisting families who have evacuated

Checking up on isolated homes

Providing information to an emergency operations centre

Rescuing people (Response Teams)

Catering for affected people/victims

Getting involved with a community civil defence group

Civil defence volunteering is much more than just sandbagging!

If your local council does not have a very well established civil defence volunteer section, there are often other agencies that you can join that provide a similar service. See 'Other types of emergency management'

Search and rescue (SAR)
Land Search and Rescue
Specialist Land Search and Rescue
Marine Search and Rescue
Search Dogs
Fire
Ambulance
Victim Support

Search and Rescue (SAR)

In many areas, an effective search and rescue response would be impossible without the support of volunteers. There are several types of search and rescue. moving from areas such as alpine, cave and cliff environments, through to searching for lost trampers, to operating in collapse structures and in marine environments. All are specialist in nature and require a unique person to assist.

For more information:

http://www.police.govt.nz/service/sar/

Land Search and Rescue

Search and rescue volunteers generally provide their services to land search and rescues. Activities include navigation, GPS usage, communications, helicopter safety and patient care. Searches are conducted in the bush, and often in suburban areas where someone has been reported missing.

Call outs and training schedules differ between regions, but there are some similarities. General fitness and familiarity with the outdoor environment is the responsibility of the volunteer. There are often regular training events locally, supported with a series of national courses for those who wish to develop further.

For more information:

http://www.nzlsar.org.nz
http://www.nzsar.org.nz

Specialist Land Search and Rescue

Activities such as alpine, cave and cliff rescue are technical skills with a high degree of risk. department of Conservation staff are often requested to provide the service, but there may be a local unit requiring additional assistance. Initial SAR volunteers are generally advised to get involved in non-technical areas before considering more specialist areas.

Marine Search and Rescue

New Zealand's marine environment also relies heavily on the service of volunteers. The New Zealand Coastguard has a large proportion of volunteer staff. The organisation responds to about 10 call outs per day.

Volunteers can expect to develop their skills in seamanship, boat handling, navigation and leadership. The Coastguard responds to many incidents that occur out in the water, from mechanical failures to serious medical emergencies to assisting families with a swamped or grounded boat.

Staff with the Coastguard can expect to be requested to provide their time to a regular radio watch, participate in regular training and assist with incidents.

For more information:

http://www.coastguard.org.nz

Search Dogs

Potential search dog handlers are always welcome to help out with search and rescue efforts in their region. Search dogs are vital to locate people out in the bush or under the rubble pile of a collapsed building. No specific breed is required; however the dog must be obidient yet independent, teachable and have a great drive.

Search dog handlers generally put in several hours of training a week and must train their dogs for years before they are considered operational. Volunteers must have a great attitude and have a great belief in what they are going. In order to be certified, handlers also undergo a training programme designed at improving their own abilities.

For more information:

http://www.nzlsar-dogs.org.nz
http://www.usardogs.org.nz

Fire

Volunteers are the large majority of fire fighters in the country. This is especially true in rural areas. Fire fighting will require you to be fit and reliable. In addition to simply fighting fires, the fire service is also involved in medical call outs and responding to people affected by severe weather.

Fire Police provide support to operational fire fighters and others at emergency scenes. This includes crowd control, traffic control, providing refreshments and logistics. They have their origins in the Auckland region, where a major fire in 1933 brought an estimated 10,000 spectators. Many of them hampered the fire fighters by looting and heckling. Volunteers are sworn constables (as provided by section 33 of the Fire Service Act 1975) and hold the legal authority associated with that position. They provide a valuable service by assisting the fire fighters to perform their core function.

For more information:

http://www.fire.org.nz
http://volunteer.fire.org.nz

Ambulance

Working as a volunteer ambulance officer is a varied technical role. It involves tasks such as assisting with patient transport, responding to medical emergencies and saving the lives of those involved in motor vehicle accidents. All ambulance staff need to possess a caring, respectful attitude and a high level of competence.

There is no single national provider of ambulance services, but all providers utilise the valuable service of volunteers. Each district health board contracts the services to different agencies, so the agency to contact will depend on your local area.

As well as working in ambulances, volunteers are also highly valued working in first aid tents at sporting fixtures, concerts and other public events. These volunteers are stationed on site to respond to medical emergencies. Their level of training and equipment will allow them to assess and stabilise patients.

For more information:

http://www.stjohn.org.nz
http://www.wellingtonfreeambulance.org.nz
http://www.wairarapa.dhb.org.nz
http://www.tdhb.org.nz

Victim Support

Volunteer victim support workers conduct 50 hours of training in assisting those facing crisis. This includes self-awareness, listening and communicating skills, coping with grief, death, dying, loss and trauma and understanding legal, court, hospital and police procedures. Further professional development is provided in monthly sessions.

Workers are then called upon regularly to provide gentle guidance and a listening ear to those people who are impacted by crime and other loss. The organisation sees itself as "working quietly in the background amid the chaos of a person's life". This means that those offering to assist need to be compassionate and empathetic

For more information:

http://www.victimsupport.org.nz