Emergency preparedness, response and recovery
Volunteers are often the first to respond to emergency events, and are a vital part of emergency response and recovery.
Kelsey Hanrahan, NEMA, gave a webinar on emergency preparedness, response and recovery – focused on people in the voluntary and social sector.
She said New Zealand was experiencing more serious emergency events. Since 2015 we have had two or three big events each year.
Organisations need to get ready
Organisations, as well as individuals, need to take emergency preparedness responsibility. NEMA stressed that they have limited resource to respond to local emergencies, and that response is predominantly from communities and volunteers, co-ordinated through Civil Defence and Emergency Management groups.
Webinar attendees said volunteers were frequently spread across several volunteer organisations so may be checked on or called to help by multiple organisations needing them. Co-ordination is needed.
Kelsey noted the complexity of the emergency sector. She said The Emergency Management Bill, currently in progress through Parliament, should help clarity roles and responsibilities.
Follow-up responses:
Spontaneous volunteers and how they can best be managed. Seepage 7 of this document.
Emergency Management Bill information sheets (scroll down to ‘Information Sheets’). They set out what’s changing and why, who the changes would affect, and when they would come into force. Note these are subject to change as the Bill progresses through Parliament.
View the slides from the Emergency Preparedness webinar.
View the recording of the presentation.