Trans-Tasman CDEM agreement

Picked this up via Twitter and Radio NZ...

A trans-Tasman agreement being signed on Thursday will make it quicker and easier for Civil Defence in New Zealand and Australia to help each other in a national disaster.
The agreement between the Civil Defence and the Emergency Management Ministry and the Australian Attorney-General's department will see a 24-hour hotline maintained between the countries if either needs help.
The agreement formalises arrangements which allow Civil Defence staff and materials into either country in an emergency.
Given New Zealand's hazards and isolation, ministry director John Hamilton says it is important to have support on hand and ready to help if needed.
He says few countries can respond on their own to a national disaster.

World Conference on Disaster Management

Here's a plug for the Conference coming up in October. More details on their site here.

The World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM) Sydney, Australia offers a unique experience, bringing together experts, practitioners, certifying bodies, service and product suppliers for Emergency Management, Business Continuity and other Disaster Management disciplines. The WCDM Summit Series will be a two day event replicating our hugely successful Canadian show dealing with international and regional issues affecting Australia.

The format will consist of 4 Plenarys, 12 concurrent sessions, 3 Advanced Master Workshops combined with Round Table Discussions, Panel Discussions and Networking Receptions with the Sponsors.

The past 18 years have seen tremendous development in not only the number of delegates at WCDM but also the demand for such an event globally. There has been an overwhelming increase in the number of key decision-makers, top corporate executives and government representatives interested in exploring the latest developments and already-proven industry-related products and services.

The WCDM recognises that showcasing the best in industry-related products and services will help reach our goal of ensuring prepared and resilient small businesses, corporations and communities.

Congratulations Noel Mingins

A huge congratulations to Noel on graduating from Massey this week with his Graduate Diploma in Emergency Management. Noel hasn't been particularly forthcoming with photos of the ceremony but I'm sure that all members of the Group will join me in passing on our congratulations.

As a course of part-time study, it takes several years to complete the Diploma. It certainly shows commitment to the programme to make it all the way through.

For more information about the Diploma course, you can check it out here.

May edition of e-Bulletin now on-line

For the very latest from MCDEM and the sector, check out the latest e-Bulletin here. Its great to see we get a mention in relation to Hastings' success at a recent expo... they borrowed the earthquake cubes and were voted second-equal best display by the public. It shows the advantage in being reasonably generic in the display material produced for use across the Group.

Head down... on the Group Plan

Well, we are head down on the Group Plan at the moment. We're making a concerted effort to finish the draft of the Plan in time for the next CEG meeting on 16 June. We've opted not to mini-workshop these but draft them out in line with the Director's Guide.

I've just spent some time on the Monitoring and Evaluation chapter and taken the opportunity to have a close look at Jo Horrocks' capability assessment tool. To be honest, the work that has been done by MCDEM on this front looks pretty good. I think we'll find the tool useful for benchmarking where we are at but also identifying how we conpare to the rest of NZ. One of the things that has stood out for me is the desparate need to get a baseline of preparedness data. Quite how we'll do this is not yet determined but I'm working on it.

Evan has made good progress on the risk profile material and that chapter will be the focus over the next few days. Brendan has been working on recovery and that will be our focus in a few weeks.

I'm also looking at the Triennial Business Plan. Given that we don't want to include outputs on the Group Plan this time round, I've been adding the work projects and activities to the Business Plan as we go. I think our challenge will be developing a sense of urgency in achieving some of these outcomes. Perhaps more on this thought later.

Crowd sourced information

Crowd sourced information is a concept I recently learned about listending to a TedTalk. This is an idea that is worth exploring - filtering information from the 'crowd' e.g. text messages people send, to gather intelligence about what's going on out there. Often, agencies are overwhelmed by the amount of information that is out there and important things are missed.

I'm interested in seeing if others think we can expand on this concept in the New Zealand context and how this might happen. Check out this short TedTalk video.