Manawatu-Wanganui CDEM Group

Group Welfare Plan under way

2011-04-18T08:02:00.005+12:00

Following the recommendations in the Capability Assessment Report, members of the Welfare Advisory Group have been working on a number of ways to improve welfare coordination. The first of these was to appoint a Group Welfare Manager. This was done just a few weeks prior to the Canterbury earthquake so Suzanne Craig had a bit of an induction by fire. Since then, a small working group has got together to talk through the work programme for WAG and one of these was the development of the Group Welfare Plan. The purpose of the Manawatu-Wanganui Group Welfare Plan is to provide direction and clarity for the coordination of welfare planning, response and recovery in a civil defence emergency management context. The Plan will provide direction for the development of local welfare plans.

The first draft of the Group Welfare Plan has been sent to the working group for their input. It will then be circulated to the Welfare Advisory Group for consideration with feedback and further development at the next WAG meeting. Once the WAG members are happy with the Plan it will be forwarded to the Coordinating Executive Group for endorsement.

Person finder for Japan

2011-03-13T11:20:00.002+13:00

Google have created a site for people looking for friends and loved ones following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Here is the link to the Google person finder site for this event. I've discovered that there is also one for Christchurch too... here.

EMNet site deleted

2011-02-17T18:38:00.002+13:00

Despite having 67 followers, I've chosen to delete the HorizonsEM site EMNet collaboration. The reason for this is that progress on the Emergency Management Information System has superseded the need for us to continue collaboration on GIS systems.

The EMIS will provide the start of a mapping platform that we can all use. I expect that version 1.0 of the EMIS will have a basic mapping module however future versions will provide more opportunities to integrate web services based maps.

I'd like to reinforce that agencies should begin the process of publishing the GIS data they hold so that it can be picked up in the new mapping platform. Things like current road status are going to be central to good emergency management and this platform will be perfect for that.

Thanks to those who have supported the EMNet project... that eventually became AEGIS Map and is now evolving to the national EMIS.

Kopane Bridge construction

2011-02-10T13:30:00.005+13:00

For many years the constriction caused by the Kopane Bridge over the Oroua River has set the level of flood protection afforded to this area. The Regional Council has recently acquired the consents and funding to replace the old Kopane Bridge with a new bridge and to realign the Rongotea Road.

At present there is a low spot in the flood protection work just up river from the bridge so that over-topping of the banks happens in a controlled manner. Excess flows are diverted overland to the Taonui Basin. Once the work is completed the potential level of flood waters in the Basin will be reduced.

The project is costing $4.3M and is expected to be completed by April 2012.

EMIS update

2011-02-07T13:10:00.005+13:00

It appears that things are progressing with the implementation of the Emergency Management Information System from the Ministry. The next round of train the trainers is scheduled for mid-April to early-May - six lots of three-day training sessions for MCDEM and CDEM Group and local authority staff.

The website that MCDEM set up to keep people informed on EMIS progress has changed. This can now be found here.

We are currently working on a rollout plan for our Group including who needs to be trained, when and where as well as putting in our Group templates, making sure that all the staff and agencies are established, links between sites will work properly and that our roll-ups work the way we expect. Some specific training packages will be developed for our Group too... a 2hr introduction, 2hr Controllers and section training as well.

There will be more to come on this front this year - it is top of the list for a wee while.

Tropical Cyclone YASI

2011-02-02T11:00:00.007+13:00

I've been getting a few queries about TC YASI and how to find out information about what is happening. Here are a few links you may find useful...

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System
Townsville Emergency Management
Queensland Disaster Emergency Management
Live radio broadcast this is a streaming radio link
Australian Bureau of Meteorology

iPhone users can also look at downloading the iPhone app PDC World Disaster Alerts.

Back on board for 2011

2011-01-31T13:20:00.002+13:00

Well... first day back in the office and already a month has gone by. 1000+ emails in the inbox have all been cleared and now looking to the work programme for 2011. I can tell its going to be a busy year not only with programmed work but event response too - wind and rain going crazy outside the window and one event under our belt already this year (well done to the team).

Welcome to Noel Mingins... Noel has taken up the EMO Rural Fire position with Ruapehu District Council taking over from Annie Petersen. It will be good having Noel back in the Group. Farewell and all the best to Annie, who is staying with Ruapehu DC but in a waste minimisation role.

In the next few weeks, we have a number of Emergency Management Committee meetings, a Co-ordinating Executive Group meeting, a Welfare Advisory Group meeting and a training programme to kick off.

The Horizons Emergency Operations Centre will be relocated to the ground floor in the next short while; taking advantage of new IT and better managing the space available to the team for emergency response.

The EMIS is about to enter final testing so hopefully it won't be too long before the system is launched and we can start the move to an integrated information management system. I understand that this testing phase will take about 6-8 weeks.

Anyway... 2011 is underway so keep an eye on the blog and feel free to ask questions, make suggestions and give us feedback on the Manawatu-Wanganui CDEM Group.

Calendar updates

2010-12-20T16:10:00.004+13:00

Well... it has been a while. The calendar of meeting dates and training was having a bit of a Google-wide hissy fit but it seems that the Google geeks have sorted that out now. The meeting dates for 2011 have mostly been entered into the meeting calendar now. EMO and Rural Fire meetings are yet to be added.

Things have certainly been busy in recent weeks with budget preparations and end of year wrap ups. I will be away for January so the blog is unlikely to be updated during this time.

Tune in again next year and I'll keep you posted on things such as the launch of the EMIS, training activities, relocation of the Group ECC, Ministry stuff and other interesting little tidbits.

In the meantime, remember that **it happens anytime, anywhere... be prepared for that. Keep some stuff in the car if your on holiday (nut bars and water), keep some cash handy for when the EFTPOS falls over and most of all, enjoy the summer!

Shane and the Emergency Management Team

Green RIG whereabouts

2010-10-18T09:02:00.004+13:00

Many of you will know that the award winning Green RIG spends its time on the road educating our communities about environmental issues. In the recent theme change natural hazards have become more of a talking point. One wall of the Green RIG is dedicated to natural hazards.

The photo shows students learning about the effects of development in flood plains... something we know a little bit about.

The Green RIG team publish a calendar on the Green RIG website here. Over the next couple of months, the Green RIG will be in Palmerston North, Carterton and Wanganui.

Liquefaction... what does it mean for us?

2010-10-05T15:27:00.006+13:00

Since the Canterbury earthquake, we have been fielding a few calls about liquefaction in our region. There have been a few good articles in local papers, but here is a small excerpt from our Risk and Responsibilities Report (the lifelines report).

'Liquefaction is the loss of strength of unconsolidated materials during shaking, with the expulsion of water. Heavy objects such as tanks may sink, list, or float if liquefaction of their foundation or surrounding materials occurs. Sandy layers, up to several metres below the ground may liquefy provided there is sufficient confining pressure, and may cause sand/water fountaining at the ground surface. Liquefaction is commonly responsible for lateral spreading along riverbanks. Unconsolidated, water saturated sandy material is a prerequisite for liquefaction, so areas prone to this hazard tend to coincide with those prone to amplification of shaking and settlement.'

In our region, it is the west coast strip that is most susceptible to liquefaction. The diagram also shows known earthquake faults.

Get Ready Week... underway already

2010-10-05T13:22:00.004+13:00

OK, so we're a bit early... that's typical of us though!

This year's theme for Get Ready Week (formerly known as Disaster Awareness Week) is tsunami. That fits nicely with the national tsunami exercise on the 20th October. New banners have been made for our AirShelter and a CDEM Group tsunami brochure prepared and printed. We've bought survival items to display in the AirShelter and have the new video interviews with Kiwis who survived the Samoa earthquake and tsunami last year.

Next thing you know, Canterbury have a massive earthquake and a significant civil defence response. Closer to home, we have more than our fair share of rain resulting in evacuations, flood gate operations and an awful lot of soggy ground! We've now operated the new Makino and Moutoa flood control gates twice in two weeks. I think its a good guess that people will have questions about earthquakes and floods while we are out there in the community.

To help answer some of the questions, we dusted off the earthquake cubes from a couple of years ago. Each cube in the display (numbered 4-8) represents the amount of energy released in an earthquake. The very small cube represents a Richter scale 4 event and the big cube a Richter scale 8. We'll also be printing off some more Makino brochures for the Fielding display.

The Get Ready Week roadshow is in the following places...

5-7 October Levin at Horowhenua District Council

8 October Feilding in the Square

11 October Taihape New World

12 October Marton New World and Ohakune District Council Service Centre

13 October Palmerston North in the Square

14 October Danevirke at the Warehouse

15 October Wanganui as part of the Health Wellbeing and Fitness expo at the Memorial Hall

Doing our bit to help

2010-09-07T03:35:00.005+12:00

A few familiar faces from Palmerston North converged on the National Crisis Management Centre to assist in co-ordinating the response to the M7.1 earthquake in Canterbury. Braden Austin was called in to undertake the role of Lifeline Utility Coordinator, Jock Robinson in logistics support and me (Shane Bayley) in planning/intelligence support. I don't think Jock even knew I was taking his pic.

As it happened, we bumped into other (former and current) CEG members from the Manawatu-Wanganui CDEM Group... Murray Mills in his Ministry of Health role and Stewart Brown from NZ Defence Force.

I left the NCMC yesterday morning to return home because of flooding so it might not have been much, but every little bit helps I'm sure. Making a professional contribution and gaining experience during real events is an important part of participating in the sector.

Working on the website

2010-09-01T14:45:00.002+12:00

Well, it's taken a while but I've been working on the new CDEM Group website with Glen today. We are making progress and will be doing a 'soft launch' of the site really soon so that the Emergency Management Officers can have an opportunity to build on the content.

We are still struggling with a nice URL for the site and despite that fact that there have been a few good ideas floated, we are still stuck with www.mwcdemg.govt.nz I know - it's a stunner. If you have any cool ideas for a URL for the Manawatu-Wanganui Civil Defence Emergency Management Group - please, let us know.

We hope to do a launch of the site later in the year and will start promoting it as soon as we can.

Recovery Manager's Forum

2010-08-19T08:11:00.003+12:00

Recovery Managers in the Manawatu-Wanganui CDEM Group will be given an opportunity to meet and discuss a range of recovery issues for the Group. In addition, some of the issues that will come out of Exercise Tangaroa can be discussed, even though two of the eight local authorities don't have any coastline.

Recovery Managers tend to be forgotten a little, or lumped in with Controllers when we do something for them. This forum will focus on recovery and the advances that have been made in recovery since the 2004 floods, which tend to be the benchmark around these parts. The forum will be on the 4th November, which is after Tangaroa and before the Ministry's Recovery Manager's Workshop in December.

Keeping an eye on river height alarms

2010-08-13T11:43:00.004+12:00

Horizons Regional Council has for many years now been issuing river height alarms to subscribers through an automated telephone system. Recent developments in mapping capability have now enabled staff to monitor when and where the alarms are being dialed out.

The system is intended as an in-house viewer with low level alarms show up as a blue diamond, alarms that the Operations Duty Officer receives are orange triangles and alarms that the Emergency Management Duty Officer receives are red stars. At a glance, we can see where the areas of concern are.

In addition to this basic information, links within the 'fly-out' take you to the public hydrograph (visible to the public via the Horizons website) and a list of alarm level subscribers showing when they were called, whether they acknowledged the alarm or not and their name and telephone number (only available to staff).

This is the sort of technology that helps duty officers keep an eye on what's going on. I'll certainly be keeping this window open over the weekend.

Second wave of H1N1

2010-08-12T12:39:00.002+12:00

This from MidCentral DHB:

New Zealand is experiencing the second wave of Pandemic A (H1N1) 2009. Influenza activity is continuing to increase, but so far it is looking more like a seasonal flu wave than the 2009 pandemic wave. Areas in which there were fewer cases and/or hospitalisations in 2009 appear to be experiencing higher rates than others regions so far this winter.

The great majority of positive influenza swabs are still either Pandemic H1N1 or influenza A – un-subtyped (most likely Pandemic H1N1). The nature of the virus remains unchanged and is still sensitive to antiviral medication.

Key messages in the NZ response continue to focus on:

getting vaccinated against seasonal influenza which includes protection against swine flu: there is still time but act quickly
washing and drying hands frequently, covering coughs and sneezes and staying at home if you are sick: a new media campaign has commenced
phoning for medical advice early (GP or Healthline on 0800 611 116) for anyone with symptoms of influenza, to be assessed for antiviral medicine and other treatment, particularly if they have underlying health conditions. This is also important for pregnant women, who appear to be at particular risk of more severe illness.

Cases of influenza like illness in the Manawatu are still below baseline level although this has increased in recent weeks. Schools are currently reporting increases in absenteeism and they are being monitored weekly by Public Health.

For further information go to the MoH website.

CDEM Resilience Fund on the way

2010-08-10T16:29:00.002+12:00

Director John Hamilton has recently written to all local authorities outlining plans for a contestable fund. The contents of the letter are...

"I am writing to you to advise of the establishment of the Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Resilience Fund that will support the development of civil defence emergency management capability in local government. The Minister of Civil Defence has approved an arrangement that will replace the previous reimbursement by the central government of a proportion of local authority civil defence emergency management expenditure. The funds allocated will now be directed towards local authority led projects that demonstrate a contribution towards resilience and address identified sector priorities. The goal is to ensure the allocation provides maximum value towards enhancing resilience, achieves a more strategic focus, and encourages collaboration across the CDEM Groups and local authorities.

Since 1966 the government has provided to local authorities a subsidy to support the development of civil defence capability. Recently, the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management has overseen the distribution of these funds to local authorities on a pro rata basis: all local authorities were refunded a percentage of their total civil defence emergency management expenditure. A review of the allocation of the subsidy determined that this approach was delivering poor value for money. On that basis, the Minister of Civil Defence agreed that the subsidy should be replaced with a contestable fund process that the allocation of funds would be linked to demonstrated improvements in civil defence emergency management and community resilience.

The process for the CDEM Resilience Fund

The Ministry has therefore developed a process for the management of the CDEM Resilience Fund that is outlined in the attached document. The allocation of the fund to projects will be guided by the priorities identified by the sector, identified gaps in the sector, the value to the wider CDEM sector, ability to deliver, and the value for money of the proposed deliverables. The Ministry will monitor the delivery of the projects and support collaboration across local authorities and CDEM Groups in undertaking projects.

To determine the priorities for the allocation of the CDEM Resilience Fund, we will establish a forum of the 16 Chairs of the Coordinating Executive Groups. I wish to hold this forum in October to enable the chairs to discuss possible priorities and areas for collaboration for the 2011/12 financial year onwards. It will provide the opportunity to discuss the strategic challenges facing CDEM across the nation and provide the opportunity for the CDEM Groups to discuss areas of possible cooperation. I will be contacting each of the 16 Chairs directly to discuss their attendance at this forum.

Once the forum of CEG Chairs has determined the priorities for the forthcoming round of the fund, they will be communicated to all local authorities and the CDEM Group offices to enable the early development of proposals. An independent evaluation committee will review the proposals against the criteria established by the CEG Chair Forum. It will also investigate the possible mergers of proposals to enhance collaboration and maximise the benefit gained. The evaluation committee will consist of members of CDEM partner agencies.

Transitional arrangements for 2010/11

The full CDEM Resilience Fund process will operate for the allocation in the 2011/12 financial year. The extended timeframe for the process of selection cannot be implemented for this financial year and a transitional arrangement will be required for 2010/11.

Local authorities are therefore requested to apply for funding for projects in the CDEM area by 10 October. No strategic priorities will be set for this financial year to rank the applications. The evaluation committee will also not seek to merge or link similar projects in this round. Proposals can be supported by a multiple of local authorities or CDEM Group(s). However, that will be based on the initiative of local authorities involved. As long as the proposals are compatible with the principles and criteria for eligibility outlined in the guideline for the CDEM Resilience Fund (attached) and are within the proposed allocation for that local authority, the Ministry will approve the allocation.

To simplify the process for the transitional period, a proposed funding amount for local authorities is proposed. This is to provide a guide for the consideration of proposals and simplify the process for deciding on funding allocation. Proposals may exceed that amount, but then approval will be dependent on the availability of funding.

The proposed funding amount for local authorities is $9,000 per authority with the exception of the new amalgamated Auckland Council allocated up to $72,000, and each of the other unitary authorities (Marlborough, Nelson-Tasman, Gisborne, and Chatham Islands) being proposed $30,000. Authorities can make joint applications through which they can combine their proposed funding amount.

The way ahead

The CDEM Resilience Fund provides a mechanism for the local government CDEM sector to collaboratively identify priorities and establish joint projects to maximise the benefits gained from the subsidy provided by the government. I appreciate that this approach will also place an administrative burden on those involved and inevitably there will be teething problems with the new system. However, I believe that this approach will pay increasing dividends as the process becomes embedded and areas of collaboration are identified.

Yours sincerely,

John Hamilton

Director"

Ministry publishes tsunami videos

2010-08-06T13:29:00.003+12:00

On 29 September 2009 a deadly tsunami hit the South Pacific, claiming over 180 lives in Samoa, Tonga and American Samoa. The tsunami was triggered by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake at 06:48, just south of Samoa, and arrived within minutes. There was no time for an official warning. Many lives were saved because people recognised the natural warning signs of a tsunami and were able to get away quickly to a safe area.

In these video clips, New Zealanders who survived the tsunami share their experiences in the hope that it will help others have a better understanding of what happens during a tsunami, and how acting quickly can save lives.

Tsunami - When minutes count: Part 1

Tsunami - When minutes count: Part 2

There are more video interviews on the MCDEM website here.

Wellington Earthquake Initial Response Plan

2010-08-04T13:29:00.006+12:00

The Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management has just released the Response Plan.

A major earthquake in the Wellington region is one of the worst scenarios for a natural hazard disaster that could be faced by New Zealand. This is due in part to Wellington’s population density, it being the seat of government, its economic importance, and its role as a key transport hub. In addition, a major earthquake in the Wellington region is likely to severely restrict the ability of authorities to coordinate and control the national response. In most other scenarios the ability of authorities to coordinate and control the response would remain largely intact.

The plan provided in this document has been created to show the concept of operations for the response to a major Wellington earthquake. It shows agreed roles and responsibilities for agencies participating in the response. The plan ensures that the national level response is co-ordinated, can be activated immediately and automatically, and is as effective and as efficient as possible within the constraints of this event.

Here is the link to a copy of the Plan

Ministry praises region’s emergency response planning

2010-08-04T13:12:00.001+12:00

The Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management Capability Assessment Report has commended the Manawatu-Wanganui Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group’s emergency response.

The report carried out in March 2010 states that: “the Manawatu-Wanganui Group is a model of how CDEM Group members should work together to achieve common goals. The benefits and efficiencies of doing so are evident, in terms of shared resources, peer support among Emergency Management Officers, coordinated planning, and development of transferable skills and training. Given the Group has eight local authorities and a significant geographic area, it is a credit to them that they have been able to develop this sense of cooperation and collaborative working – by no means a given in other CDEM Groups.”

The CDEM Group is based on regional boundaries and combines 8 x councils (Horizons, Ruapehu, Wanganui, Rangitikei, Manawatu, Tararua, Palmerston North, and Horowhenua), emergency services and health boards. It takes a highly coordinated approach to emergency management in the region.

CDEM Joint Committee chairman, Garrick Murfitt said the report is a pleasing reflection of the hard work and dedication of the Group.

“Public safety is paramount and responding to emergencies is a core function of the regional, city and district councils. It’s important that our response capability is robust and this report confirms that we are well on track,” says Mr Murfitt.

The report identifies three areas where improvements could be made: regional welfare coordination, recovery planning and business continuity.

Manager of the Groups Emergency Management Office, Shane Bayley says these areas will form the key focus for the Group over the next year.

globe Magazine

2010-07-13T16:49:00.004+12:00

GNS Science have just released issue no. 1 of globe Magazine. A very cool looking publication available online and in pdf (in case your internet connection isn't too whizzy).

In this issue, stories cover:

Drilling deep: Canterbury Basin drill cores hold climate clues
Ancient discovery: Dinosaur footprints found in Nelson
Seismic software: The next generation tunes into our software
Unique accelerator: New accelerator a vital asset for NZ science
Vanuatu volcano: Expert advice on Vanuatu volcano
Northland bounty: Positive signs for Reinga Basin
Inside knowledge: Geo-forensics - detecting environmental fraud
Tsunami watch: Ground truthing the tsunami models
Discover ancient worlds: Geology summer school rates highly with kids and parents

Declaration forms to change

2010-07-06T17:16:00.002+12:00

This from the Director of Civil Defence...

In January 2010, the Department of Internal Affairs completed a review of declarations of a state of emergency, and identified the need for a number of technical changes to the forms for declaring, extending, or terminating a state of emergency, as prescribed in the CDEM Regulations.

The amendments ensure that the prescribed forms are as “ready-to-use” as possible during a civil defence emergency, and help reduce the likelihood of errors and the risk of liability issues arising from the declaration process. In addition to providing separate forms for declaring a state of national and local emergency, the new forms:

· require a description of the emergency for which the declaration is being made;

· make clearer provision to state the time and date on which a declaration comes into force, is extended, or is terminated;

· provide an easy method for the person making the declaration to indicate that he or she is authorised to declare under the CDEM Act 2002; and

· include notes that explain how to calculate correctly the maximum duration of a state of emergency, and draw attention to certain requirements such as the need for a declaration to be publicly notified and published in the Gazette as soon as practicable.

An electronic copy of the new forms will be forwarded to your Group Emergency Management Officer. Please ensure that all of the existing forms within your Group and the local authority members are replaced with the new forms by 31 July 2010. I suggest you also check and replace the old forms that may be in the CDEM Group Plan or any individual territorial authority member’s civil defence plans, and held by CDEM officials and those authorised to declare. You might find it valuable to ensure that controllers and those authorised to declare are made aware of the changes in the form.

Section 73(2) of the CDEM Act provides that the validity of a declaration is not affected by the inclusion of any additional information not specified in the appropriate form prescribed in the regulations. Therefore the CDEM Group or the territorial authority members can include their logos or other relevant information in the new forms they use.

Regional Disaster Prevention Exchange

2010-06-18T09:46:00.001+12:00

This from Voxy...

Nichola Costley, an Emergency Management Officer from Greymouth, is heading to Japan this month to represent New Zealand at a regional disaster prevention exchange.

Nichola was selected as one of twenty disaster prevention professionals from East-Asia, Australia and New Zealand to spend two weeks discussing best practices from around the region.

Nichola works for the West Coast Civil Defence Emergency Group and hopes to utilize knowledge gained in Japan upon her return.

"New Zealand is faced with similar hazards to Japan - earthquakes, tsunami, flooding - and experiencing the prevention methods utilized in a much better resourced country will be an excellent opportunity to identify possible options for our own future resilience work."

Nichola arrives in Tokyo on 21 June and begins by presenting New Zealand's country report to the other participants. While in the capital, she will take a field trip to learn firsthand about the city's flood control measures.

Participants will then travel to Kobe where they will discuss pioneering disaster prevention techniques developed after the city's 1995 earthquake which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale.

During the final leg of the programme, Nichola will visit Niigata Prefecture where she will learn about responses to the earthquake and floods that have hit the region in recent years.

The all-expenses-paid "Disaster Prevention and People" exchange is funded by the Japanese Government and is part of the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange of Students and Youth (JENESYS) Programme. JENESYS has a budget of NZ$315 million and will invite approximately 6,000 youths to Japan over a five year period. Information about future programmes is available from the Embassy of Japan in Wellington.

Spill tracker developed

2010-05-27T10:38:00.004+12:00

During a recent marine oil spill exercise at Akitio, the complexities of local currents became a small challenge for the team. Over a 'lemonade' that night, we got talking about the possibility of tracking the spill. We had most of what was needed, it was just a matter of putting the bits and pieces together.

The heart of the unit is a 'Spider' from SpiderTracks. We had one of these sitting on the shelf for an emergency or any of the team that wanted to track a 4WD or quad bike outside our regular GPS/cellular network. We bought a Pelican case, a 12V 4.0Ah battery and a cig socket.

The case naturally wanted to float on its lid so we mounted the Spider face down in the bottom of the case and the battery on top. This will make recharging simple too. Once we had the gear in the case, it was a little less likely to self right to float on the lid, so we added a metal plate into the lid. Once this was done, we couldn't force it to float the wrong way up... we needed the Spider to be either facing the sky or on its side, but not upside down.

We've left the unit running to test battery life and got 47hrs 50min with an automatic ping every 5 minutes. The Spider sends its location via satellite and we can tailor the ping rate depending on our needs from the SpiderTracks website once the unit has been deployed. We could track the location in real-time from the website.

We're not exactly sure whether the unit will track exactly the same as oil on water but we figured it will be close enough for us to know where to send the teams doing a reccy. Wind might have a little more influence on the unit - but it won't be much. The next step will be chucking the unit off a bridge and tracking it down the river - simulating throwing it from an aircraft.

One of the team here is also a marine SAR advisor... he reckons it might also be useful for search and rescue type activities too - we'd happily make it available to help out.

Awesome new Foxton Beach webcam

2010-05-21T15:25:00.003+12:00

The Manawatu Marine Boating Club has installed a new webcam on the boat club at Foxton Beach. Overlooking the boat ramp and carpark, this is an excellent quality camera that updates every 10 seconds... incredible!! Pity the weather wasn't so flash today when I grabbed the latest image. If you want to check out the Club's site... go here.

Good job team.

EMIS roll-out delayed until October

2010-05-21T15:18:00.003+12:00

From the EMIS website this afternoon...

Following the very successful configuration workshops held in March, many weeks of work have been done to further elaborate the agreed requirements to ensure they meet the needs of MCDEM, CDEM Groups and TA's. During this elaboration, it was clear that some additional information was required to be incorporated into the EMIS portals and user feedback has confirmed this.

In addition, Microsoft has just released SharePoint 2010 as an upgrade of SharePoint 2007 and MCDEM has decided to use SharePoint 2010 as the foundation of EMIS, instead of SharePoint 2007. SharePoint 2010 is better equiped to provide the functionaility the configuration team agreed during the configuration workshops, in particular around resource and task management where significantly better outcomes can be achieved on SharePoint 2010. It also means that we avoid rolling out EMIS based on SharePoint 2007 now, only to have to repeat the process soon after to upgrade to SharePoint 2010. Utilising SharePoint 2010 provides a more future focused approach and no system outages or re-training would be needed to migrate to SharePoint 2010 .

In order to allow the required time to complete configuration and development for the initial EMIS build on SharePoint 2010, then to fully test the solution and offer system training to trainers and administrators, a decision has been made to extend the EMIS go live date. It was felt the benefits we gain far outweigh the delay, and it provides a more future focussed platform to allow any future EMIS releases to be more easily integrated. We are in the final stage of re-planning the timeframes with our key suppliers, but it is envisaged the go live date will now be early October 2010.

We are aware of the potential impact on the use of the EMIS in the planned national CDEM exercise scheduled for 20 October and will make every attempt to deliver an EMIS well before this time. However, it may eventuate that insufficient time is afforded agencies to gain a suitable level of confidence with the EMIS before the exercise. If this is the case, we would not expect users to use the EMIS during the exercise, that could be optional.

Tsunami Strategy and Action Plans

2010-05-12T13:57:00.005+12:00

A small team of Emergency Managers from within the Manawatu-Wanganui CDEM Group are beavering away on the first draft of our Group's Tsunami Strategy and Action Plans. This will document a consistent approach to tsunami response for the Group and will form the basis for consultation with communities that are potentially affected by tsunami run-up.

Run-up modelling has been undertaken for the Group by GNS Science and this is the foundation for the Plan. The zones shown in the picture are indicative of evacuation zones. The Red Zone is the beach and is obviously the area most at risk from tsunami (even small ones). The Orange Zone is likely to be affected by tsunami with a 500yr return period and the Yellow Zone by 2500yr return events.

In real terms, a 500yr tsunami off shore is likely to be between 2.2 and 3.1m (east coast) but when it reaches the beach, this could double in height. This means potentially 6.2m in height. An added margin for safety therefore sees the Orange Evacuation Zone for our east coast being set at the 10m contour. Attenuation has also been calculated at 0.5% = 1m less wave height for every 200m inland.

The 500yr event for Wanganui onshore height is 7.2m, the 2500yr event for our east coast is 35m and for Wanganui is 15.6m. 35m is a pretty big jump in sea level and an event of this magnitude would be massively destructive all around New Zealand.

The team will keep working on the project and we intend to test the Plan during national Exercise Tangaroa in October.

New Director's Guide - Welfare in an emergency

2010-05-06T12:57:00.002+12:00

Welfare in an emergency - Director's Guideline for CDEM Groups was published in PDF format on the MCDEM website this morning. Available here.

Links to on-line resources (checklists and templates) contained in the guideline will be added to the website in the near future and print publication will follow.

Welfare in an emergency - Director's Guideline for CDEM Groups provides practical information for organisations with Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) responsibilities in the area of welfare provision. The guideline contains conceptual and functional arrangements to support delivery of welfare in New Zealand. The guideline has been written to be read alongside the National Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan and the Guide to the National Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan, where the strategic responsibilities, nationally and operationally, regarding welfare in an emergency are formally outlined.

Group Plan tweak

2010-04-19T15:25:00.003+12:00

As with all CDEM Group Plans, over their lifetime they will have minor amendments. The Manawatu-Wanganui CDEM Group Plan has recently had a minor amendment with a couple changes in Local Controllers. We will endeavour to keep the copy on the Horizons website up-to-date and any changes can be tracked in the back of the Plan on the amendments page.

If you have a paper copy of the Plan, I encourage you to make these changes in pen just to keep current. There will be more changes in due course, but these have yet to go through the Joint Standing Committee for approval.

Here is a link to the Plan page on the Horizons website.

The April e-bulletin is now available

2010-04-15T14:52:00.000+12:00

The April issue of e-bulletin is now online. Here's the link:

In this issue…

Exercise Tangaroa agency participation

Regional tsunami seminars reminder

Website established for EMIS project

CDEM Gold and Silver Awards - call for nominations

CDEM welfare update

Maule Chile earthquake mission

Melbourne hail storm early warning report

Christchurch City CDEM trial new community engagement tools

Disaster Awareness Week: name change to Get Ready Week

CDEM Professional Development

CDEM research

New EMIS project website

2010-04-08T16:46:00.005+12:00

The Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management in conjunction with Intergen have just launched a website for keeping the sector informed on development of the new Emergency Management Information System (EMIS) being provided by E-sponder.

Here is the link to the EMIS Project Information Website.

All quiet on the western front...

2010-04-06T14:30:00.002+12:00

Well, things just seem to be ticking over quietly here in the Emergency Management Office (now watch, I've probably just jinxed that). A nice steady work flow seems to be keeping us busy with flood action plans under review, the Triennial Business Plan just being finished off, training courses, EMC meetings and contributions to the development of the EMIS. Personally, I think the EMIS is going to be the best thing since sliced bread - watch this space.

If you haven't spotted it already, you can follow MCDEM on Twitter - have a look here for more info. You can also follow us (HorizonsEM@gmail.com).

The latest e-bulletin was also recently published by MCDEM.

Our response to the recent tsunami threat went smoothly, although we did have a few problems updating our website. I'd also like to reinforce that the blog will not be used for that sort of thing (I've had a couple of people ask). MCDEM will be running a tsunami seminar in Palmerston North on 27 April partly in the build up for Exercise Tangaroa in October.

GNS Science tsunami survey

2010-03-05T10:06:00.002+13:00

GNS Science are seeking feedback on the Chilean tsunami impacts on New Zealand:

Our tsunami survey

We'd like to hear about your experiences, as well as see any of your tsunami photos and video.

We have set up an online questionnaire that we'd really like you to fill out for us. It will only take about two minutes of your time: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W35LZK2

We've also set up a GeoNet Facebook page for you to share your thoughts, photos and video. In your web browser, please go to http://www.facebook.com/, login and search for 'geonet'or just follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/geonet-fb-page

If you have any tsunami-related videos or photos already posted to places like YouTube and Flickr, it would be very useful if you could "tag" them with the word 'geonet' so we can locate them easily.

Why are we doing it?

The last time that New Zealand was affected by a South American tsunami was in 1960, so these are uncommon events. This makes it a valuable opportunity to compile data, observations, photos and videos to better understand the effects across the nation. The knowledge of what tsunami have done to New Zealand in the past helps to verify the computer simulations we are now able to perform. This Chilean tsunami is another opportunity for us to add to that long-term knowledge.

Not ready to get thru

2010-03-04T14:14:00.002+13:00

The Minister has issued a media release today...

Despite the death and destruction caused by the massive earthquakes in Haiti and Chile this year, most New Zealanders are still complacent about preparing for such an event here, Minister of Civil Defence John Carter said today.

Statistics released today – the New Zealand General Social Survey 2008 fact sheet on preparedness for natural disasters – show that just 15 percent of households are well prepared for a natural disaster with enough food and water stored to last three days and an emergency plan.

“Last weekend, while authorities were preparing for a tsunami in the wake of the Chile earthquake, some New Zealanders were still not taking the situation seriously or heeding the warnings,” Mr Carter says.

“Most people realise these warnings are not issued lightly though and went to seek out information. There were 44,000 visitors to the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management’s website www.civildefence.govt.nz on Sunday. But leaving it until the day of a disaster might be too late.

“New Zealand is vulnerable to unpredictable natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunami, as well as weather related emergencies. People need to know what this means and that they won’t always get a warning.

“While we have excellent civil defence emergency planning, as we witnessed last weekend, how well prepared communities and individuals are is what will make the difference on the day there is an emergency situation.

“There will be a period of time when households and communities might be isolated and without essential services. There may be massive infrastructure damage taking out roads, airports, rail tracks, power, telecommunications and water.

“We are also geographically isolated from our nearest neighbours on whom we might call for help, so any international emergency response might take days.

“Every household needs to have a plan for this eventuality. Get your family or household together and agree on a plan. This includes knowing where to shelter in an earthquake, flood or storm; knowing where you will all meet up during and after a disaster; and knowing where you have emergency survival items stored.

"Every household also needs to be prepared for evacuation with a basic getaway kit.

“Perhaps also get the household together and research what happens when a major earthquake occurs and what a tsunami is. On Sunday people were quoted as saying they would run if a tsunami hit but of course, you cannot run as fast as a tsunami surge.”

The fact sheet is available at:

http://www.stats.govt.nz/Publications/SocialConditions/natural-disaster-preparation-at-home-factsheet

Controller's Forum

2010-03-02T11:37:00.003+13:00

The annual Controller's Forum was held yesterday at Manawatu District Council. This was an excellent opportunity for the Local and Group Controllers from the Group to get together with the EMOs and discuss current issues. We covered all of the topics mentioned in the earlier post about the forum... and had the advantage of having activated over the weekend.

A major item covered that was not on the original list was an update of the flood plain mapping and flood forecasting work that is being undertaken by Horizons Regional Council. Jeff Watson provided participants with a good overview of these two significant projects (worth around $2.8M so far). Jeff also gave us an insight into the potential future use of the data using WaterRide software recently purchased by the Council.

General feedback at the conclusion of the Forum was that it had been a worthwhile day for learning and networking. We should consider running a couple per year.

Group ECC activation

2010-03-02T11:20:00.005+13:00

The Manawatu-Wanganui CDEM Group's Emergency Co-ordination Centre and Tararua Emergency Operations Centre were both activated for the tsunami response over the weekend. There was plenty of lead time for this event albeit with the waves first arriving reasonably early on Sunday morning. The Group response was similar to that for the Samoa event however evacuations were not recommended. All arrangements and personnel were in place to respond if evacuations were considered necessary after observations had been made at the Chatham Islands. In the end the community opted to move away from the foreshore and did so in quite an orderly fashion.

The Akitio webcam was adjusted to increase the refresh rate from about hourly to every minute. This gave us a good idea of sea conditions and whether there were people around. It's nice to actually use the camera for its intended purpose. We also kept a close eye on the GeoNet de-tided gauge (which is still showing signs of tsunami slosh today [yes that's my technical terminology]).

We did have a few problems updating the text on our webpage - but we're working on that. We also received an overwhelming number of e-mails and attachments. I think the introduction of the EMIS will go a long way to improving the sharing of information between Groups and MCDEM and minimising the number of e-mails that I'll just mark as read.

All-in-all, a much better effort on the public front this time. Still a number of operational improvements that can be made (and we're working on that). Here's an animation of wave propagation that you might like.

Emergency and armed services open day

2010-02-24T10:22:00.003+13:00

On Saturday the 20th, the combined emergency and armed services open day was held at Manfield in Feilding. This was an excellent opportunity for the services to demonstrate their capability to the public for free.

Displays by Police, Fire, St John, Air Force, Army, Coastguard, Helipro and the Square Trust rescue helicopter, PNCC civil defence, neighbourhood support and the CDEM Group made it an interesting collection of capabilities and 'toys' to look at. A variety of central demonstrations were also carried out in the middle of the arena during the day.

The PNCC team focus was on their REST capability and survival items whereas the Group's airshelter display was adapted to present flood protection works for the Makino Stream in Feilding. Evan Lloyd is pictured discussing the Makino Diversion Structure with a local resident.

A huge congratulations to the organising team for pulling off such a great day.

There's a lot going on...

2010-02-16T13:32:00.002+13:00

Things have been very busy in the Emergency Management Office this month. Here are a few of the things we've been up to:

Tararua A&P Show was a couple of weekends ago. Good crowds on the Saturday despite the very hot weather. Some of the team cooked in the AirShelter - so much so we went and hired an aircon unit.
Ruapehu A&P Show last weekend. We took the display up to Taumarunui and set it up for Annie and her team to staff on the Saturday.
This weekend we have the Emergency and Armed Services Open Day in Feilding - a different display for this one, focus on the Reid Line spillway. This is a local flood protection structure.
We've got all of our ducks in a row for Central Districts Field Days in March so its just a matter of showing up for the event.
AEGIS Map is now open to a select few for testing and proof of concept. We're keeping a close eye on E-sponder and the EMIS project too.
Navigation safety risk assessments for the Whanganui River are underway along with a review of the bylaws on the Manawatu River
The EOC in Marton has been gutted for library renovations and a temporary facility has been established in the rural fire depot.
Welfare Centre kits have been assembled and are being delivered in the next week or two to our Centres.
The Triennial Business Plan is being worked on.
Preparations are underway for the Controller's Forum on 1 March and the Conferenz conference next week.
Neighbourhood Support meetings are happening across Manawatu in conjunction with other services.
Monitoring and evaluation interviews with MCDEM staff are happening next week too.

All-in-all, there's enough to keep our minds occupied. We've been lucky with a lack of big events to derail our projects.

IT system aids better emergency management

2010-01-27T13:14:00.003+13:00

The following is the Minister's media statement released this morning (here is a link to a video of the entry level E-Sponder Express product, MCDEM have gone for an enhanced version of this that still retains the simplicity of Express)...

Minister of Civil Defence John Carter today announced that E-Sponder will supply an electronic emergency management information system (EMIS) for use in the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) and by civil defence authorities.

The NCMC, below ground under the Beehive, is designed to be a national operations centre. From there the responses of the hundreds of organisations likely to be involved in a large scale emergency can be co-ordinated and a national emergency can be managed.

“This EMIS will help us to better manage emergencies,” Mr Carter says. “It will allow us to more quickly and accurately create, and then keep up to date, what is known as a ‘common operating picture’. We use that to ensure that all agencies involved have the same understanding of the situation, who is doing what, where resources are and what decisions are being made.

“That means we will have a faster, better co-ordinated response and, ultimately, a safer, more resilient country.”

Mr Carter said that E-Sponder is an off-the-shelf system already used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in the Australian federal government and by some United States state and county governments to manage information during emergencies.

EMIS is part of a series of upgrades for the NCMC that include expanding alternate communications and installing video conferencing facilities. Cabinet allocated a budget of $2.8 million for all three projects.

Timeline and system attributes

The EMIS contract is being negotiated and will be signed shortly.

EMIS will be rolled out by mid-2010 and will be hosted by the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.

Between January and June staff from the Ministry, CDEM groups, territorial authorities and E-Sponder will work together to ensure that the system is appropriately configured for use at all of local, regional and national levels. They will also develop a testing regime before the system is rolled out.

In March, the Ministry will hold an information conference where the system will be demonstrated to CDEM groups and territorial authorities. System administration and management will also be explained.

System attributes include:

· managing all data received through various channels, including voice, fax and e-mail

· all users being able to share and integrate data

· the ability to add new users and assign them appropriate user rights during an emergency

· disseminating information through various channels, including voice, SMS and e-mail

· workflow management

· creating reports and plans

· resource management

· integrated mapping

· creation of status boards

· ease of use.

Corporate background

E-Sponder LLC is a United States company based in Missouri. It has partnered with Intergen Limited to deliver services and provide support in New Zealand and Australia. Links to:

· E-Sponder corporate profile http://www.e-sponder.com/corporate-info.html

· Intergen website www.intergen.co.nz

Manawatu-Wanganui Controller's Forum

2010-01-27T10:35:00.004+13:00

From time-to-time the Group has a get together of its CDEM Controllers. This is an opportunity to focus on recent activities within the Group and at a national level that will impact on us during an emergency. This year, the Controller's Forum is scheduled for 1 March and will cover a wide range of topics for the local and Group Controllers, including:

The new CDEM Group Plan - what's new, what's different?
Triennial Business Plan - what are we going to do for the next three years?
Public Education and Information Strategy and survey results
AEGIS Map project (a joint project with Hawkes Bay)
National Emergency Management Information System (to be rolled out this year)
National Exercise Tangaroa (coming up later this year)
Monitoring and Evaluation audit of the Group by MCDEM
Administrative arrangements for welfare support during pandemic influenza (a new guide)

The forum is limited to Controllers and Emergency Managers from within the Group so that we can focus on specific detail of our Group and the Group's activities.

Update on activities

2010-01-22T10:35:00.004+13:00

Well, the year is well and truly underway. We managed to get through the Christmas and New Year period with minimal disruption despite the dodgy weather. Horowhenua did experience its fair share of the nasty weather and did have to co-ordinate a small response to coastal communities becoming isolated. A bridge on North Manakau Road also had to be closed - but nothing too drastic.

Emergency Management Officers are meeting next week to look at the first draft of the CDEM Group Triennial Business Plan. This will then go to the Co-ordinating Executive Group for their input in early February. The Plan will provide guidance to members of the Group in the development of their annual business plans and linking their work programmes to the direction of the Group.

The National Working Group Selection Committee has recommended the appointment of four CDEM representatives on MCDEM's Exercise Tangaroa Working Group (this year's national CDEM exercise). These are:

Te Arohanui Cook, Central Hawkes Bay District Council
Jessica Hare, Wellington Regional Council
Dan Neeley, Wellington City Council
Clinton Naude, Environment Bay of Plenty.

Paul Nickalls from Hutt City Council has been recommended as a reserve. The Committee was conscious of a mix of territorial and regional representation and was also aware that there were no nominations from the South Island.

Nominations for representation on the national Emergency Management Information System Configuration Team close today. I would imagine that an announcement will be made soon on who the representatives are. On that note, MCDEM is due to announce any day now who the successful provider is for the EMIS.

Co-ordinating Executive Group meeting coming up on the 9th February in Dannevirke this time.

Rebranding the AirShelter for the Emergency Services Open Day on the 20th February to promote the purpose of the Reid's Line Flood Control Structure in Feilding.

Anyway - everyone's back on deck so you can expect the posts to become a little more regular.

Someone's just told me it's Christmas

2009-12-23T12:13:00.003+13:00

How did that happen?? The team were leaving the office and said see you in the New Year! It certainly has been a busy year and the Emergency Management Team in the Group has been pretty busy. Our main benchmark for the year was the approval of our CDEM Group Plan (which you can download from here).

We got off pretty lightly this year, with no significant emergencies - just your usual snow storms, wind storms, heavy rainfall, storm surges, earthquakes and flooding. We also activated and evacuated for a potential tsunami which was a little out of the ordinary I must admit. All in all, I think the team is pretty well set up and working together. The level of co-operation across the Group's membership is excellent and if we need to circle the wagons for an event I have confidence in our ability to work together.

Next year will have a few interesting activities and I've been working on my work programme for the first 6 months to try and squeeze it all in. I'll post more on that in the New Year.

On that note, I'll sign off for the year and wish everyone a very happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.

EMIS implementation phase

2009-12-23T11:58:00.003+13:00

The Ministry have yet to announce the successful provider for the national Emergency Management Information System but are forging ahead with planning the next phase of the project. This week nominations have been sought from the CDEM sector for two Group level and two territorial authority level representatives to be on the EMIS configuration team.

David Coetzee is suggesting that the first roll-out of the EMIS will be in the middle of next year (which fits well with my earlier predictions). The Config Team will be looking at the basic structure of the EMIS and setting up work flows and processes, as well as some templates as part of the core package. A 'straw-man' will be developed by MCDEM staff for presentation to CDEM Groups as a teaser and to solicit feedback on ideas and preferences of the Groups. Once this presentation has been completed and Groups had an opportunity for input, the Config Team will set about producing the core EMIS.

The time commitment of the Config Team is not insignificant and could be 3+ weeks. It is important however that we get it right as the future of CDEM will be significantly influenced by the EMIS. If you are interested in being nominated for a role in the Config Team, contact your CDEM Group's Manager for the terms of reference and nomination process.

Viewing the calendars

2009-12-11T13:43:00.003+13:00

On the sidebar, there are a couple of links to Group calendars. It is our intention to use our Google calendars as the source data for our calendars. This means that no matter where you find an on-line Group calendar, it should be drawing its dates and detail from the same location. We're starting with the calendars here on the blog but you may find soon that we also have the calendars on the Horizons website and also on the CDEM Group website once this is finally up and running. If you want the code to link our calendars to your site, please let me know.

In the past, we've posted a pdf of our calendar to the website - not only was this long winded, but often we would get conflicting calenders. Using an on-line calendar will hopefully eliminate this risk - with the current on-line version being the latest.

I have discovered that you need to be logged into a Google account to view the calendar - its pretty painless and you can use your existing e-mail account to create a Google account (if you don't already have one) - I'd strongly recommend it. Just follow the simple instructions and don't forget to verify your account from the e-mail they send you.

Emergency Management Summer Institute

2009-12-09T10:40:00.002+13:00

I have received a wad of brochures in the mail today for next year's Summer Institute. The programme runs for 5 days from 15 - 19 March 2010 at the Massey University Wellington Campus. The programme is co-sponsored by GNS Science, Massey University, University of Canterbury and MetService.

The programme looks good with an impressive line-up of speakers covering

Emergency management planning,
Developing effective all-hazards warning systems,
Evacuation planning and welfare,
Classroom in the coach, and
The role of public education, community engagement and public participation in building resilient communities.

For more information about the programme, you can download the brochure here.

Benchmark reached!

2009-12-08T16:56:00.004+13:00

It's been a few days since my last posting... a few of the team have been tied up with the National Special Olympics Games being held here in Palmerston North. Last Friday morning however was an important date for the CDEM Group! The Joint Standing Committee met and approved the new CDEM Group Plan. This is the culmination of about 18 months worth of planning and consultation and is the start of the next era of CDEM for our Group.

The Plan will be available on the Horizons web site in the next few days. We will also be publishing hard copies of the Plan for distribution.

Exercise Eastern Comms

2009-11-26T19:39:00.006+13:00

As a prelude to Exercise Eastern Oil in April next year, several Horizons staff participated in an exercise today to test communications solutions for the east coast of the Horizons Region. Based at the Akitio Boat Club, teams deployed north and south to evaluate possibilities and issues for a marine oil spill response including communications challenges, beach access, foreshore types and possible factors for clean-up activities (such as wildlife). The teams used the Council Team Talk radios, ESB 164 emergency services liaison channel from a temporary repeater (set up with the assistance of Tararua District Council staff), and satellite phones. We borrowed two repeaters, one from the NZ Fire Service and the other from Tararua DC. Teams also took photographs, tested GPS units and the tracking function of our SPOT personal trackers.

The Incident Control Point (ICP) was set up in the Boat Club - great venue! We tested deploying our mobile office including three laptops, colour printer, BGAN satellite terminal, telephone exchange, GPS enabled camera, radios, data projector and screen plus the usual whiteboards and the ancillary equipment. In addition, we had several staff with their laptops and an iPhone. We also have the advantage that Horizons has a router operating in the Boat Club to transmit photos of Akitio back to the office. Most of us hooked into the router for fast and inexpensive connectivity. We Skyped, Twittered, SMS'd, and Googled... now that I think about it, the only thing we didn't test was the fax.

I'm really pleased with the way everything performed. We've got a couple of little things to follow up in the next few weeks but the baseline preparation is well underway for Exercise Eastern Oil. Evan did a great job of planning this exercise, so a big thumbs up for him!

Barrier training

2009-11-24T07:59:00.004+13:00

The Foxton Beach flood barrier was erected last night by the local NZ Fire Service crew. This is the second time the crew has been out to practice setting the barrier up. There are still a few improvements that can be made to the barrier itself and the suggestions of the local Fire crew have helped to build capability in this area.

The barrier (which looks like a big white sausage) is designed to be erected during high flow or storm surge events that will push river levels up to the stopbank. There is a short section of bank that is lower than the rest to make provision for the road. This section is blocked off by the water filled barrier to complete the flood protection works as required. Drivers could still get past given the firm ground conditions last night and the low slope of the surrounding stopbank.

It took the crew about 40 minutes to deploy and fill the barrier with about 30,000l of water. Well done guys.

Emergency Management Information System Update

2009-11-19T09:38:00.002+13:00

As part of my selection to represent the CDEM Groups I made an undertaking to keep you informed on EMIS progress. Well, we've survived three days of pitch from the three finalists in the EMIS evaluation round. John Hamilton announced at the recent North Island conference that Critchlow (WebEOC), E-Sponder and Intergraph + NC4 were the three providers to be evaluated. Each spent a day demonstrating their products and how these measure up to the RFP requirements plus any additional benefits we would acquire as part of the purchase.

I'm happy to say that we will end up with a product that will do what MCDEM was seeking. We are still to crunch the numbers on the RFP analysis and do a SWOT analysis but my gut feel is that we are down to two contenders. Of these two, I have a personal preference but both have strengths and weaknesses.

Things are on track and I am really excited by the possibilities.

What could this mean for you as CDEM Groups? Well, CDEM Groups can still carry on with no change. If you are currently using a system, you won't be expected to change - although there may be long-term/big picture benefits in adopting the national EMIS. If you are currently considering an EMIS for your Group, I'd wait - you might get one for free. At this stage, it looks like Groups can ride on the coat-tails of MCDEM provided you stick to the core process and principles of the generic workflow for Group and Local EOCs. If you want to tailor this, you would probably be required to purchase a licence (price unknown as this is provider and add-on dependent). To be honest I didn't think any of it was unreasonable on the price front.

What's next - there is a big chunk of work still to happen - we need to be really clear what a generic workflow looks like. What are the job descriptions, what are the plan templates and forms, authorisation processes, generic dashboards, etc etc that Groups would want to see in a core package. These can be tailored to some degree including look and feel, branding etc for each Group but still provide for Group and national roll-up of data. In some cases, this may mean a slight adjustment to your internal processes (or you purchase a licence and tailor the package to suit your processes without corrupting national level data feed requirements). For me, the war cry is consistency and I do think we are seeing some real leadership from MCDEM on this. I hope that as a sector we play the game - this is the start of a new era in CDEM in this country.

9th Annual Emergency Management Conference

2009-11-12T20:23:00.003+13:00

22-23 February 2010, Duxton Hotel, Wellington, is the time of the 9th Annual Emergency Management Conference. The programme is looking pretty good this year and at least one of the presenters will be brilliant (gee I wonder who that'll be).

Here's a link to the conference site where you can download a copy of the programme and registration material.

We have a winner...

2009-11-12T20:07:00.005+13:00

During recent Disaster Awareness Week activities, we were running a little competition. Visitors had the opportunity to answer ten questions about storms and preparedness. All the answers were on the display and this encouraged visitors to actually read the information.

Congratulations Diane and Brian Wesch of Palmerston North who have won the LCD wireless weather station. Ged Shirley, Chair of the CDEM Group's

Co-ordinating Executive Group is pictured presenting the prize at Horizons Regional Council this afternoon.

There will be another opportunity to win a weather station during Field Days in March.

North Island EM Conference 09

2009-11-11T08:49:00.004+13:00

Well, Hastings District Council did a great job of the conference this year. As part of the celebrations of their 50th year as a civil defence organisation, the Council chose to host this year conference. I must confess to a little bit of disappointment when I first saw the programme, but I think they pulled it off nicely.

Paul Hawke and team had a really good mix of historical events (the 1931 quake), recent events (Napier siege and Samoa tsunami), research (earthquake fault mapping) and national level updates from the Director. The evening dinner was also a good opportunity to network with colleagues and meet one or two of the newbies to the sector.

I didn't attend the field trip but as an optional extra this too would have added to the conference (good reports were heard).

Some of the usual suspects had their wares on display and it was great to see their continued support for these conference activities. Wright Satellite Connections, PSL, ReadyNet, Meerkat Alert Systems, Spirit Wireless and SRT Shelterbox helped to distract us during the breaks. Lyndon Tamblyn from Bulls had the Shelterbox equipment set up - no sooner had he arrived than he was being asked to deploy to an earthquake in Indonesia - thanks for sticking around Lyndon.

Seasonal flu and H1N1 communications

2009-11-06T08:44:00.003+13:00

For those of you who missed it, the webinar hosted by the Centre of Excellence for Risk and Crisis Communications on social media and technology breakthroughs for H1N1 and seasonal flu communications, is now available on-line.

Here is the link to the webinar. Here is the link to the original story on this blog.

My view - tsunami reports

2009-11-02T08:42:00.009+13:00

Both the internal and external reviews of the response to the Samoa earthquake and tsunami were released on Friday. The internal review is an honest attempt by MCDEM to improve internal systems and procedures. It doesn't really attempt to look at the wider CDEM sector and recommend improvements for the entire response. I guess that's fair enough although I do think MCDEM underestimate their sphere of influence sometimes.

There have been discussions within the Ministry about re-activating the Tsunami Working Group to help work through recommendations in a consultative manner - good on you MCDEM.

On the other hand... the external review is a waste of time. Not only does the report not address the questions raised in the terms of reference, it was whipped out in short order with unrealistic consultation. For example, the CDEM Groups and NZ Fire Service were not consulted but the National Foundation for the Deaf was - I just don't get that, especially when one of the points was to focus on the 'use of information and distribution of warnings, advisories and messages at the local level'.

The main focus was on public information and all of the sub-areas were to have this slant - but surely local use refers to how successful the Group and Local Public Information Managers and local media were at relaying critical advise and information to the affected communities? Sorry guys but this whopping 5-page report just doesn't cut the mustard.

The internal review is available here, and the external review here.

Review of CDEM tsunami alerts process

2009-10-29T15:48:00.004+13:00

I'm sure by now you've heard the there are two reviews underway following the response to the Samoa earthquake and tsunami. The first of these reviews is an internal review of MCDEM responses. I guess this is similar to the reviews many of us did to double check procedures and arrangements and to implement any opportunities for improvement identified.

The second review has been requested by the Minister. The following information was drawn from the Beehive website:

Civil Defence Minister John Carter has asked for a review into how the Civil Defence and Emergency Management ministry deals with tsunami alerts.

"Generally, the response to yesterday's tsunami warning was pretty good, but there are concerning reports about the ways in which some information was communicated to the public. Frankly, that is not good enough," says Mr Carter.

"Public confidence in Civil Defence is critical. There are always lessons we can learn from events such as these and I am determined to ensure we do learn from them."

Mr Carter says co-ordination between the national Civil Defence headquarters and regional operations went largely to plan, and it is usual for regional civil defence controllers to manage warnings in their own areas, because what works in one area may not work in another.

"For example, some places have cell phone coverage and some don't. That's why it's important regional controllers are able to make their own calls on their own patch.

"However, I think Civil Defence weren't as helpful as they could have been in communicating with the media in the early stages and I am also concerned about reports saying places like Wellington Airport didn't get timely information. We have to sort that out," Mr Carter says.

It was with some surprise yesterday that I learned that the review is complete and that none of the CDEM Groups present at our meeting yesterday had been consulted as part of the review... we'll read the report with interest before making comment.

Catching the next Wave

2009-10-21T20:26:00.004+13:00

Yeehaa... HorizonsEM@googlewave.com

HorizonsEM is now on Google Wave Preview. Back in June we talked about a few new things coming up. One of these was Google Wave. We've just received the invitation to participate in the Preview version of Wave (i.e. beta) before the worldwide release. This will give us a chance to take a look at something I personally think will become an important collaboration tool - eventually replacing e-mail as we know it today.

If you're keen you'll want to see this 80 minute video... but you do need to be keen! If you too have a googlewave account - give us a wave... that would be 'shiny'!

Tweeting

2009-10-21T17:17:00.004+13:00

You can see from the sidebar that I've been using Twitter a little more. We are starting to get a little bit of a following and I have been a little more conversational in our tweets - I've still tried to keep them semi-official though. I am conscious that the tweets are from the Group and as such can't be too casual.

During Disaster Awareness Week we tweeted our location and closing time. We also tweeted during the tsunami responses and had some members of the team watching Twitterfall on one of the ECC monitors (although not constantly).

Now that I have been upgraded to an iPhone, I can tweet without the need to log on to a computer so it is a lot easier than it was previously.

Remember if your tweeting about civil defence, include the hashtag #nzcd in your message.

Off to the Minister

2009-10-21T16:53:00.002+13:00

Well, following the Group Plan Review Committee hearing on Tuesday, the proposed CDEM Group Plan is now off to the Minister of Civil Defence for his comment. The Hon. John Carter gets a month to have a look through the Plan and provide comment. Given that we've worked through MCDEM's feedback and amended that draft I'm hoping for some nice feedback from the Minister.

Once we've received the feedback from the Minister, the Plan will go back to the Joint Standing Committee for final approval (then it will be time for a lemonade).

Busy times...

2009-10-16T13:41:00.005+13:00

It's been a while since my last post! We've been relatively busy in the office and the place has been a bit chaotic. The 'house' is undergoing some renovations at the moment and most of the team are trying to avoid the office. Luckily we are all set up to work remotely.

There are a couple of activities to report on... Disaster Awareness Week kicked off for us last Friday in Feilding. This tied in nicely with Farmer's Market and a visit by the Melbourne Cup to the region. Our new AirShelter arrived the day before and the displays were all tested on Thursday afternoon in the backyard of the Council - thank goodness everything went to plan. We were interrupted by a tsunami watch but that didn't hold us back!! We;ve also been in Wanganui, Taumarunui and Palmerston North with the display. The Dannevirke, Levin and Marton displays were postponed due to the weather. We'll catch those punters when the weather fines up.

On the Group Plan front, we received some late feedback from the Ministry that warranted getting the Review Committee together. Up until that point, we had only received submissions from officers and had pretty much agreed to a few minor changes before sending the Plan off to the Minister. The Review Committee gets together next Tuesday to consider the changes and will forward the Plan to the Minister following this meeting. Although there were seven pages of feedback, the general consensus was that the Plan was good to go and MCDEM were just trying to tighten things up a bit.

My view - tsunami response

2009-10-03T06:54:00.007+13:00

Well, what a week! There have been quite a few accusations in the media about the NZ response to the earthquake and tsunami from Samoa. I have also been (accurately) reported in regional and national newspapers and there has been some discussion on radio about our ability to respond. I'd like to put the record straight.

The Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management (MCDEM) is NZs official tsunami warning agency. They receive advice from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) in Hawaii. MCDEM then analyses the information from PTWC to determine the impact on NZ coastlines and if appropriate issues a warning to agencies and CDEM Groups as well as the media.

The media is a multi-billion dollar communications industry that emergency managers should be collaborating with when it comes to intelligence gathering. They can get accurate information and images incredibly fast - there is no way we can replicate that (or would even want to). Media obviously receive the PTWC warning and broadcast these without an analysis of potential local impact so can do this in near-real time. I subscribe to the PTWC warnings and also the Global Disaster Alert and Co-ordination System warnings. In this case the first I knew was Paul Henry announcing it on Breakfast TV. The PTWC and GDACS warnings are also linked from the sidebar in this blog.

MCDEM has been clear that there are three levels of warning - natural where you feel the earthquake or see the sea rushing out (or rushing in), unofficial - media, family, friends and official warnings also promulgated via the media and agencies. The public are encouraged to react in an appropriate manner regardless of how they were alerted to the problem.

So what did we do as a Group? EOCs at Tararua and Horizons were activated. Horizons undertook the local response for Horowhenua, Manawatu and Rangitikei without the need to activate local EOCs for the initial response. Police and Fire were present in the Horizons EOC and assisted in decision making and response. SMS messages were sent to agencies via our WebSMS and the public via the Manawatu OPTN system.

Tararua undertook an evacuation of Akitio and Herbertville and a helicopter swept the coastline looking for people on the beach. Horizons had initiated a helicopter sweep of the west coast and ground crews from Fire were deployed to stop people going to the beach. The west coast flight was cancelled before it was completed as the warning cancellation was received from MCDEM.

If that's where it stopped, that would have been an excellent response! Unfortunately there was a fly in the ointment. Some SMS message were delayed in transmission - so here's the guts...

OPTN is a public service that subscribers pay for. We had about 358 people subscribed to the service. This was set up by Manawatu following the 2004 floods and had seen very little use since. Once public complaints started coming in of messages being received hours late and the local media contacted us to find out what was going on, I spoke with the company and advised that this is a level of service we could not support for public notifications.

WebSMS is a service we pay for. The company is based in Melbourne and they handled several hundred messages for us that day. We use this to advise agencies and not the public. There were also some significant delays in this service. Again, I've contacted the company to find out if its a service provider problem - but no. The messages were processed quickly (seconds to a few minutes) through their system to the NZ carriers. The delay unfortunately sits with the telcos in NZ.

I also experienced delays the following day when texting with my family - up to six hours in some cases (I'm sure we've all experienced that).

So what's the main lesson for me??? In future, we will be including the date time in the body of the message that goes out to an agency - this will use up space but will provide a check if a message is late in delivery. It has been our policy for a while now that warnings are passed to agencies verbally and that e-mail, fax and SMS messages are for heads-up and detail.

A full debrief of our response is being undertaken next week and a report will be sent to MCDEM and our Co-ordinating Executive Group.

That's volcanic!!

2009-09-23T09:18:00.005+12:00

Today is the anniversary of the eruption sequence that began on Ruapehu in 1995. It seems appropriate that yesterday we had a meeting of the Central Plateau Volcanic Advisory Group. The CPVAG (which really rolls off the tongue) has met several times now since the the 18 March 2007 dam break lahar and is really the next generation for volcanic hazard research and planning co-ordination. The Group meets 6 monthly to discuss a range of issues and is divided into three focus groups for science, emergency planning and communications.

At yesterday's meeting, we were updated on recent volcanic activity (or lack thereof), some of the improvements to warning systems and recent research activities. The Group has all but signed off on the Volcanic Strategy and is starting to think about the Contingency Plan. This work is intended to build on the good work taken in preparation for the dam break lahar and to cover awider geographic area.

For memory sake, this video was shot by crazy cameraman (and all round adrenalin junkie) Geoff Mackley (good on you Geoff!). You see the video on YouTube - it's quite good!

Social Media and Technology Breakthroughs for H1N1 and Seasonal Flu Communications

2009-09-11T08:17:00.002+12:00

The following webinar is being conducted on Thursday 24th September 07:00 - 08:00 NZST. Here is a link to the registration page.

Hear from leading social media, technology, crisis communications and health experts on quick, proven and cost-effective ways to communicate with the public, your emergency response team and government officials for seasonal flu and a potential H1N1 outbreak.

Panelist include Dr. Marsha Vanderford, Director of Emergency Communication Systems, CDC; David Stephenson, Principal, Stephenson Strategies; Nigel Snoad, Lead Capabilities Researcher, Microsoft Humanitarian Systems; and Phil Dixon, Business Product Manager, Google.

Who should attend? Public health officials, healthcare practitioners (physicians, nurses, emergency medical services), public safety responders (fire and police), emergency managers, and government communicators.

All in attendance will obtain innovative social media strategies and technology solutions for immediate implementation.

Cost to participate: FREE

The Center of Excellence for Risk and Crisis Communications at Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. is pleased to co-host this special webinar to provide you with state-of-the-art social media and technology solutions. Co-hosts include the American Public Health Association (APHA), International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and the National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC).

West Coast Exercise ShakeOut

2009-09-10T10:37:00.003+12:00

At 10:10 a.m. on Friday 18 September 2009, thousands of New Zealand West Coasters will participate in the regions largest earthquake drill ever! The purpose of the ShakeOut is to practice how to protect ourselves during earthquakes, and to get prepared at work, school, and home.

Everyone can participate - why not you? Check out the web site set up for this exercise here.

I think this is a great initiative and good luck to everyone on the Coast - check out the video they've had made - good job team!

What's with these calendars?

2009-09-09T11:07:00.003+12:00

Eventually, the calendars below will roll off the screen - you can find them again by clicking on the link under important stuff. This is a little bit of an on-line experiment I must admit. By putting the calendars up in this form, we can update the calendar in real-time. We don't need to wait for changes to be published, and then passed on for putting up on the website.

Depending on the up take, it also means that anyone with permission can edit information contained in the calendars. The end goal here is to have a consolidated calendar that is updated in one place. If member councils choose to, they can have the calendar showing up on their website or blog too - the data will come from the same place so the calendars will all say the same thing (no out of date stuff on the sites).

Once the CDEM Group website is live, we'll have the calendars there too - there won't be any double or triple handling, just linking to the source. Let's see how it goes.

Meeting calendar

2009-09-09T11:05:00.004+12:00

Training calendar

2009-09-06T21:22:00.004+12:00

Its taken ages to come up with AEGIS

2009-09-04T21:07:00.007+12:00

We've been planning a mapping portal to integrate near-real time data from agencies with static base data through a web page for a while now - I'm sure you've heard... For about the last month Adrienne (our BA) has been saying what are we going to call this thing???

Well... (trumpet flourish)... AEGIS MAP “Aegis” an ancient reference to a cloak or shield that symbolises protection by a higher authority.

AEGIS also stands for Agency Enhanced Geographic Information System.

So, we've talked about it, designed it, talked about it some more and redesigned it, tweeked it and talked about it some more. Told people we're doing it, blogged about it, made a website about it, got a cool name for it...

Can we build it??? YES... we can! (thanks Bob). Edward has returned from the US and is champing at the bit to start writing up the code. I'm sure that in the very near future we'll have a prototype to test drive. We'll keep you posted.

Group Plan milestone

2009-09-04T20:46:00.002+12:00

The Joint Standing Committee met today and endorsed the draft CDEM Group Plan, we've been working on for the past 18 months, to go out for public consultation. For me this is a great benchmark and I'd like to thank everyone for the help they've provided in getting the Plan to this critical stage.

Next steps include a month for public consultation, followed by a hearing on the 16th October. We then send the proposed Plan down to the Minister for a bit of bedtime reading - he gets a month for that. The Plan then comes back and goes up for final approval on the 4th December.

If you'd like a copy of the draft Plan, you can get that here. We've also provided some guidance on requirements for the submission - there are a few basics we need but didn't want to go to the extreme of providing a form to fill in. You can pick up the submission requirements here.

The future of wireless technology

2009-08-24T19:26:00.010+12:00

I was recently asked by a colleague (thanks Richard) if I could be the CDEM Groups' rep at this Ministry of Economic Development seminar. I thought cool... imagine going to the Sydney car show with the very latest in cool cars... all shiny and beaming, draped with appropriately attired support staff, big bangers alongside hybrids and the quirkiness of future transportation. Now put this in a tech setting - routers, mobile phones, convergent tech, gadgets and gizmos galore!

Now put on your very best Clarkson face... how wrong I was! Imagine instead a room full of mechanical engineers drooling over progress towards the flux capacitor, thermo-coupled double doofterised over-head underhangers and drive-by-wire architecture.

In real terms, my expectation of finding out about the consumer end of wireless technology developments was stretched well beyond even my comfort zone. Where we talk about web 2.o, these guys talk about web 4.0 (there are no wiki results for this), where we talk about a wireless router, these guys talk about MiMO, and where we speak English, these guys (and girls) speak an entirely different language. I did enjoy the surfer surfing the net though!

I thought I might learn a bit about the APCO 25, satellite stuff with IPSTAR and BGAN and possibly software to provide cross-band connectivity. Instead, we covered cognitive radio, the move of TV frequencies, SASRATS, WiMAX, frequency selective surfaces and much, much more - WOW!

Although there was no talk about BGAN, and femtocell was passed off as just a fad, the day was interesting and assured me that there are people thinking about not just tomorrow but 10-15 years into the future and putting policies in place and doing research we will be the beneficiaries of. It is nice to know that we are out performing the Aussies in this area at the moment too!

Video and presentations from this day will be available on the RSM web site in the near future

Vehicle donated to Manawatu Coastguard

2009-08-20T08:34:00.004+12:00

Horizons issued a press release yesterday in regard to our donation... here it is.

Volunteers at the Manawatu Coastguard can now respond to incidents faster and drier thanks to the Horizons Emergency Management Group donation of a used vehicle.

The SsangYong ute was formerly owned by the Manawatu District Council (MDC) and was transferred to Horizons when the MDC contracted its emergency management services to the regional council.

The ute was not fully suitable for Horizons’ use and would have been tendered for sale. But when Horizons became aware of the Coastguard’s need for a vehicle the donation idea was suggested to the council’s executives.

Manawatu Coastguard President, Leighton Judd, says the ute is a great asset to them.

“It means we can make a far quicker response to incidents as we can tow our jet ski down the beach, instead of getting to the scene on our jet ski or on our boat. In some instances, especially at night, the ute will mean our response is far more efficient.”

Leighton Judd says the Coastguard had intended on fundraising to purchase a vehicle. The hard work involved with fundraising can now be focussed on purchasing radio equipment for the ute, as well a major project to buy a new Coastguard boat.

“All of our members are volunteers and up until now we have all used our private vehicles when necessary. We do a lot of support work for the surf lifesaving clubs on the Manawatu and Kapiti coastline and the ute will also be used to respond to swimmers and people in trouble in the sea."

Horizons Emergency Manager Officer, Ross Brannigan, says he is delighted that Horizons executive members agreed to donate the vehicle. There is an important working relationship between the council and the Coastguard, he said.

“Horizons has Harbourmaster responsibilities, and in circumstances like a marine oil spill or anything to do with maritime safety we need to call on the services of the Coastguard boat. Donating a vehicle has done a lot to cement excellent working relationships between us.”

Outcome of EMDO training

2009-08-17T08:06:00.007+12:00

Well, the EMDO and EM staff training day went really well last week. It was a good opportunity to work our way through the activation procedures and practice everything we've talked about and documented.

I'm sure some of the things were new for a few of the team so this would have been a significant learning curve. We only had a couple of minor equipment hiccups but that just proves that having an IT duty officer is important too. William Gordon and

Alistair Williams helped out during the day to resolve any technical issues.

We also practiced send an SMS via our message media site - its really the first time

we've had the HorizonsEM user logged on in

several places at once. I think this fact is partly to blame (but that won't stop the shout) for Rosco sending an SMS to a rather random list... asking 'where's da emergency?' Not sure how that happened! Anyway Rosco - make mine a Tui!

We have also decided to use CIMS language in our accounts so we've now set up HorizonsPlanningIntel, HorizonsOperations and HorizonsLogistics accounts in Groove, gmail and Skype. The base account used in the Comms Room for generic e-mail and warnings is still HorizonsEM.

Latest e-bulletin

2009-08-14T15:49:00.004+12:00

The latest e-Bulletin is now available from the MCDEM website here.

In this issue...

Tribute to Mike Kennedy
Murupara community builds resilience
Canterbury to better connected
Volunteer award for Nelson Response Team member
West Coat Controllers Forum
Council supports emergency management staff development
Public Education update: Revised Stan launched
CDEM Professional Development
CDEM Research
Submissions sought on draft business continuity standards
Personal security and communications course
MCDEM Lifelines update
Earth science book wins award

EMDO training day

2009-08-12T20:50:00.005+12:00

Tomorrow will be a full day for the Emergency Management Duty Officers and staff of Horizons Emergency Management Office. An extensive programme has been arranged for the team to work through the details for a cold start to EOC/ECC operations at Horizons. The day will include activation of all hardware and software that might be used in operations.

Each of the EMDOs is expected to be able to fully activate the EOC and support the Horizons Incident Controller and/or Group Controller without the support of any other EM staff. It's quite a big ask to do in slow time, let alone when the pressure of an event is upon us. We'll be practicing setting up the EOC, spreading our wings into the Compliance space, conference calls, Groove, useful websites and how to make the most of the wall monitors. Sending sms messages, preparing sitreps and arranging the first two shifts, using the BGAN, the new financial system and looking through the several emergency response documents we have will also be part of the day.

This training day is the first in a series of activation training days for EOC staff. Here, our expectation is that many of the staff that might be first into the EOC might be expected to perform any number of roles. Each Friday afternoon for about a month we'll be running training for batches of staff

Volcano short course

2009-08-06T13:11:00.005+12:00

GNS Science and Massey University are again running their very successful Planning for a volcanic crisis short course. This year the course is being held at the
Mercure Hotel in Auckland on 23-24 September. An optional field trip will also visit Rangitoto Island on the 25th.

The course covers:

The volcano problem
Impacts and mitigation
Monitoring and warning systems
Two case studies
Lahars and breakout flooding
Discussions on crisis management
Planning for volcanic crisis
Learning from others, and
So what can you do?

For more information about the course, you can download the brochure from here. You can also contact Daryl Barton on 04-570-1444 or d.barton@gns.cri.nz. The course costs $500 per person and the field trip is $100.

Mobile Command and HazMat

2009-08-05T09:25:00.006+12:00

Mitchell Brown invited emergency managers and CEG members to visit one of the new NZFS command and hazmat vehicles as it was passing through Palmerston North yesterday. We've been hearing for a while now that the Fire Service is investing in 16 of these vehicles at around $1M a piece.

I've got to say, I'm impressed! The vehicle is well designed for its purpose and very well constructed. The tail-lifter on the back of the truck allows for quick removal of six large containers

of hazmat response equipment. This leaves a large open floor space for people to be briefed, whiteboards with status to be maintained and a very clever touch screen TV/monitor. The forward part of the unit has two work stations and quite a lots of the technology for patching radios and managing incidents.

On the outside of the vehicle there is a hydraulic mast for radio aerials, telescoping mast for the site camera and the IPStar satellite dish (clever enough to find the satellite on its own). The vehicle is stabilised to ensure a steady working platform. Total set up time was less than 10 minutes for one person.

Whilst this is a specialist platform for NZFS incident management there is provision for it to be used at other types of incidents. I suspect that due to its dual purpose though that this won't be left at incidents for extended periods of time unless there is a significant commitment by the Fire Service at the scene.

Any future developments we do with EOCs will take into account this significant investment by the Fire Service. Well done guys!

(Troy Gerbich and Tony Groome at the helm... whatever next?)

AirShelter on the way

2009-07-30T17:00:00.003+12:00

The Group is soon to benefit from a new AirShelter. The shelter is in reality an inflatable tent and will be used routinely for promotional opportunities. The plan at this stage is to have the shelter ready for Disaster Awareness Week at the beginning of October. Banners will be attached to the outside of the shelter with our current hazard theme - storms. Inside there will be the core information on disaster preparedness and the CDEM Group. This time round there will also be a table inside with a weather station.

The shelter will also be a resource for emergencies too. Designed with a removable floor (to protect a crime scene) and IV line cables (for the ambos) the shelter can also be joined to the St John shelter if we need a larger shelter.

PNCC have also recently purchased a lightweight shelter and the combination of resources will give the Group a lot of flexibility for promotional activities in the future.

CDEM Group Plan another step closer

2009-07-28T14:54:00.003+12:00

At today's meeting of the Co-ordinating Executive Group, the first draft of the Manawatu-Wanganui CDEM Group Plan 2009-2011 was received and endorsed. There are a couple of minor tweeks to make before the Plan goes up to the Joint Standing Committee on 4th September and then out for public consultation on the 7th September.

The Public Education and Information Strategy was also endorsed by the CEG this morning so all-in-all it has been a pretty successful day.

Back on deck

2009-07-22T19:36:00.004+12:00

Well, I've been away for a couple of weeks but the business just keeps on ticking!!!

The CEG agenda has gone out with the first draft of the CDEM Group Plan and Public Education and Information Strategy. We meet next week to work through these before they go up to the Joint Standing Committee.

On the hazards front, Ruapehu did a little belch. Fortunately, there was little effect from this event at the Crater Lake. GNS Science issued alert bulletin for this event. There was a pretty chunky earthquake down south but incredibly, very little damage. This event was as large as the 1931 earthquake! Anywhere else in the world, I'm sure there would have been an international response to a devastated area. Soon after the earthquake, a tsunami warning was issued by the PTWC. Again, we were lucky that a big wave was not generated. This one does bring home that the warning system is designed for distant source tsunami. It just takes time to work things out and then get plans initiated.

Finally, congratulations to members of the Volunteer Rural Fire Force in Levin. Many of the members graduated with their level 2 FRSITO certificates last night. Presentation of their certificates was made at a ceremony at the Horowhenua District Council by HDC Chief Execuitive David Ward and FRSITO Manager Leonce Jones.

Rangitikei Exercise

2009-07-02T18:44:00.005+12:00

The Rangitikei gang took part in a small exercise last Friday to test facilities at the Emergency Operations Centre - yes despite some rumours, the EOC is still fully functional at the back of the Marton library.

The exercise was intended to be a tabletop exercise and just enough to test systems such as CDERS and re-familiarise key District Council staff with CDEM arrangements. The exercise has also provided me with a baseline for future improvements (and there are a few up my sleeve). We'll be working through the system improvements over the next several months and the staff will be called on to participate in some training courses.

Its certainly not all doom and gloom though (as evidenced by the photo), the level of participation was good and the experience in the room reassures me that if the balloon went up tomorrow we have a response capability. At the conclusion of the exercise, Paul ran through an abbreviated version of CIMS training for some of the staff who were unfamiliar with some of these processes. Thanks to the team for their participation.

Flu trends

2009-06-27T21:59:00.006+12:00

Whilst browsing the internet tonight, I've stumbled across Google Flu trends. This is a graph that allows us to compare previous years with current Google flu trends. It's important to note that the graph shows the number of searches, not the number of cases! There is a strong correlation between the number of Google searches for 'flu' and the relative number of cases. Here's a link to the NZ page. Google trends is a pretty powerful tool - I wonder if there are other things we could track and learn from?

Trembly Turangi

2009-06-27T16:06:00.004+12:00

The Turangi-Tokaanu area seems to be going through a bit of a shaky time at the moment. A swarm of small earthquakes has been recorded over the past few weeks with events today ramping up slightly. The largest of these was this morning and measured M4.4. All the quakes seem to be quite shallow. The area is known for its geothermal activity and when we were up there a few weeks ago, steam was evident around this location.

Details of recent earthquakes can be found on the GeoNet website. I dumped a few of the locations of today's events into Google Earth just to see where things plot up. Note that some of the locations represent more than one event - one of the locations is where three of the events come back to (give or take a bit for rounding errors I guess).

Here is a link to the Get Ready Get Thru information for earthquakes.

Pandemic update

2009-06-25T20:28:00.005+12:00

Novel Influenza A (H1N1) 09 is the very catchy name that swine flu now goes by. I've been tracking developments with the current outbreak and believe our level of response at this time is appropriate. It's important to keep in mind that we've only had one confirmed case in the region. What this means is that we are still in the phase where health officials are still trying to stop the spread of the virus in our community. This is different to the main centres where community transmission is happening.

The Welfare Advisory Group met last week and have also just received national guidance on welfare assistance for this pandemic. We're not expecting things to be overwhelming on the welfare front if the virus continues to behave as it is. We've also been circulating NHCC and other updates via Groove to Group members and the occasional e-mail to our distribution list. I've also started attending the MidCentral DHB briefings on a more regular basis.

We did have a little bit of a flurry in the office this week as a contact of a possible case was sent home showing flu like symptoms. We've cracked open the pandemic kits and have further promoted good practice to minimise the risks for our staff and visitors.

So, we'll keep monitoring the situation and if necessary ramp up our response either in support of the health efforts or for co-ordinating welfare assistance.

Blog report

2009-06-24T08:17:00.004+12:00

It's hard to believe that the blog has been running for just over a year now. My first post was on the 5th June 2008. The whole idea was to make life a little easier for me in getting some of the messages out to anyone who is interested. Ged Shirley (my boss and chair of our CEG) suggested doing a regular newsletter to keep punters informed on Group Plan review progress. To be honest, this sounded like more work. So the question was: how do I do this without creating a rod for my own back? It took a few days, but then I figured out that we should try a blog!

While there was a little hesitation, the Group has trusted me enough to publish the blog without moderation. I'm careful to make it clear if the views being expressed are mine or have been agreed by the Group. So big thumbs up to the Group for this!!

I've been tracking the blog using Google Analytics since it started and have reported to the CEG from time-to-time on how things are going. Here's a summary of the first year and a bit...

1,011 unique visitors
3,958 page views
Most searched = Wanganui camera bar
Visits by country (46 in all) = NZ (1,852), US (87), UK (40), Aus (19), Canada (14)... right down to Jamaica (1)
48% of visitors are one-time visits, 25% though have visited between 9 and 200 times
Apart from one-timers, most visitors are on site between 3-10 minutes per visit.

So - hopefully you have found the blog useful. If you have any suggestions for items you would like to see - just let me know. Finally, a big thankyou to those who have supported the site and provided feedback (either on the site or to me directly)... CHEERS!

Akitio alive and well!

2009-06-21T17:12:00.005+12:00

Well, it might have been a while in the making, but the latest webcam is now up and running. The Akitio camera is working from the boat club at the southern end of the beach. This view is one of the early shots from the camera. The transmission speeds are excellent and the site provides us with a good view of the road. The idea is that we will start getting a better handle on the effects of waves on the local community. Factors such as wave height, swell direction and tidal conditions all influence the end result. There have been instances when logs were thrown up on the road.

Here is the link to the camera on the Horizons Regional Council website. We may have a few issues with lens flare due to the beach running basically north/south - but we'll see how we go.

Social media - what's in it for us?

2009-06-21T16:14:00.004+12:00

I've been thinking about how to get the most out of some of the social media sites, especially Twitter. I think this will become more relevant as time moves on with the Tehran riots, San Diego fires and Sichuan earthquake being examples of Twitter coming to the fore. There are a couple of quite a good videos on Ted about this… check out Evan Williams and Clay Shirky.

I'm still figuring this out myself... but Twitter is a social networking tool that allows you to share what is important to you with friends and family. Recently developments in Twitter mean that it is easy to find out what people are saying on Twitter. Twitter uses a thing called a hash tag to make searching, RSS feeds and such like more useful. A hash tag might look something like #NZCD that preceeds the message. If you subscribed tothe tag #NZCD on Twitter or your RSS feed you would be notified of all the messages that include that tag. You can also imagine that a #NICD or #SICD (North and South Island) hash tag would make it a little easier during widespread events for EM people to keep tabs on what's going on. If we could couple this with a geo-reference then we might be able to aggregate tweets (messages sent via Twitter) to specific localities.

The reason I'm putting this on the blog, rather than just doing it, is that ideally CDEM Groups would have a consistent approach to Twitter. It could be something we include in our promotions or messages during an emergency (follow us on Twitter with the hash tag…). I'm not suggesting additional work in the EOC/ECC but a means of intelligence sharing that can either come from the community or from the CDEM authorities. I'm interested in your feedback on this one.

New stuff coming

2009-06-18T18:45:00.007+12:00

The team has started looking at the new CDEM Group web site. Glen Young is Horizons' new Webmaster and is bringing a number of exciting ideas to the camp. Once we've got a concept developed, we'll be taking it out to the EMOs and CEG members for refinement.

We know that the site needs to be informative, current, and quickly updated (especially during events), but it also needs to look good, be easy to navigate and be modern. As well as the usual preparedeness information there are a number of cool things we're looking to include. Things like RSS feeds, inter-operability with Facebook, Bebo and other social networking sites, Twitter functionality, GIS map interface, web-cams, blogs and vlogs, tech-wikis and all sorts of other cool tools.

One of the global developments that is still just over the horizon is Google Wave. Although the developer tools are now available, Wave is not being launched by Google until later this year. We will look to take advantage of Google Wave as soon as we can. In my view this advancement is going to be one of the most significant advancements we've seen in recent years. Although the video is quite long (1 hr 20min), it is certainly mind-expanding.

Group Plan CEG workshop

2009-06-17T19:32:00.003+12:00

The Coordinating Executive Group held what I feel was a very successful workshop yesterday to review the first draft of the revised CDEM Group Plan. Roughly half the Plan had been seen by the CEG at previous meetings and workshops however there was still quite a chunk of work to get through.

Brendan Morris facilitated the workshop to give us all an opportunity to focus on the discussions rather than running the workshop. Evan Lloyd also participated in the workshop to provide the background to the hazard and risk analysis prepared by him to support the Plan.

Several hours of good healthy discussion later and there was general agreement that we are making good progress and that the Plan is still on track for approval at the December meeting of the Joint Standing Committee. Before that can happen, there is still quite a bit of work to do and consultation to be undertaken. We'll be working to make the adjustments recommended by the CEG over the next few weeks before it comes back for endorsement as the draft CDEM Group Plan for public consultation.

Anyway... so far, so good.

EMOs work out a plan...

2009-06-09T17:40:00.002+12:00

The EMOs had a workshop on the first draft of the CDEM Group Plan today ahead of the CEG workshop next week.

I'm happy to say that the focus was on detail rather than any big issues that had been missed or significant changes in direction. The session focused on sections of the Plan that hadn't been seen before and was quite pragmatic. While we played around with the numbers a wee bit on the risk analysis, the general consensus was that we were pretty well right with river flooding, earthquake and human pandemic coming out on top.

We also had the opportunity to talk about the Triennial Business Plan and what this might look like. Given that our budgets are already set for next year, we agreed a good starting place would be tabling and comparing current activities - we'll do this at the next EMO meeting.

All in all, good effort today guys!

Update on activities

2009-06-04T09:01:00.003+12:00

Well, its been a while since my last post (not that last post!),we really have been head down... Paul Chaffe has joined the team and been going through orientation to be our new EMO /Rural Fire Officer. Rosco has been attempting to become an oil spill manager, Brent has been extracting subsidies from the NRFA, Evan has been working on bylaws review and the risk profile part of the Group Plan, and I have been busy completing the first draft of the Group Plan.

The Plan will be workshopped by EMOs and CEG in the next few weeks then we will have a bit of time to complete a number of supporting documents before it goes back to CEG for endorsement to go to the Joint Standing Committee. Things are on track for a 5 December approval of our new Plan.

The new team has taken a few days to look at the current Business Plan and also where we are going in the next year to so. I've scared them with Project Noah - a proposal to seriously attack some of the response deficiencies we've identified. We've also managed to squeeze in a little bit of 'boat training'. Brent thinks he's clever being the only one to get in touch with the local wildlife.

Trans-Tasman CDEM agreement

2009-05-21T19:18:00.003+12:00

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

2009-05-17T20:07:00.004+12:00

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

2009-05-15T13:09:00.004+12:00

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

2009-05-15T10:16:00.003+12:00

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

2009-05-12T18:49:00.004+12:00

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.

2009-05-12T18:49:00.001+12:00

Crowd sourced information

2009-05-03T17:36:00.003+12:00

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.

Flying pigs?

2009-04-27T20:09:00.005+12:00

Well, it might not be avian influenza but the plans we made for 'bird flu' are now coming home to roost. Like many organisations, today we blew the dust off our pandemic plans and checked our resources in anticipation of Swine Flu. I'm glad to say that things seemed to be pretty well thought out and good to go.

The reassuring thing from my point of view is that there hasn't been a flap about what to do... we made plans and we are following them - without changing them on the fly. I'm sure that when this is all over, there will be a review of arrangements and procedures - that too is procedure!

Today, we set up a Groove workspace for Swine Flu, had a few calls with the District Health Board and communicated with our CDEM Group. We've also fired up all the computers (and updated their virus protection) and put arrangements in place for CODE RED. So... tomorrow's another day, let's see what it brings.

For the latest official updates, check out the Ministry of Health web site.

Hydro boys hard at work

2009-04-24T20:30:00.004+12:00

We've reported a number of things on the blog that the hydro team have had a bit of input to. I spotted the guys browsing through some photos of the Tangiwai webcam installation this morning and thought it worth sharing with you.

The site is clearly in a rather hostile environment (not talking about the military maneuvers) and making the site robust is quite important. Remember its out there 24/7 and we expect it to work regardless of conditions.

The other thing that this photo brought home for me... was how much 'stuff' the hydro boys carry around. So much so, they can't fit it all inside and need roof pods. No wonder you get the big trucks guys! I know I keep promising it, but the Akitio cam is getting closer now - watch this space!!!

e-Bulletin

2009-04-22T09:38:00.002+12:00

The latest edition of the e-Bulletin is available here.

More BGAN info

2009-04-17T08:23:00.001+12:00

A few people have been asking me more about BGAN. Here's a link to the Inmarsat video page that has a couple of good promo videos. A word of warning though... don't try this with dial-up!