Tropical Cyclone YASI

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

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.

Wellington Earthquake Initial Response Plan

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

Group ECC activation

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.

Trans-Tasman CDEM agreement

Picked this up via Twitter and Radio NZ...

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

A busy night for some...

Fire crews from around the region responded to a significant fire at Woodleigh Lodge just south of Sanson at around15:00 yesterday. All up, some 31 callsigns responded to the event with a further 6 machines moved to provide cover. PRFO Brent Fanning responded for the Council. At around 17:45 thoughts were turning to tea - a quick call to the Emergency Management Duty Officer resulted in the Red Cross being called in to assist.

For some it has been an overnight vigil with the last of them leaving around 07:30 this morning.

EMDO Ross Brannigan (Rosco's first week as EMDO and he gets a goodie) went to check things out and get a few photos later in the piece... I think we need lessons on how to take photos with your phone!

At the same time, I responded as alternative EMDO to a smoke complaint in Newbury Line. Turned out to be a stubble burn that was being well looked after. A lot of people in Palmerston North would have seen the pall of smoke though.