Latest e-bulletin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?