NZ gets rapid disaster response teams
Disasters such as the Port Hills fires and Kaiko¯ura earthquake have led the Government to dish out $5.2 million for fly-in ‘‘rapid response teams’’ to support communities in emergencies.
Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi said the Ministerial Technical Advisory Group’s (TAG) review of the country’s emergency response since the 2016-17 disasters highlighted the need for better public warning and communications.
At Wellington’s National Crisis Management Centre yesterday, he said people needed to be able to rely on a system that would support them in any type of emergency or disaster.
However, Faafoi did not throw his weight behind the TAG’s recommendation to set up a new emergency management agency – instead, he said $1 million was put aside to progress the business case for one and await further analysis as to its value.
‘‘It’s early days yet. I think it’s probably a little bit too hasty of us to decide, in a short amount of time, that we do need a new agency. A lot more work needs to be done before we get to that.’’
He said there were concerns over accountability and capacity of emergency responses on the ground and changes to the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act would ensure standards were lifted.
But there was still a question mark over who monitored it all – that meant the future of the Wellington facility was undecided.
‘‘We’re going to have to do a lot more . . . before we know what the entity is, whether it’s a beefed-up Ministry [of Civil Defence and Emergency Management] or whether it’s a new agency.
‘‘New Zealanders don’t want confusion in the event of an emergency.’’
Changes would mean the term ‘‘civil defence’’ could be dropped.
‘‘I think New Zealanders know what civil defence is but I don’t think they know what the system is. I think it’s going to take a long time for us to work the phrase ‘civil defence’ out of the system, out of our daily use.’’
The 16 civil defence groups around the country will answer to regional controllers, whose final say is hoped to avoid multiple response teams dealing with the same situation in opposing ways.
The decision was not a reflection on the contribution of emergency response volunteers and professionals, Faafoi added.
Partnerships would remain critical as work progressed.
‘‘Local government has a major role to play in lifting the system. Many others, particularly iwi, also play a significant role in their contributions.’’
Environment Canterbury chief executive Bill Bayfield said the report was pretty thorough and drew a lot on Christchurch and Canterbury’s experience with events in the last few years.
He said fly-in teams worked well in Kaiko¯ ura and the minister’s moves would give clarity to the roles and responsibilities between the different levels of local Government – city councils, district councils and regional councils.
The fly-in teams are expected to be operating within 12 months.