‘Milford Mahi’ about preparing for Alpine Fault quake
MILFORD Sound is preparing for how it would cope if it was left stranded in a disaster.
The scenic tourist spot is also remote and the Alpine Fault is only kilometres away.
It is likely to be cut off in the event of a big earthquake and left vulnerable.
That was why two dozen volunteers from police, Surf Life Saving, Water Rescue and other agencies from around the South carried out a series of exercises in the area last week.
The project — called ‘‘Milford Mahi’’ — has been designed to improve the knowledge and skills of volunteers as well as the community.
Milford Emergency Response Team controller Tony Woodham said the small, isolated community needed to be prepared.
Volunteers would be put to the test.
The scenario was that seven days had passed since the big one and people were missing around the region.
Mr Woodham said this mirrored the kind of scenario the community might face.
That was why pretty much everyone in the town was playing a role in the exercise.
‘‘This community is known as a resilientcapable community.
‘‘They’re all involved either as victims or skippers or use of boats — the commercial community have been outstanding, along with the helicopter companies. So it’s all been done with private companies supporting the Milford Emergency Response Team.’’
Otago Coastal police search and rescue coordinator Sergeant Nathan White would lead the response team in the exercise.
The benefit to those involved was priceless, Mr Woodham said.
‘‘The remoteness of where we are is part of the attraction of coming here to see what we can do, see what resources are here and what they might need going forward.
‘‘There’s any number of incidents that could happen here with the amount of tourist boats that come in and out, previously cruise ships. You’ve got the Milford Track and we’ve got AF8 [the Alpine Fault Magnitude 8 modelling programme]. How we make that work in such a remote, isolated environment will be challenging.’’
For the past 40 years emergency response at Milford Sound had operated on a shoestring budget, thanks only to the goodwill of the community and volunteers, Mr Woodham said.
That needed to change with so many potential risks and especially when tourists returned once the border reopened. — RNZ