Council simulates response to extreme weather emergency
IT was all hands on deck in the Central Otago District Council office on Wednesday, as council staffers took part in a training exercise aimed at honing their response to a natural disaster.
Arranged in partnership with Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management, the exercise saw about 40 council staff assume roles in the council’s Emergency Operations Centre, as they would in a real life disaster.
Throughout the day, staff worked in teams managing all aspects of the council’s response, from delegating emergency supplies to coordinating evacuation points for affected communities.
The scenario, an extreme weather event that imagined flooding affecting parts of Canterbury and Otago, was fed to the teams in periodic updates, requiring them to react to a changing situation in realtime.
The exercise even included a mock media briefing, with council staff fielding questions from Otago Daily reporters who were there to cover the training event.
Dan Andrew, an inland team leader for Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management, said the annual exercises were crucial in ensuring council staff were both qualified and capable of handling an unexpected crisis.
‘‘It’s a perishable skill.
‘‘So if we’re not practising, and we just wait for the next event, we’re rusty.’’
It was the first time in three years the council had been able to conduct the training in person, after the Covid pandemic thwarted past attempts.
The severe weather event was one of several scenarios the team could run, and had largely been chosen because it was the most common type of disaster to affect the region, Derek Shaw, Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management adviser for Central Otago, said.
He said the organisation was ‘‘always learning’’.
They had implemented findings from this year’s Auckland and Hawke's Bay flood responses into the day’s exercise.
‘‘We don’t just rest on our laurels.
‘‘We’re not that smug that we think it won’t happen here.
‘‘We hope we never have to use it, but the [council] is prepared and this is part of that preparedness.’’
Training day . . . Central Otago District Council staff take part in a disaster response training exercise aimed at preparing them for the real thing. Right: Hosting a mock media briefing as part of the council’s disaster response training are (from left) Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management team leader Dan Andrew, Tourism Central Otago general manager Dylan Rushbrook and Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management adviser for Central Otago Derek Shaw.