City Teams Assist With Snow Effort
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Central Library Reference Librarian Lynsey Moore was among the civil defence teams which went south. Large numbers of Council staff and volunteers train in various emergency response and management roles. |
Rescue response teams from the City Council, Waimakariri District Council areas and the Canterbury Civil Defence Group travelled south last month following a request for assistance from the Ashburton and Waimate district councils.
Twelve Council staff, members of NZ Registered Response Team 12, helped deliver food, got in touch with households yet to be contacted due to the snow and collected information about damaged infrastructure in the Ashburton district. Other staff members, volunteers in two other Christchurch-based response teams, went to Waimate to do similar work.
Regional civil defence controller Bob Upton said the city teams’ assistance shows what the new civil defence emergency management (CDEM) structure is all about.
“It meant South Canterbury had access to extra resources at times when they needed them. Because these events don’t happen very often it’s simply not practical for every council to have huge resources on standby. With the Canterbury Group structure it means we can share resources in times of need.
“Throughout the event the Christchurch City Emergency Management Office kept in touch with councils in Mid- and South Canterbury so that if further assistance was required Christchurch City was up to date with what was happening,” Mr Upton said. “This had the additional benefit that if Christchurch City or Banks Peninsula was hit by further snow then local emergency managers and responders would be better placed to deal with the event.”
Murray Sinclair, the City Council’s CDEM manager, says the snow storm was a good reminder of the need to be prepared. “Every home should have enough emergency survival items to cope without outside assistance.”
- Check the last page in the Yellow Pages phone directory for information about preparing for a disaster
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