Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO)

⭐️ This week is Get Ready Week ⭐️ Do you have a plan for if an emergency happened while you were at work? Emergencies can happen at any time. It is important to know what to do whether you are at home or at work. This week is a great opportunity to have a 'Prep talk' at work.🗣️ 🏢 👉 Find out if your workplace is in a flood risk zone or tsunami zone. 👉 Practise your evacuation plan if your office is in hazard risk zone. 👉 Identify friends, family or colleagues who live near your workplace that you could stay with if you couldn't get home. 👉 Have a plan with your household and make sure everyone knows what to do if an emergency happens during work hours. 👉 Have a Grab Bag for if you need to walk home from your office if roads and public transport was damaged in an emergency. 👉 For business owners and workplace managers: Prepare a Business Continuity Plan and ensure staff know what is expected of them if there is an emergency More info 👉 wremo.nz/get-ready-week

📣 Come and make a difference to our Wellington region communities! 📣   We're looking for a Group Welfare Manager to join the WREMO Team! ⭐️   As the Group Welfare Manager, you'll lead and coordinate planning to provide support to our communities impacted by emergencies.   You’ll bring knowledge and understanding of the Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) welfare roles and requirements and strong facilitation, advocacy and planning skills.   This role is all about collaboration, innovation and making a difference to communities in the Wellington region. Applications close 28 October 2024. Apply here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gNQddgSi

Today is Australasian Women in Emergencies Day (AWE Day), an opportunity to celebrate our incredible wāhine at WREMO and all those across the emergency management sector 🌟 Ngā mihi nui to all the wāhine involved in emergency management, in our emergency services, research partners, partner agencies, and the wāhine who support their friends and whānau to get prepared for emergencies. Your hard work, dedication, and leadership help us to support our communities before, during, and after emergencies. Happy AWE Day 🫶

Rain or shine, our NZ Response Teams are ready to go! 🌧️ As we wrap up #ExercisePoseidon for the weekend, we want to thank everyone involved for giving their valuable time to enhance our collective capabilities to respond to a major earthquake. ✅ 1x planned 36-hour hypothetical earthquake response practice ✅ 1x real M5.7 earthquake (unplanned) ✅>140x volunteers spending their valuable time practising their ability to support our communities in times of need The spooky timing of this morning's earthquake couldn't be a better reminder of how important this training is (swear we didn't plan that one!) 🤯 Response to a significant earthquake, the scenario used for this weekend's exercise, requires everyone to pitch in. Our New Zealand Response teams are a critical resource to support communities in a disaster. NZRTs are made up of community members just like you. They have day jobs and volunteer their time to give back to their community. If you know someone who is part of a response team, shout them a lil treat this coming week, they've had a big weekend 💪 Thank you vollies for your dedication. Ka mau te wehi! 👏 Safe travels back home! 👋 New Zealand Response Teams - NZRT Wellington Emergency Response Team (NZRT8) Victoria Rescue - NZRT7 NZRT-18 Hutt City Emergency Response Team Upper Hutt Community Rescue NZ RT9 NZ-RT3 Auckland Response Team NZ-RT5 REST NZRT4 Bay of Plenty Response Team HBERT ================= NZ Civil Defence HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Auckland Emergency Management Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Civil Defence Manawatū Whanganui NZ Defence Force Wellington - Fire and Emergency Wellington District Police Wellington Free Ambulance Wellington Water Ministry for Primary Industries SPCA Wellington/Wairarapa HUHANZ Massey University Veterinary Emergency Response Team Rapid Relief Team NZ Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Wellington City Council Hutt City Council Upper Hutt City Council Porirua City Council Kāpiti Coast District Council South Wairarapa District Council Masterton District Council Carterton District Council Greater Wellington Photo 📸 - Committed volunteers and partner agencies stand in the rain to pose for a group photo.

This weekend our region's four New Zealand Response Teams are participating in Exercise Poseidon alongside teams from across the North Island. 🔱 Exercise Poseidon is a 36-hour exercise based on a Wellington earthquake scenario. During the exercise, the teams will test their response skills by providing casualty and animal rescue, high-ropes rescue, reconnaissance, impact assessment and swift water rescue. Here in the Wellington region we have four New Zealand Response Teams (NZRTs) to support our communities: Victoria Rescue - NZRT7, Wellington Emergency Response Team (WERT) NZRT-8 (NZRT8), Upper Hutt Community Rescue NZ RT9, NZRT-18 Hutt City Emergency Response Team. Made up entirely of volunteers, the teams train weekly to maintain their response capabilities. Response Teams can be deployed to help undertake a variety of tasks during an emergency response such as: 👉 Light rescue 👉 Reconnaissance 👉 Impact assessment 👉 Intelligence gathering 👉 Assisting evacuations 👉 Cordon and movement control 👉 Supporting Emergency Assistance Centres and Community Needs Assessments 👉 Mass casualty support 👉 Water and rope rescue. Join us in cheering on our NZ Response Teams this weekend as they take part in Exercise Poseidon (if you see them out and about, give them a wave)! Ka mau te wehi team! 🤩 New Zealand Response Teams - NZRT

Last month, WREMO and our council Public Information Managers (PIMs) had the opportunity to visit the Radio New Zealand (RNZ) Wellington studio. The visit was a chance to strengthen our Group’s relationship with RNZ and discuss how we can work together more effectively to ensure clear and timely communication during a disaster. Radio is one of our most resilient communication channels and can reach communities if infrastructure has been damaged during events such as an earthquake or severe weather. Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) has a Memorandum of Understanding with RNZ, members of the Radio Broadcast Association (RBA) and Association of Community Access broadcasters. This means that we are committed to working together to provide broadcasts of critical information and warnings when required through the radio networks. Our ability to deliver important, wide-spread information to the public during times when situations and information are ever-changing, relies on our relationship with radio broadcasters. By understanding each other's capabilities and processes, we are in a better position to do this. A huge thank you to the RNZ team for having us along and showing us around.

🌟 Aotearoa's first solar-battery powered Community Emergency Hub🌟 A first-of-its-kind project has officially been implemented at Naenae Community Emergency Hub to provide back-up power and internet for the community during a disaster! 🔋🎉 Power outages, road damage and disruption to telecommunications during a disaster can make it difficult for people to connect with loved ones and receive critical information. A pilot project, funded by the NEMA Resilience Fund, designed a system to connect Naenae Primary School's solar energy to emergency batteries. How does the solar-battery system work? 🌞 The batteries are charged up with the school’s existing solar energy during the day. 🔋 In a disaster, these batteries can kick in during power outages and provide backup power and internet at the Hub. 👭📞 This enables the community to make phone calls and use the internet to connect with loves ones and find out critical information. 🏫 Day-to-day the system also reduces the school's energy bill. The school can use the batteries overnight and into the early hours of the morning to power their facilities. The project was a collaboration between WREMO, Hutt City Council, the Ministry of Education New Zealand, Naenae Primary School, ZEN Energy NZ, Chorus NZ Limited and Greater Wellington Regional Council, using funding from the NEMA Resilience Fund. The NEMA Resilience Fund aims to support strategic and collaborative projects that strengthen local disaster resilience which is exactly what this project set out to do. Naenae Primary School is one of 128 designated Community Emergency Hubs throughout the Wellington region. Community Emergency Hubs are places where neighbours can gather in a disaster to share information, resources and help one another. These are run by community members not council/Civil Defence. We are excited to see how the lessons from this project inform further discussions on community connectedness across Aotearoa!

How awesome are the rangatahi in our region? 🤩 Last week, were were lucky enough to attend a business proposal by a talented group of Māori and Pasifika students from Bishop Viard College in Porirua. The boys showcased their business, "District" - a brand focused on emergency grab bags! 🎒 After speaking to friends and whānau in their community, they created District Emergency Safe Kits. Part of their business model focuses on a 'pay-it-forward' system. People or businesses who purchase a District Emergency Safe Kit have the option to purchase another that can be gifted to community members in Porirua. We love to see our rangatahi getting involved and problem solving in their community! 👏 Shout out to Porirua City Council for their support. Want to show your support? Check them out on Instagram @dist.rict24

Last week's thunderstorm and yesterday's downpours were an important reminder that severe weather can occur at any time. ⛈️ Thunderstorms can form very quickly so a MetService New Zealand Thunderstorm Warning may come just minutes before it hits. Thunderstorms bring very heavy rain, intense lightning, hail, and severe wind gusts. Thunderstorms can be really focussed in particular areas and miss other places just kilometres away. It could be sunny in one part of the region and pouring in another.🌞⛈️ It's important to know what to do wherever you are... 🏡 If you are at home and you have time to, clear your drains and gutters to help reduce any surface flooding. Secure any loose outdoor furniture that may blow away in the wind. 🌳 If you are outside, take shelter indoors until the storm has passed. 🚗 If you are driving, be ready to slow down or stop until the storm has passed. Do not try to drive through flood water, just 30cm is enough to pick up your vehicle. For more information on what to do during a thunderstorm, head to wremo.nz/severe-weather 📸 Last Monday's thunderstorm rolling over the South Coast. Photo courtesy of Garry Butler.

If you were at work during severe weather, would you know what to do? ⛈️ Check out our 'Top 5' tips on things you can do to prepare for severe weather in your workplace. 1. Know your zone 👉🏼 Find out if your workplace is in a zone prone to river flooding by using the Greater Wellington flood maps: https://lnkd.in/gRy7kzzc 👉🏼 Parts of our region are also at risk of urban/surface flooding. More information may be available through your local council. 2. Have a plan 👉🏼 Heavy rain and flooding may mean you are unable to get home from work. Have a chat with your whānau or flatmates and make sure everyone knows what to do if they are unable to get home due to severe weather impacts. 👉🏼 If you commute to work, organise a place you could stay if you couldn't get home. This could be with extended family, friends or colleagues who live near your workplace. 3. Emergency Supplies 👉🏼 Prepare a Grab Bag with essential items in case you have to evacuate with little or no warning. 👉🏼 Plan for the supplies you may need if you are stuck at work with no power, or water. 4. Know your organisations Business Continuity Plan 👉🏼 A Business continuity Plan helps keep your business or organisations essential functions up and running after an emergency. 👉🏼 Severe weather can impact power, water and communication channels which can in turn, impact the way your business operates. 👉🏼 Have a chat with your employer around their Business Continuity Plan so you know what is expected of you after severe weather or storms. 👉🏼 If you are a business owner and don't have a Business Continuity Plan, you can create one using the free resources available on our website: wremo.nz/businesses 5. Get the Flood Out 👉🏼 If you see rising flood water, no matter where you are, evacuate to higher ground immediately. Do not wait for an official warning. 👉🏼 Stay out of flood water and away from damaged areas until the 'all-clear' is given. For more information on preparing for severe weather at home or at work head to wremo.nz/severe-weather