Posted: 11 March 2008
North Civil Defence team in national eruption exercise
More than 60 Northlanders are expected to this week play a role in the largest Civil Defence emergency management exercise New Zealand has ever seen – based on a mock eruption in Auckland.
Clive Manley, Group Controller of the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group, says ‘Exercise Ruaumoko’ began in November last year and has followed a theoretical build-up to a looming ‘eruption’ in the Auckland volcanic field.
The exercise enters its most intensive phase this week with the ‘eruption’ and will include the activation of Emergency Operations Centres – including four in Northland - and about 100 local, regional and Central Government and non-government organisations responding nationwide.
Mr Manley says Northland’s main role will begin late tomorrow leading to a full activation of the Civil Defence Group’s Emergency Operations Centre (based in the Northland Regional Council’s Whangarei headquarters) on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 March.
Local Emergency Operations Centres at the Far North, Whangarei and Kaipara District Councils will also be activated on these two days. At its height, about 60 Northlanders will be taking part in the desk-top exercise, including local authority, police and medical staff and firefighters.
Mr Manley says Northland’s relative proximity to Auckland means it would likely face an influx of thousands of evacuees from such a large-scale disaster and the exercise will provide valuable insights into how the region would cope over what was likely to be an extended period.
“There are a raft of issues to consider. In the short-term, there are obvious things like meeting basic needs; food, shelter, sanitation, transport, medical treatment etc. But other issues will also need to be considered like ongoing education needs of school age children, policing etc.”
Mr Manley says Northland’s Civil Defence members exercise regularly, but also have plenty of hands-on experience dealing with real regional emergencies like flooding.
However, he says the type – and scale – of this week’s exercise will be an interesting challenge and a first for many of the Northland participants.
Mr Manley says people keen to track the progress of the exercise can visit http://www.exerciseruaumoko.co.nz/