Individuals and households need to be ready for the worst, says Lynn Dawson, a member of the Devonport Peninsula Emergency Support Group, which recently produced an emergency readiness plan and a pamphlet outlining what to do in and how to prepare for an emergency. Christine Young looks at what two local communities are doing and have done in the face of catastrophic and unexpected events.
Across Auckland, the floods of January 2023 caught many unprepared and far from ready. Lynn and others in the Devonport community already knew that a community plan is a critical first step in emergency preparedness, and planning had already begun. This has now resulted in the Devonport Peninsula Emergency Readiness Plan, a website (dpes@dpt.nz), and a flyer delivered to households and businesses on the Devonport peninsula.
Other communities are also undertaking emergency management planning, but with Devonport’s work starting several years ago, it appears to have the most comprehensive approach on the Shore to helping residents and businesses ensure they are ready for whatever comes. (Weather events are the most likely risk on the Shore, says Lynn, but the plan also considers events from pandemics to power cuts, earthquakes or tsunami.)
In 2021, Trish Deans was a member of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board (DTLB), and initiated the development of a community response plan. “I was keenly aware of the requirement within the Local Government Act that local boards had a responsibility for emergency management,” she says. “I asked the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board for $30,000 as funding money to start addressing the issue and contacted Auckland North Community Development (ANCAD) to initiate a community emergency programme.”
Over the next three years, ANCAD ran a series of community workshops and employed a part-time staff member to work with groups following the workshops. It now also hosts a community resilience website (ancad.org.nz/programmes/community-resilience/) that details the myriad relationships involved in successful emergency management and provides information on individual preparedness, the importance of connecting with neighbours and of developing community plans.
“Devonport has always had an emergency preparedness group,” notes Trish. “When Auckland Council became the supercity they dismissed community emergency groups – [providing] no support or funding.” Devonport continued, with volunteer support.
After the ANCAD workshops in 2021 and 2022 Trish organised meetings with residents, and a small group worked on a readiness plan. “It’s taken time but it has been a community effort which is the key.”
Lynn Dawson was one of those Devonport residents. Having lived through the Edgecumbe and San Francisco earthquakes, she knew that in a serious emergency, it's the local community that steps up. While Auckland Council has an overall plan, she says, each community needs to be self-sufficient. “Every area in Auckland should be doing this.”
Adam Maggs, General Manager Auckland Emergency Management at Auckland Council, explains: “Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group Plan 2024-2029 provides advice and information about getting ready for and responding to emergencies. However, Community Response Plans are operational plans to support community members to understand how they will work together to support a community during an emergency.”
Communication with AEM occurs through community hubs and key community emergency response group leaders, marae, elected Council and community board members, Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ), Police, Hato Hone St John and Te Whatu Ora.
“We encourage every household to make a plan and to know your community’s plan,” he adds, as well as to consider vulnerable members of your whānau and what the school’s emergency procedures are.
Lynn says the Devonport group has communicated with FENZ, the police and AEM, as well as schools and the William Sanders retirement village (which each have their own emergency plans), and was guided by the already-developed Resilient Piha plan. The group aimed to “allocate, distribute, and use local resources to sustain the community during emergencies until outside agencies can respond”. As Sunnynook’s experience (below) shows, support may be needed for much longer than anticipated.
The Devonport group is now distributing flyers, which summarise essential information, including key emergency contacts, a readiness checklist, and how and where to stay informed in the event of an emergency. The plan also identifies seven community hubs that can be activated to provide an initial “safe refuge and meeting place, where you can get information, support and connect with agencies”. Lynn emphasises that in a large-scale emergency, power may be out for some time, and usual forms of communication (phones, radio…) may not be working. She says every household should have a grab bag, battery-operated transistor radio, and some ready cash to purchase essentials if the atm system is down.
The value of Devonport’s newly minted plan is yet to be put to the test. However, even in the absence of a formal plan, community response makes all the difference, as Bronwyn Bound, Sunnynook Community Centre manager, can attest. She attended one of the ANCAD workshops about resilience and came away “quite appalled that every community was expected to fend for themselves for five days after a major disaster,” she reported later. “I didn’t for a second believe this would be the case. I was amazed that there was no funding and that each community had to design its own resilience plan. I made the bold statement that because the Community Centre sits on a flood plain there was no way I would ever be able to assist the community. How wrong I was!”
When Auckland was hit by torrential rain on the Friday of Auckland’s anniversary weekend in 2023, Bronywn started receiving ‘SOS’ messages. “I believed that the Community Centre had been completely flooded as I had been sent photos of the flooding around the centre from concerned residents.” She became concerned about elderly and homeless people in the area.
As the water drained away, she was relieved to find that the Community Centre itself was not flooded, but that other parts of the area had been badly damaged. Next morning she met with DTLB member Melissa Powell and members of the Sunnynook Community Association to discuss what to do. Brownyn remained at the Community Centre (‘HQ’) to act as a contact for anyone seeking help, while others went out to check on every household in the worst hit areas. These volunteers noted whether houses were empty, had residents who were okay, or had residents who needed assistance, and sent information back to HQ.
As Lynn Dawson says, community pulls together in a crisis. Bronwyn put out call for volunteers on the Sunnynook community Facebook page. “We were surprised by the number of local residents who turned up to help. We also asked for donations…. The response was incredible. The local Baptist Church turned up to feed the volunteers, Countdown donated bread rolls etc and Mayfield Sportshouse in Wairau Road donated pizzas…. Flood victims turned up to have something to eat and have a break from trying to clean up their houses.”
Over the next three days, volunteers continued to assist and assess the needs of those whose homes were flooded. Without a plan, much of the support was given almost by instinct – and a good dose of common sense. The team learned “on the job”, put together food parcels, distributed donated items, and discovered where and how to dispose of contaminated furniture and goods. Finding out that every flood-damaged house needed to be logged with Auckland Emergency Management for assessment, and with a by-now comprehensive record of which houses were affected, this was done by a DTLB member and a volunteer.
Welfare checks continued for the next couple of weeks; the teams found a great way to check in on families was “to offer them a meal and have a chat to make sure they were doing okay”.
Sunnynook’s experience demonstrates the power (and necessity) of community in an emergency. It also demonstrates that the aftermath can be long. “A year after the flooding,” reported Bronwyn in a presentation to the Auckland Together Fund, “we are still getting people on a weekly basis asking for assistance with a whole range of issues.... We have a very vulnerable community and are doing our best to continue to support their needs (which are changing week to week).”
With a grant from the Auckland Together Fund, in the year after the floods the community centre continued to offer support to anyone in the community impacted by the flooding or feeling anxious about the weather. Community dinners, delivery of food parcels and a community Christmas event all helped. Local retirement village residents still come to the community centre to continue activities while the flood-damaged village community area is rebuilt. And Bronwyn and her team continue to drop off care packages to local residents “when we know they are feeling low and need reassurance that things will get better”.
As a result of her community’s experience, Brownyn says, “We have discovered how important it is for each suburb to be prepared and have a close relationship with neighbouring suburbs so we can get assistance or we can help assist other communities on the North Shore."
Sunnynook is now developing its own emergency plan, following guidelines in the DTLB ‘Response and Readiness’ plan, due to be adopted this month. “We have a team of community leaders keen to make sure we are prepared for the next major event,” says Bronwyn. “Our group is in regular contact and whenever we have a concerning weather forecast we make a plan of action ‘just in case’.”
In any future event, she says, “We will set up a community hub at the Sunnynook Community Centre but this time we will be better supported by AEM. We have a folder ready on how to set up a community hub and have a list of equipment available in our local community. Our community leaders have 24/7 access to the Community Centre.”
But as all communities must, in an emergency, they will be relying on locals to assist as they did in 2023, on relationships with other communities and organisations, and on residents and businesses who have made sure they are ready – for whatever may happen.
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Find more info at dpt.nz or aucklandemergencymanagement.org.nz/community-ready or pick up a copy of the flyer or Devonport Emergency Readiness Plan at Devonport Library or other community venues.
