Community, emergency, readiness, response, recovery and adaption

In August 2021, Kumeū Huapai was impacted by an unprecedented weather event.

Flooding displaced families and raised community awareness and desire to grow and develop local disaster resilience.

The Rodney Local Board provided support and funding to bring in an independent facilitator to support community discussion and planning.

An initial meeting of representatives from first responder organisations and community groups reflected on challenges in co-ordinating community response in extreme weather events.

The group discussed opportunities in developing greater hazard awareness and community preparedness to support resilience. Other opportunities discussed included seeking a better understanding of first responder roles and responsibilities, developing a single source of good reliable information and enhancing communication and coordination in the recovery phase.

A small convening group was established to guide the process of developing a Kumeū Huapai Emergency Action Plan and convene input from the wider network.

The network, which is currently meeting around every four weeks, has representation from first responder agencies such as Fire Brigade and Police, as well as community groups including the Small Landowners Association, Kumeū Community Action, Northwest Foodbank and Rodney Neighbourhood Support.

The convening group is looking to develop the key components of a draft plan by the end of 2022. A part of this process has been to develop a ‘Community Memory Board’, capturing people’s memory of past events and the impacts these have had locally.

The draft plan will incorporate initial frameworks for how community groups and organisation’s plan to work together. It will also present actions identified by the network which will be required to further enhance community emergency readiness, response, recovery and adaptation.

For Further information on this Article or for help for your local community contact:

Margaret Faed, Rodne Neighbourhood Support on 021 258 3737 or rns.coordinator@gmail.com.