Response and Recovery Organisations

Number of replies: 6

Consider the following questions and share your response with your peers: 

  1. What do you know now about response and recovery organisations that you hadn't considered before?
  2. What area of emergency management is relevant to you (or of interest to you)?
  3. What are the organisations that would be coordinated at a regional or state level in an emergency in that area?

In reply to First post

Re: Response and Recovery Organisations

by Alison Russell -
After reading the Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group Plan 2016-2021, I have a much better understand of the the response and recovery organisations required for Auckland after an emergency. As there are 200 different ethnicities within Auckland, it could be challenging ensuring that all communities are provided for in a manner that is understandable and acceptable for each area. 80% of Aucklanders relate not to their geographic location, but to their community of interest, and therefore this helps with ensuring communities receive the right response at the right time, with timely recovery due to the needs faced within their community.
I had not put much thought into hazard-specific recovery - remedial works, relocation or demolition due to compromised structural integrity; rehabilitation of land following volcanic activity; reseeding after fires, but these are all important considerations when considering the recovery process.
Resilience within a community group is of particular interest to me, as there are sometimes many communities within a wider community. and so ensuring that each community is provided for could be quite challenging. Also the level of community engagement differs between ethnic groups - some with strong faith rely on the church, some with strong family ties rely on those. There are others within community groups who have no-one, therefore wrap-around community support is most important for this group.
Auckland would need a coordinated response from local government, emergency services, lifeline utilities and welfare agencies. Critical infrastructure would be energy supply, sewage systems, water reticulation and telecommunication systems. Social infrastructure would include community and health networks, civil defence and emergency services.
In reply to First post

Re: Response and Recovery Organisations

by Michelle Gillman -
What do you know now about response and recovery organisations that you hadn't considered before?

I have learnt that there are far more response and recovery agencies that I had anticipated. Additionally, the idea that new groups and organisations arise to meet the challenges of the response and recovery is remarkable.
Hence, we can plan for response and recovery but in doing so we need to be flexible and inclusive in our approach, every potential hazard can be prepared for but inevitably the reality is typically more complex as no one can accurately predict the exact consequences of a disaster or severe event.

The area of emergency management that is of interest to me is the interaction between the 3 major emergency services; Police, FENZ, and Ambulance.
It is important that all these agencies work well together by not repeating actions separately but acting in a coordinated manner to be as efficient as possible.

The organisations that would be coordinated in my region could include:
District Council - civil defence
Ministry of Social Development
NZ Police
Oranga Tamariki
Fire & Emergency
NZ Department of Conservation
St John Ambulance
GasNet
District Health Board
The Iwi
Defense
Public Health
Red Cross
Infrastructure Groups
Chorus
Powerco
Downers
EnviroHaz
Nearby district and Regional Authorities
Nearby district Health Boards
Work & Income
Citizens Advice Bureau
Housing NZ
Salvation Army
Victim Support
Te Puni Kokiri
Neighbourhood Support Group
Oranga Tamariki
But I am sure that there will be many more groups and agencies that will be able to help if needed...
In reply to First post

Re: Response and Recovery Organisations

by Gary Fleming -
I have realized that there many other agencies and organization that would step up an emergency to provide support rather than just the high profile ones like Red Cross, Salvation army along with the emergency services etc. These other agencies and organizations can have very limited focus groups to support but help to make up the total support network during an event.
The area of emergency management that is of interest to me is how the emergency services can work together in a coordinated, and how I can help build our team of volunteers to better support the front line and associated services during an emergency. I am also interested in making sure our volunteers have their families well supported during an emergency to allow them to leave them and join the efforts to help others.
The organizations that would be co-ordinated at a regional or state level in my area include the emergency services, utility providers, charity organizations such as Salvation army, government departments such as Housing, along with the major energy industries and port Taranaki. These companies have major hazardous infrastructure that could also impact and be impacted during major emergencies
In reply to First post

Re: Response and Recovery Organisations

by Jade Badcock -
I think I've come to the conclusion that many of the central government agencies take a silo'd approach to emergency management. There's a bit too much reliance on the team directly employed by the agency. A bit too much command and control and a bit too much inflexible thinking.

The business planning processes do not encourage small teams and business units to consider resilience (ie planning) ahead of an event as part of the annual planning process. The focus is often on business as usual or delivering Ministers directives.

Those within each organisation that are within the 'know', whilst able to work across and within the CIMS framework, are still constrained by political decisions and Chief Executive sign-off.

That said, Michelle's comprehensive list of organisations shows just how complex managing any type of emergency is - with at least 28 separate entities identified. As Alison has noted, you then overlay that with the different ethnicities and communities within the geographical or national area and we see why being prepared remains a crucial element for individuals, neighbours, localities, communities, local authority areas, regional authority areas and nationally.

I also think we tend to under estimate the recovery time comparative to the incident/disaster.

Looking at Canterbury after the earthquakes of 2010 - 2011, many home owners got frustrated at the length of time it too EQC to repair their homes - not necessarily truly understanding the issue of labour, building supplies etc where demand clearly outstripped supply. This would have been the same after the Hawke's Bay earthquakes in the 1930s and the creation of evacuation camps in Palmerstone North.

As an English migrant to Aotearoa, it then becomes apparent that the post-war recovery period was decades rather than years. I've only just recently understood the magnitude and implications of demobilisation. ie Many servicemen and women did not get back home until 1948. This is especially true for those people who had survived the Japanese death camps, who were medically unfit to travel, and who's physical recovery time was as much as 18 months.

So, I guess the area of emergency management of interest to me is really about support for the affected people, and truly effective communication.

The Human Rights Commission reports that reviewed the Canterbury response identified that communication to those affected had not been effective. The Chief Ombudsman and Privacy Commissioner found similar failings.

Unfortunately, I have to report that some of my experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, has again found communication to be less than effective.

What I've also learnt so far on this course is that continuing to identify building more land transport corridors linking regions isn't the magic bullet - and over the next 10 years or so, more focus needs to be on coastal shipping including such mid 20 century developments like hydro craft, so that relief can be delivered to affected communities. So Gary's points are also important.

I also think that we continue to underestimate the vital role that our voluntary and not-for-profit organisations add to all aspects of emergency management - especially Marae and Iwi for Māori and faith based organisations for our Pacific communities. I also remained concerned that those in community living under the Mental Health Act framework and all our disabled communities continue to be let down by the government agencies that are supposed to be supporting them.
In reply to First post

Re: Response and Recovery Organisations

by Bruce Vincent -
1. What do you know now about response and recovery organisations that you hadn't considered before?
I have learnt that there are far greater powers of a national controller than that I had anticipated. The national controllers’ power to require things to occur before and during an emergency are more than I was aware of. Additionally, the idea that new groups and organisations arise to meet the challenges of the response and recovery is a good one.
Hence, we can plan for response and recovery but in doing so we need to be flexible and inclusive in our approach, every potential hazard can be prepared for but inevitably the reality is typically more complex as no one can accurately predict the exact consequences of a disaster or severe event. Prior preparation and practice exercises to see how agencies work and interact become vastly more valuable
2. What area of emergency management is relevant to you (or of interest to you)?

The area of emergency management that is of interest to me is the interaction between the 3 major emergency services; Police, FENZ, and Ambulance. There is often a conflict between these organisations when major events occur and another factor is that ambulance services do not have any legislation too back them up so they are often dictated to by the fire service.
It is important that all these agencies work well together by not repeating actions separately.
3. What are the organisations that would be coordinated at a regional or state level in an emergency in that area?

The organisations that could be coordinated or involved in my region could include:
Christchurch City Council - civil defence
Ministry of Social Development
NZ Police
Oranga Tamariki
Fire & Emergency New Zealand(FENZ)
NZ Department of Conservation
St John Ambulance
Canterbury District Health Board
Defence Forces (Burnham Military base is close to Christchurch)
Public Health Office
Red Cross
Infrastructure Groups
Environment Canterbury
Nearby district and Regional Authorities
Nearby district Health Boards
Work & Income
Citizens Advice Bureau
Housing NZ
Salvation Army
Victim Support
Neighbourhood Support Group
Citizens Advice Bureau
Volunteer Rescue Teams
Student Volunteer Army
In reply to First post

Re: Response and Recovery Organisations

by Dellwyn Moylan -
What do you know now about response and recovery organisations that you hadn't considered before? I have a better understand of how everything fits together, how vital it is that everyone works together, understands each others roles and what they bring to the collective response and how important everyone is on the same page. From the little knowledge I have I think people (the community in particular) might think about response and put resources and people together for that but may be there is less thought on the recovery process from the community . There is a lot we individually, communitywide and regionally we can do to prepare for a emergency and then how we respond and recover afterwards. How vital collaboration between many organisations, entities etc is. That effective readiness and preparation prior to the emergency is so important, I knew it was but this module as reinforced this

What area of emergency management is relevant to you (or of interest to you)? As a Civil Defence Welfare Volunteer I am interested in the bigger picture to understand how we fit in, what we need to do to support the bigger picture and to understand why things do always happen how we think they should because we haven't understood the how all the pieces fit together.

What are the organisations that would be coordinated at a regional or state level in an emergency in that area?
Ashburton District Council - Civil Defence

Ministry of Social Development
NZ Police
Oranga Tamariki
Fire & Emergency New Zealand(FENZ) -
NZ Department of Conservation
St John Ambulance - MIST
Canterbury District Health Board
Defence Forces (Burnham Military base is close by)
Volunteer Centre
Public Health Office
Federated Farmers
Red Cross esp DWST
Infrastructure Groups eg telecommunications, power, water
Environment Canterbury
Nearby district and Regional Authorities
Nearby district Health Boards
Citizens Advice Bureau
Housing NZ
Salvation Army
Victim Support
Neighbourhood Support Group
Marae
Age Concern
CCS Disability Action
Newcomers Network
Hakatere Multicultural Council
Rural Support Trust
Community Connectors
Health Navigators
Alcohol and Drug Service
MBIE
MPI