How prepared are you?

Five minutes may be all the warning you get

When water from the Waihopai River started pouring into Grasmere just after lunch one Friday in 1984, families had little warning of the approaching torrent.

Trapped by the stopbank to the south and the railway embankment to the west, the water had no natural outflow and inevitably it began to fill up the low-lying streets between Nevis Cres, Bay Rd and Galway St, North Rd and Cunningham Cres.

It happened so fast that many families had no time to load up their belongings and escape by car. Even those who were at home did not lift their furniture high enough to avoid the floodwater.

Some were rescued in boats, others plucked from the rooftops by helicopter. Everything they abandoned was soon floating in water that rapidly became contaminated with sewage. Residents returned days later to heartbreak.

Neil Cruickshank, the co-ordinator of the Southland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, says those who deliberately plan for disasters have a much better chance of surviving with their families intact and their property losses minimised.

"It's not being pessimistic to plan for the worst it's a very practical and sensible thing to do."

As an exercise, think about what you would grab if you had five minutes to evacuate your home. What possessions could you lift above flood level upstairs, in high cupboards or in your rafters? Do you even know whether your house is in a floodplain? Are you adequately insured? Do your children know what to do if they are away from home when a flood, earthquake or other emergency occurs?

Mr Cruickshank says the essence of civil defence is people taking steps to look after themselves and their families, then reaching out to neighbours and the wider community.

Resilient communities will always survive disasters in better shape than those who are totally unprepared and expect someone else to come and rescue them.

"Civil defence is based on the concept of preparedness, on the work of trained volunteers using the resources we already have in the community," he says. There is no "Civil Defence Army" waiting in cold storage to march out when disaster strikes.

In any emergency, priority will always be given to the most vulnerable people. Most others will have to fend for themselves for several days, although Civil Defence will provide as much help as possible through its welfare centres.

Because Southland has had a long period with no major natural disaster, many people have become complacent or simply forgotten they live in an earthquake-prone floodplain. There is also a trend for people to expect the Government, local councils or just "someone else" to fix things when they go wrong.

"The reality is that Civil Defence won't be paying for families to stay in a motel while their home is restored, and those who don't have insurance will be relying on charitable donations or emergency welfare to replace the possessions they have lost," Mr Cruickshank says.

"What we will do is provide emergency shelters for those who need them; do our best to rescue those who are trapped or in distress; and put people in touch with welfare agencies. The rest is up to the individual."

Experience shows that communities do rally round in times of disaster, people often rise to the occasion and New Zealanders are very generous with donations to relief funds.

But no-one comes out of an earthquake or flood materially better off than they were before.

The lessons of the 1984 floods are that disaster can strike at any time, and those who are prepared will be best placed to struggle through when it does.

PREPARE
Advice about preparing for emergencies is printed in the inside back page of the phone book and is published on the Southland Civil Defence website  and the ministry's site: www.getthru.govt.nz

BE INVOLVED
Civil Defence also needs volunteers to train for emergency response. Contact the Civil Defence officer at your local council for more information.

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