Web tool to help in a crisis

The Health Ministry has bought a Web-based emergency management system to coordinate the response of district health boards and public health organisations in an emergency.

Agencies can log in to WebEOC, supplied by Wellington firm Critchlow Associates, to view situation reports, track emergency services, check resources such as hospital staff and beds, and log and respond to requests for assistance.

Maps, graphics and media updates can be fed into the system and users see only the information relevant to them.

Critchlow emergency management solutions executive director Steve Critchlow says WebEOC mimics the whiteboards traditionally used to coordinate emergency responses. "People who have never seen it before, and who may not have any prior training on computer systems, are up and running in as little as 15 minutes."

The system includes default "boards" or plans for managing various scenarios.

Ministry emergency planning national coordinator Steve Brazier says the cost of the system is commercially sensitive but its purchase and implementation - including hardware costs - are within the ministry's budget of $600,000 to $700,000.

The ministry trialled the system during last May's three-day Exercise Cruickshank which tested the government response to an influenza pandemic, and again during volcanic eruption scenario Exercise Ruaumoko last month.

Mr Brazier says the system was used to log information during the honey poisoning outbreak last month, when at least 17 people became violently ill after eating toxic honey bought in the Coromandel Peninsula.

Internal Affairs is running a tender for a Civil Defence Ministry crisis management information system, that would coordinate the national response to an emergency, including the actions of government agencies.

WebEOC, which is also used by Auckland City Council, can exchange information with any emergency management system that meets international standards, Mr Brazier says.

"It is likely that in due course, the Health and Civil Defence systems will be linked."