Waikato offers flood expertise to southern colleagues

Waikato civil defence managers have offered flood protection expertise to quake-stricken Canterbury.

The region has offered its expertise in river systems and engineering support to assess Canterbury stopbanks potentially damaged by the earthquake and will respond to any requests for assistance.

Canterbury Civil Defence is concerned stopbanks weakened by the quake may not be able to withstand rising waters.

It said Waimakariri River could burst its stopbanks today if it continued to rise at the expected rate.

Waikato Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group spokesman Stephen Ward today said the offers had not yet been taken up but "we're on alert in case there's any response or request for help".

This region's welfare agencies were contacted on Saturday and put on standby to help if it was needed.

Mr Ward said residents should plan for disasters.

"Our region is prone to a number of natural disasters – flooding, tsunami, coastal flooding, active volcanoes – there's no way the Waikato can ever be complacent."People really do need to be prepared. There's good information available and we would strongly recommend that people get hold of the information that's out there and act on it," Mr Ward said.

A survey released last year found almost 90 per cent of households with dependent children had not made basic preparations – storing enough food and water for three days and making a household emergency plan.

The group administering civil defence in the region was earlier this year criticised for being poorly funded and also for lacking leadership and co-ordination.

The criticism was made in a damning report by the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Ministry.

The ministry report criticised the group, which manages the largest civil defence area in New Zealand, for its capacity to manage long-term events such as a flood or tsunami, and urged better educational programmes.

But Mr Ward said he was "100 per cent" confident the region would respond well to a major emergency.

- © Fairfax NZ News