July 2024
Neighbourhood Support Waitaki
Tuesday, 9 July 2024 - 15 minutes
Audio file
Neighbourhood Support Christine 08`07`24_.mp3
Transcript
Dan
Real 104 FM catching up with Christine Dorsey from neighbourhood support. Good morning. How are you?
Christine
Good morning, Dan. I'm good. How are?
Dan
You. I'm good now. We're going to talk about making a plan and personal preparedness. What are we making? A plan for? Going out, partying or something? A bit more serious?
Christine
Yes, something a bit more serious. Unfortunately, we're going to talk about personal preparedness for an emergency.
Dan
I thought it might have been the case.
Christine
And so there are five steps to prepare and but we're not going to about five of them today because it's actually more complicated than I ever thought. So the, the five steps are #1. You've got to know your potential hazards #2 you create a household plan and make sure everyone and your family.
Dan
OK.
Christine
Understands it #3 you locate the emergency supplies in your home. Number 4, you get connected with your neighbours, which of course, is what neighbourhood support is all about. Yeah. And #5 is having your grab bags ready for everyone and the. Emily. But we're only going to talk about number one, I think, which is know your potential hazards. OK, something happens.
Dan
Yeah. So what sort of thing are we talking about there? Are we talking about location? Are we talking about like, I mean, if you're right by the sea and the the event of a tsunami is that. The kind of hazard that we're talking about or.
Christine
Yep, absolutely. So if you asked anyone, you know what kind of hazards should we be worried about? So we should be worried about earthquakes, floods, landslides, storms. Mummies. Volcanic activity, wildfires, to name a few. But we are lucky that we're really lucky with where we're based here, because a lot of those aren't actually too much of A concern for us. Probably the main ones that we should be concerned about are floods and storms here.
Speaker
Yeah.
Christine
But it is it. Yeah, it is interesting though. So to to learn about your potential hazards, you can actually go on to the Otago. Council's website and look up your hazards on the hazard portal so it's quite interesting because you can put your address in and actually see what hazards might be applicable to your actual.
Dan
Home. And do they? I mean, I'm assuming that they would vary depending on where in the district district you are, but I mean are they, are they very similar for all of Oamaru? For example, or is there a bit? Of a difference.
Christine
Well, as I say, that's where we're really lucky, because actually for most of omaru, well, my. My home didn't have any hazards, so that was like yay, that was really good.
Dan
Yeah, but you're in a new build house on the hill, so you're fine. And then land a bit.
Christine
I am, yes. But then I looked up like out the North End, there's quite a big area that is susceptible to flooding, right? And then I was concerned about where my mother. Lived, which is close to Waitaki Girls, and I looked at that in terms of tsunami. Risk and it's all. It's all very interesting actually. So if we talk specifically about, well flooding is something that people need to have a look and just actually make sure whether that it could be of concern to them. And I think we we need to take personal responsibility for all of these things because I've been working really closely. With Emergency Management, which is the new name for civil defence, did you know that?
Dan
I did. I did. Danny Fontaine is the new man there, too.
Christine
Well, that's very good. He is indeed.
Speaker
Hmm.
Christine
So it's really good people need to be aware of that, but still sometimes calling it like sedom, which is civil defence Emergency Management, but Emergency Management is the new name, but probably it's going to be hard to shake the old civil defence name.
Dan
But it's interesting because civil defence doesn't really sort of say, I mean, what is it? I mean that you sort of think of maybe wartime kind of thing whereas Emergency Management, it does what it says on the turn, it's about managing emergencies and being that coordination base which is what they do. It doesn't matter whether it's flooding or or earthquakes. Or even pandemics and things like that. They they step up and do the work there.
Christine
That's right. It's much more sensible name as it we need to try and use it. Yes, yes. So I was talking. I've been working with the team from from the and, you know, just chatting with them about flooding. For instance, there have been instances where people have been sitting in their house and the water is actually right up lapping at their ankles and they're like.
Dan
It is. Is. Emergency Management.
Christine
Well. Hopefully someone will tell me to meet soon, yes.
Dan
Your initiative, if your slippers are wet, get.
Christine
Out. That's right. So this really is about personal preparedness. It is incredible. Don't wait for someone else to tell.
Dan
That's incredible.
Christine
You.
Dan
No, no.
Christine
Use. Use your own common sense and if you can see the watering water coming up. And I think especially for older people too like. You think older people, when the water's sort of, you know, lapping at the gutter and coming onto the footpath, that's time to actually call one of your family members and say, hey, can you come and pick me up? I'll come to your house for the day, just in case it keeps rising.
Dan
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right. Because I mean, as we've seen with Cyclone Gabrielle and you know a lot of the, the, the, the conditions that have gone on, I mean. We're in unsettled territory as far as the weather is concerned. Different weather patterns, storms are becoming more prevalent, flooding and and that kind of thing, what might have been one in 100 years seems to be one in five year, one in 10 year kind of event. So it is, it is important to be mindful. Of that, isn't it?
Christine
Ah, it totally is. And I was even fascinated when you talk about, like national states of emergency. I didn't realise. They've only ever been 3 declared. Yet and yes, you can probably guess what some of them are. So Gabrielle was one. Yeah. And and that was extreme. And the other one was Christchurch earthquakes and the other one was a pandemic. So they have all happened. Yeah, absolutely. And that's and, you know, only one of them was really about.
Speaker
Really.
Dan
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Within the last five years. Wow.
Christine
Storms and flooding. So yeah, there are going to be more. So it's it's good to be prepared, but.
Dan
Yeah. So, so that information, as you say, is readily available on the Otago Regional Council website.
Christine
For the hazards portal it as you just pop in there and it has a.
Dan
Right.
Christine
We video on how to use the the database there and you just pop in your address and it comes up and shows you that so so that's really good and if we move on to thinking about earthquakes, so that's one of our other ones that I think we're always very worried about because of Christchurch. And I was just doing a little bit of research. And how susceptible we would be to an earthquake, but once again, well, we do live in a good part of the country. Actually there there hasn't been an earthquake in white tucky for a long time. When you look, they're all around us. So we feel them, yes.
Dan
We feel them, but but there's there's nothing we're we're we're not on that fault line as such.
Christine
Here as such. No, we're not. And I went back about 78 years. It was right looking and and they're just, you know, there was a big one down in Southland and then there was the one in Methven and there was all those ones that we do feel, as you say. Hmm. But so that that's really good and and in fact I was really surprised. So I didn't actually know that much about the Richter scale. And I was having a wee look. Do you know that, you know, it ranges from 1:00 to 10:00 and the biggest earthquake ever was the Chilean earthquake in 1960. And it measured 9.5. Rector scale. Yeah.
Dan
Wow, that must have been huge. Wow.
Christine
That's the thing. Whereas you know when looking in New Zealand, I was looking for the biggest one and there was an 8.2 in Wellington in 1855. And of course we we do know Wellingtons. That's on that fault line.
Speaker
Hmm.
Dan
Yeah.
Christine
But the Christchurch one was only 6.3.
Dan
Yeah, it's just the depth that that caused it. Napier did. Did you have a stat on Napier?
Christine
Ah, no, I didn't have a stat on Napier. It was a big one as well, actually.
Dan
But again, building materials, and I think we as we go forward, we we're more aware with regards to how we build. I mean Christchurch showed a lot of that kind of thing that the design and the the precautions that need to be taken. But I mean that was an exceptional earthquake.
Christine
Yeah.
Dan
But there is also the Alpine fault which they're predicting. It's not. If it'll go, it's when it'll go. And that's the other thing about being prepared. It doesn't even have to be right here for an earthquake like that to happen. It's potentially going to isolate us getting getting if it's impacts on the roads. Power all those kinds of things. We've just got to be a bit mindful. Love.
Christine
Yeah, absolutely. I mean the the talking, you know, what is it? A 75% chance that it'll go in the next 50 years. So we do, we do need to be aware of that. And if you look at the seismic risk zones, you know they're much higher up and how how like it's a high risk because that.
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm.
Christine
That will be because of that. And then Omarama, Ngapara, Macraes Flat are like a medium risk and coastal towns are low risk, but. You have hit the nail on the head there. It's. It's how we're going to be isolated and cut off. So people do need to definitely prepare for that. Yeah. So. Yeah. So that's earthquakes. And I don't think there's too much else really that is of concern.
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm.
Christine
Immediately to our area in Waitaki, which is great, but I really encourage people to go on to Getready.govt.nz. And it is a website that has a wealth of information about a variety of things, and it's also really good because you can listen to a lot of the information. You don't have to read it for. For people that have trouble seeing. And it's really, really good. So I would encourage people to go on that.
Dan
All right.
Christine
And that's not to be confused. Gets ready, which is. I know put in, get ready or gets ready. You'll get some good information either way, but gets ready as a database that was created after the Christchurch earthquakes. And so that's throughout New Zealand and they created that because they were concerned about having enough information about the number of people.
Dan
Right.
Christine
Living in each house and who they might be looking for. So every time someone joins up with neighbourhood support, their details also gets put into gets ready.
Dan
Oh, that's good.
Christine
And so you were talking about Danny Fontaine before, so if there was, say, say, some flooding and. You know, typical example of this is when it floated down at Maheno and we hope that won't happen now that the roads been.
Dan
Yeah.
Christine
Left.
Dan
Hopefully not. But but I mean, I went to school at Maheno and I I remember back in the 70s, as you were coming from Kakanui through to Maheno, you just go down the dip there before you get into the Township. And that was underwater. I mean, the Kakanui does rise. It does happen so.
Christine
Hopefully not. It does.
Dan
But it does isolate people.
Christine
It does. And so previously when there has been flooding down there. People who are signed up to gets ready, which you can do yourself. Anyone can go into, gets ready and put their information in. It's just I make it easier and ensure everyone gets signed up through neighbourhood support, but anyone can put their information in. It just means if something like that was happening, you'll probably get an earlier e-mail.
Speaker
Sure.
Dan
Right.
Christine
And just to say, hey, don't travel down that way. This is happening. So it's just about keeping people informed. I mean, obviously there will always be information. On the radio.
Dan
Hmm.
Christine
Particularly, and I see the national radio is the main one linked to emergency manager.
Speaker
Hmm.
Christine
But obviously yourself would be giving out lots of information.
Dan
Absolutely. For a local side of things, yeah, we we get that information coming through from from Emergency Management and you know that's the thing. Of course, if it's in the middle of the night generally, I must admit first thing I do is tune into national radio for that because they get the latest on the national side of things. So yeah. No, that's really cool.
Christine
OK. There's lots to talk about. The other. The second thing probably that we can quickly cover is the 4th one, which is get connected with your neighbours. So because we know if any of these things happen, your neighbours are right beside you. They're going to be there much faster than any emergency service. And if you can kind of link up in a group within your neighbourhood, it's really great. Like I know in our street we've got some people have got solar panels and they're like, Oh well, if anyone needs to. Charge their phones. When we have a disaster or something, you come to my place. You know, if it really got to the point that you did need to rely on each other a lot, you know, someone else might have a massive freezer that's full of food that's going to go off quickly. And so it's like, well, we might as well eat their food and share that out and and come together that way. So I cannot push enough how important it is to know.
Dan
Yeah.
Christine
Your neighbours chat to them and just have that understanding that you will actually help out each other and know of the people in your street who live by themselves, who are perhaps. Really. Who? You will go and check on if something happens? I mean, even that recent power cut we had here actually showed up that a few people were scrambling around to find their torches and things like that. And I like to think that if you did have an elderly person in the street, it would be really nice to give them a call.
Dan
Hmm.
Christine
Can actually say, hey, are you all right? The Power's been out for a while.
Speaker
Hmm.
Christine
So just look out for one another, but we'll talk about everything else another time, but it's covering a few of the hazards anyway.
Dan
Very good. It certainly is. Thanks Christine. And of course, if anybody wants to get touch, they can do it via the Facebook page, which is Waitaki neighbourhood support, I guess they can give you a call, they can send you an e-mail waitaki@nsotago.nz or find the details through neighbourhoodsupport.co.nz
Christine
They totally can. Thanks so much, Dan.
