Selwyn Times: February 21, 2017

8
Tuesday February 21 2017
Your Local Views
Are you prepared for a disaster?
Deputy mayor
Malcolm
Lyall writes
about disaster
preparedness
in light of the
Port Hills fires
Are you ready?
As I write this we are approaching
the anniversary of the
2011 quake, while 15 aircraft and
150 firefighters are working to
extinguish the Port Hills fire.
I am asking you ‘are you prepared
if disaster strikes? Do you
have an emergency kit? Is it up
to date? And are you registered
with Selwyn Gets Ready?’
The district council uses a
community response model
across the district to meet the
civil defence needs of our
communities. It’s about understanding
our hazards and being
organised and ready to look after
each other in an emergency.
The model is based on
neighbourhood support groups.
Street/road co-ordinators are
responsible for checking on their
neighbourhood and reporting
back to a locally based community
response team. This team’s
role is to co-ordinate the local
response and communicate directly
with the district council’s
emergency operations centre.
The district council also feeds
information back to the community
in the same way.
That is where Selwyn Gets
Ready comes in. I would like
every household in Selwyn to
join our emergency management/neighbourhood
support
website selwyn.getsready.net
This is a website where you
can securely record your contact
details and any special needs,
resources and skills that your
household has, so your neighbourhood
is better able to take
care of itself in an emergency.
By joining Selwyn Gets Ready
you can receive emergency
messages that affect your family
like boil water notices, warning
about uncontrolled fires nearby
BLAZE: Uncontrolled flames
on the Port Hills during last
week’s fire.
PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER
and police messages about local
active burglars, from the district
council’s emergency management
team.
With this latest emergency,
many residents from Selwyn and
neighbouring Christchurch have
joined to be able to get updates
and welfare information. By
joining we are strengthening our
communities resilience, we all
benefit.
The past few days have seen
a huge effort from our civil defence
and rural fire teams. Our
local communities have helped
feed and refresh the men and
women fighting the fires and
many staff and volunteers have
kept the back room operations
running.
Thank you all, you are what
makes Selwyn sensational.
Andrew McGee, of Darfield,
responds to news the
district council will seek
Darfield and Kirwee
residents’ views on whether
a reticulated sewer network
should be installed in the
area
Looking back
SELWYN TIMES
I am not interested at all in
a reticulated sewer scheme as
a ratepayer and resident of the
town of Darfield.
I would like to voice my
opposition to this.
At that price, $23,700 per
household, count me out.
WORKING THE FIELDS: Harvest time at Rockwood,
Hororata, 1913. The property was owned by Samuel and
Emma Roseveare from 1905 until the 1940s. •Heritage photo
supplied by Selwyn Libraries. If you have any information
about this photo, please get in touch with the library via
www.selwynlibrary.co.nz
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