Southern View: March 19, 2019

8
Tuesday March 19 2019
News
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
SOUTHERN VIEW
Local
News
Now
Fire rages, homes at risk
Preparing for future emergencies
The Save Our Suburbs
Expo brought residents
in the east together with
emergency services
and community groups
for discussions on
how they could work
together to keep the
community safe. Matt
Slaughter reports on the
key advice given
EMERGENCY services and
community groups in the east
say residents need to work
together to keep safe.
This was
the message
that came out
of the Save
Our Suburbs
Community
Safety Expo on
March 9 held
Darlene
Herd
at the former
central New
Brighton School
site.
Emergency services, Civil Defence,
neighbourhood support,
mental health professionals,
insurance, security, technology
experts, city council and Age
Concern representatives all came
together.
About 120 people, mostly from
the eastern suburbs, attended the
event which was organised by
North New Brighton residents
Darlene and Jeremy Herd and
South New Brighton resident
Soozie Bragg.
Houses and roading in the east
suffered major damage in the
2010 and 2011 earthquakes and
residents clogged roads when a
tsunami warning forced them to
evacuate after the 2016 Kaikoura
earthquake.
Mrs Herd said her home had
been burgled on Boxing Day,
which had inspired her to do
something to make the east safer.
She said the collective message
delivered by all of the organisations
was the importance of residents
knowing their neighbours
and the tools available to keep
themselves and others safe from
crime and natural threats out of
their control.
“After you get burgled or have
a tragedy, it forces you to think
about these things,” she said.
“The core message was to take
some personal responsibility for
your own safety and see what
you can do as a person and also
a member of the community to
make some changes.”
Constable Nathan Wilson said
the first piece of advice was how
people could protect themselves
against crime before it occurred.
“We were targeting on burglaries
and ensuring everything’s all
locked and secure all of the time.
It’s even getting to the point
where during the day if you’re
going out to the back of your
property to do some gardening,
make sure that your front door is
all locked. With alarms, if you’ve
got them, make sure they’re
being used. A big one is getting
to know your neighbours . . . If
you’re going away, touch base
with your neighbours and let
them know.”
Constable Wilson said the
best ways to help police when
crime did occur was the next big
topic of conversation. If people
felt they were not in immediate
danger, it was still important to
report any suspicious behaviour,
he said.
“When people don’t report
things, we don’t know about it
and we can’t get out there to try
and prevent it from happening.”
City council head
of Civil Defence and
emergency management
Rob Orchard said
information was given on
how people could prepare
themselves for disasters,
particularly tsunamis,
which had posed a risk to
the beach suburbs in the east in
the past.
“On display were the current
tsunami evacuation zones . . .
and where they could find the
tsunami evacuation zones.”
Bruce Irvine
“Emergencies can be anything
from not being able to get home,
to the impacts of natural hazards
like earthquakes, storms, or
tsunamis. It’s really important
that we get prepared for such
disruptions.”
Fire and Emergency New
Zealand senior fire
risk manager Bruce
Irvine said fire posed an
extreme risk along the
beach front.
“Our topic of discussion
was related to
occupied properties and
having an escape plan
with an identified meeting
place for when your smoke
alarm activates.”
Ensuring the safety of the high
number of vacant and insecure
houses in the east was also emphasised,
Mr Irvine said.
“A request has gone out to
SAFE: The importance
of residents in the
east knowing their
neighbours, reporting
crime and preparing
themselves for natural
disasters, like the
evacuations after the
Kaikoura earthquake
in 2016, was the
key advice given by
emergency services
and community groups
during the Save Our
Suburbs Expo.
property owners to secure their
asset with improved fencing,
other security measures
including boarding of broken
windows, along with managing
the vegetation on the properties
better to reduce the potential fire
risk.”
Mrs Herd said the Save Our
Suburbs Expo was just one of the
many steps needed to make the
east. She said she was already
in conversations about the
possibility of the expo becoming
an annual event.
In February, the Ministry of
Civil Defence and Emergency
Management community
resilience coordinators
participated in the South
Brighton preparedness day.
They talked to residents about
preparedness, in particular
about tsunamis and emergency
mobility alerts.
3 issues $20 • 6 issues $44.50 • 10 issues $65
rugbynews.co.nz 0800 77 77 10