8 Tuesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>19</strong> 20<strong>19</strong> 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 <strong>March</strong> 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
SOUTHERN VIEW Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi Tuesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>19</strong> 20<strong>19</strong> 9