The Star: March 21, 2019

The Star Thursday March 21 2019
24
NEWS
news online at www.star.kiwi
Clear safety message from expo
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
Darlene
Herd
Our Suburbs
Community
Safety Expo
held 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 co-ordinators
participated in the South
Brighton preparedness day.
They talked to residents about
preparedness, in particular
about tsunamis and emergency
mobility alerts.
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