More New Zealanders prepared for a natural disaster

13 February 2014

In the event of a natural disaster, 22 percent of New Zealanders believe they have the basic preparations necessary to get through.

Figures from the 2012 New Zealand General Social Survey show the proportion of people with basic preparations (a three-day supply of food and water, and a household emergency plan) is up from 17 percent in 2010.

"Unsurprisingly, the region with the highest level of basic preparation was Canterbury – 40 percent had basic preparations, up from 28 percent in 2010," General Social Survey manager Philip Walker said.

"Marlborough (36 percent) and Hawke’s Bay (30 percent) also had high proportions of people who were basically prepared."

In Wellington, 29 percent of people were prepared while around one-quarter of people in the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne region had basic preparations.

"The regions with the lowest rates for basic preparation in 2012 were Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Otago, and Southland. They all had less than one-fifth of people prepared," Mr Walker said.

Nationally, 17 percent of people had better-than-basic preparations for a natural disaster – they also had a torch, portable radio, spare batteries, first aid kit, and essential medicines, on top of a three-day supply of food and water and a household emergency plan. This figure was up from 12 percent in 2010.

Approximately one-third of New Zealand households had an emergency plan in 2012. This has increased steadily from approximately one-quarter of households in 2008.

For more statistics on basic emergency preparedness by region see Safety and security across regions.

For more detail on preparation for natural disasters see If a disaster happened now, would you be ready? Also, see the Earthquake Commission.

ENDS

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