OPINION: The Problem of Preparedness - What Councils Could Do

Wellington, 6 Sep 2010

The perfect storm of multiple disasters and a local body election has caused Council staff and elected officials to foam at the mouth about disaster preparedness.

Unfortunately, very few of the people passing comment in the media know what they are talking about, as they are still living in the 1950s. For it was in this era that the concept of 'Civil Defence' was first born, out of a need to prepare the wider communities of the USA and UK for imminent nuclear warfare. This is where we get the myth of having to be prepared for "three days".

In reality it is best to be prepared for upwards of three weeks.

But preparedness is only one small part of a bigger picture. The picture is so big, in fact, that no government could possibly manage it all on its own. It needs help from the people themselves.

For years I have been a crusader for Community Resilience - a process that sees the social fabric of New Zealand communities grow stronger. The Community Resilience model has been lauded internationally, but largely ignored by local government in this country. Why?

My personal feeling is that Councils feel that they have 'ownership' of communities. Sure, they legally are responsible for emergency management... but we aren't talking about that. Emergency Management is a technical/professional occupation that occupies a specific phase of a disaster.

Community Resilience is an ongoing process of building a strong community piece by piece, one neighbour at a time. Can anyone still remember when kids were allowed to play outside together and all the neighbours kept an eye out for them? Wouldn't it be nice to get back to that way of life?

New Zealanders are not prepared for a major disaster and the situation will not change until local authorities release the selfish grip they hold over disaster preparedness. Councils need to recognise that communities know better in many instances, and are better off leading the move toward preparedness, not being shifted around like mindless sheep to the slaughter.

Jarrod Coburn

About the author:

Jarrod Coburn was a co-founder and Executive Director of the New Zealand Resilience Trust. He has delivered addresses to the World Conference on Disaster Management in Toronto, Canada; the Australasian Disaster Management Summit in Sydney, Australia; and the National Conference on Disaster Management in Wellington, NZ. He speaks to a variety of community and local groups on the subject of personal preparedness and what can be expected in a disaster situation.

Currently Jarrod is a Trustee of the Draco Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation that – among other projects – runs the local government watchdog Council Watch. He is happy to provide an objective assessment of the state of Civil Defence and disaster preparedness in this country, from a community perspective.

ENDS

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