Hon Rick Barker
Minister of Civil Defence

20 October 2008 Media Statement
Another step towards an Emergency Management Information System

Good progress has been made towards the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) getting a new emergency management information system (EMIS) Civil Defence Minister Rick Barker said today.

Mr Barker said that Cabinet has given approval for the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management to draft a request for information (RFI) to be released within a few weeks.

A new system will improve the country’s ability to manage an emergency. Information gathering, retention, dissemination and organisation will be a lot easier with a new system. Better information will improve reporting to Government, enhance planning and co-ordination across agencies, enable the NCMC to be more responsive to the needs of the 16 regional civil defence emergency management groups, and better manage the flow of public information.

The EMIS will include back-ups and redundancies, including satellite communication and the ability to be accessed from anywhere in the country should the NCMC not be available.

Potential vendors responding to the RFI will all receive the same standard questionnaire to complete and return.

An implementation date for the EMIS will be confirmed following a tendering process.

“This government is focussed on continually improving our capability to plan for, respond to and recover from an emergency. Information flow is absolutely critical to the task, this will put us in a better position than ever before,” said Mr Barker.

ENDS

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