Hon Nikki Kaye
Minister of Civil Defence

15 August 2013

Successful ShakeOut campaign to be repeated

Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye said today the New Zealand ShakeOut campaign that ran last year was so successful it will be repeated.

“The report back tells us that this campaign, New Zealand’s largest ever earthquake preparedness campaign, had 1,340,529 people registered to participate in the Drop, Cover and Hold earthquake drill, which is about 30 per cent of New Zealand’s population,” Ms Kaye says.

“The vast majority of people (93.4 per cent) felt that the New Zealand ShakeOut campaign was successful overall and 95.9 per cent would like the campaign to be repeated.

“The aim of the campaign – that was those who participated became better prepared for a large earthquake – was achieved.

“Given the number of natural disasters New Zealand is susceptible to, it is important we spend time building up resilience and being as prepared as possible.

“This campaign was based on the Great California ShakeOut, which began in 2008 and is now an annual event involving nine million people. The report about our first campaign recommends it be repeated in 2015 and based on the initial success, this is a good idea.

“There are a number of recommendations in the report that will be looked at including that tsunami awareness and preparedness is brought into future New Zealand ShakeOut campaigns. This is so people in coastal communities at the time of an earthquake are also aware of the tsunami risk.

“It is also recommends adding to the Get Ready Get Thru website more scenarios of where people might be during an earthquake. These might include, for example, construction sites, warehouses, and preschool nurseries.”

The report summarises the process involved in developing and running the New Zealand ShakeOut campaign, primarily at a national level, and can be found at: www.civildefence.govt.nz.

ENDS

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