Media Release
7 May 2007

Special Service Medal Tsunami to be presented

A New Zealand Special Service Medal Tsunami is to be presented in Feilding for services following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Indonesia.

Ministry of Civil Defence Emergency Management Director John Hamilton will present the medal to Shane Bayley, 10am Wednesday, May 9, at the Manawatu District Council buildings, Fielding.

Shane, then Taranaki Regional Council Emergency Management Officer, was deployed to Banda Aceh, in Sumatra, as part of the multi-national United Nations Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination (UNDAC) team on December 29, 2004.

“I signed my contract on Christmas Eve and got the call from the UN on December 29. I didn’t even have my mission kit yet.

“Our role was to support the national government by co-ordinating incoming international aid and making assessments so information could be compared,” says Shane.

The New Zealand Special Service Medal Tsunami was instituted in December 2005 to recognise New Zealanders who were involved in rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas devastated by the December 26 2004 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the resulting tsunami.

“It especially recognises the extreme and hazardous circumstances associated with the environmental, biological, physical and psychological circumstances encountered in the wake of this event,” says John Hamilton.

“Shane’s deployment to Banda Aceh has been recognised by the United Nations and some of the work he did has led to revised policies in a number of areas.

“Shane continues to be an active member of the NZ UNDAC Team and we thank him and his employer, Horizons Regional Council, for the service Shane provides.”

To find out more information about tsunami and what to do in the event of a tsunami please go to www.getthru.govt.nz.

ENDS

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