New Zealander one of few ever chosen to speak at world conference on disasters

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Monday 5 January 2008

A New Zealander who is leading the way in promoting community resilience has been invited to share his research and findings on the world stage.

Jarrod Coburn, CEO of the New Zealand Resilience Trust, will be addressing delegates from over 40 countries at the World Conference on Disaster Management in Canada this year.

Mr Coburn has been involved with the NZRT since planning first began in 2005. He has been a leading proponent of building resilience in this country.

The one-hour session will focus on identifying community leaders and building sustainable resilience organisations. This is particularly relevent to the Civil Defence and Emergency Management and Local Government sector in New Zealand, who have been struggling to engage with communities since the new CDEM Act come into effect in 2002.

"Civil Defence has for many years been a reactive response to a potential catastrophe. Basically we have all been told to prepare 'just in case', with the belief that we will all be able to climb out of the consequences of a major disaster", says Coburn.

"Community resilience is the antithesis of this philosophy - it says that we can and should do everything possible in advance to be able to weather the hard times ahead. That way when bad things happen the communities involved can self-manage their way through with minimal harm done. The best thing is that in the process of building resilience we are also building better and stronger communities. Communities that are self-aware, that engage more in the democratic process, that take matters into their own hands."

"We are the enemy of apathy."

"It is a big paradigm shift... one that most people struggle to understand. But it is a change for the better, it is a change that is inevitable, and it is a change that we are pushing very hard to achieve."

About the World Disaster Management Conference

This is the 19th conference. It runs annually and is organised by the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness.

There are a total of 92 speakers plus co-presenters.

Two New Zealanders have been chosen to speak this year (the other being John Bircham). This is out of 330 papers submitted.

Only 10 New Zealanders have spoken at this conference in the past 7 years.
40 countries are represented, with over 2,000 delegates.

About the New Zealand Resilience Trust

The NZRT is a charitable trust that builds community resilience.

The NZRT's main activities are research, community education, training, and improving networks.

It operates it's own event ambulance service, which generates the bulk of its funding.

Recently a study it undertook examining the business continuity plans of 121 government agencies in Wellington highlighted concerns that were conveyed to the State Services Commission and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The Trust is governed by a board of Trustees who include a senior academician and a prominent trauma doctor.

The NZRT is a voluntary organisation with no political or religious agenda. It is self-funding.

About Jarrod Coburn

Jarrod is a native of Woodend (North Canterbury) but has lived the bulk of his life in Wellington or overseas.

He has lived and worked in Japan, Switzerland, London, and most of New Zealand, where he found a real appreciation of communities.

A qualified ambulance paramedic and former radio broadcaster, Jarrod's area of expertise is "people" and he is passionate about harnessing and developing the latent power of communities. He has been involved with Civil Defence for over 20 years.

Further information
World Conference on Disaster Management - www.wcdm.org
New Zealand Resilience Trust - www.nzrt.org.nz
Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness - www.ccep.ca

ENDS

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