Risk Returns

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support informed decision making. Developing a comprehensive

understanding of New Zealand’s hazardscape is an essential step

in identifying and prioritising risk reduction activities, alongside

readiness, response and recovery planning.

A current initiative is the government funding of the Natural

Hazards Research Platform, which brings together researchers from

across a range of physical science, social science and engineering

disciplines from the public and private sector, to work collabora-

tively, in partnership with research users.

New Zealand also has a national natural disaster insurance scheme,

managed by the Earthquake Commission, designed as provision for

the financial costs of repairs to disaster-impacted residential prop-

erties. All residential property owners who purchase fire insurance

from a commercial provider automatically acquire the Earthquake

Commission’s insurance cover.

The central decision making body of executive government that

addresses emergency management is the Cabinet Committee for

Domestic and External Security Coordination.

This committee is

chaired by the prime minister and includes ministers responsible

for departments that play essential roles in such situa-

tions. To support that process, there is a committee of

government department chief executives charged with

providing strategic policy advice and working together

to ensure coordinated action across Government.

The lead agency for managing planning and response

to a national crisis will vary depending on the type of

emergency. For example, the Ministry of Civil Defence

and Emergency Management (MCDEM) is the lead

agency for responding to a civil defence emergency

resulting from an earthquake, flooding or other (mostly)

natural hazard events. The Ministry of Health is the lead

for a human pandemic, and the Ministry of Agriculture

and Forestry for bio-security risks.

Community-based action: a case study

The ability of a community to cope with a disaster is based

to a large extent on the risk reduction or readiness meas-

ures it takes. However, getting communities to participate

in actions that reduce risk or enhance preparedness and

create resilience to disasters has proven to be a significant

challenge to the New Zealand civil defence emergency

management sector.

Engaging the community, so that

it becomes an integral part of decision-making, and

development of arrangements for disaster risk reduction,

is an essential part of generating resilience. An engaged

community will be more likely to participate actively in

managing its own risks, creating the capability to success-

fully manage a crisis when it occurs, absorb and reduce

disaster impacts, and aid recovery.

An example of an engaged community is Taupo Bay

in Northland, in the upper North Island.

Residents

recognised a significant tsunami risk to their commu-

nity and with a large influx of holiday makers over the

summer period understood their community would

be vulnerable. With the support of their local district

council emergency management officer, volunteers

from Taupo Bay developed their own community

response plan. This plan included hazard information,

contact information and evacuation information.

The volunteers decided an important part of their plan-

ning process was to raise the awareness of the hazard

within the community, and especially for the significant

population of summer visitors. One awareness-raising

action was to produce a one-page summary of the commu-

nity response plan, which was displayed in each household

in the bay. The community developed its coping strategies

through articulating roles for volunteers in an emergency.

The Pacific riskscape

New Zealand’s Pacific neighbours are also vulnerable to

an array of natural hazards including cyclones, floods,

earthquakes, tsunami and volcanic activity. Pacific Island

Countries (PICs) are straddled by the Ring of Fire, a zone

of high earthquake and volcanic activity that encircles

the Pacific basin, and these hazards, along with weather-

related events, can devastate lives and livelihoods,

destroy environmental assets, wipe out years of hard-

won development gains and severely impact struggling

The New Zealand Police Headquarters, Wellington, an example of seismic

design for a critical facility

Image: GNS Science