The role of civil defence

The aim of Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) is to ensure the safety of people, property and the environment. We do this by identifying significant hazards in the community, determining community vulnerability to these hazards, and building community resilience to recover from significant events. Civil Defence is a system of mobilising the full resources of the community to cope with disasters.

Every city or district council is required by the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 to plan for emergencies. The council must also maintain Civil Defence capability and have a Civil Defence Local Controller. A civil defence emergency is declared, usually by the Mayor, when a disaster is so large that normal emergency services (police, fire and ambulance) cannot cope adequately and the safety of the public is at risk. Civil Defence aims to prevent, reduce, or overcome any hazard or harm or loss to the public or property that may be associated with any emergency.

The controller assumes control of the response effort during a Civil Defence emergency. During an emergency the Civil Defence Emergency Operations Centre would normally be set up in our Te Kuiti office building.

Civil Defence is not an emergency service, but seen as a coordination provider between the Emergency Services and community resources.

If you are in danger or need help - ring 111

Where to find information in an emergency

Regular updates will be issued to the public through the media - listen to your local radio station

Regular updates will be posted on the Waitomo District Council website and Facebook page.

Regular updates will be tweeted on Twitter.

Council will activate the Emergency Status page of this website with relevant updates and links to other useful sites.

Be prepared for an Emergency 

Disasters can happen quickly, and we can’t prevent them but there are steps everyone can take to reduce their impact and recover quickly. It is important to know what you must do before you have to do it.

In some cases, such as a weather related or volcanic disaster, there may be time for a warning. But an earthquake or a tsunami close to land could strike without warning.

All disasters have the potential to cause disruption, damage property and take lives. So it's vital that you prepare now.

To assist in the understanding of what could impact us here in the Waitomo District……

A study was undertaken by the Waikato Regional Council in 2017 and produced a report of what the likely hazards and their possible consequences could be and impact us. A summary of this report is displayed as a chart Waitomo Hazards Matrix (DOCX 40 KB) (DOCX 40 KB)…There are four categories of severity, with those hazards grouped together.

By clicking on each of the hazard names it will take you to more information for each and, should trigger areas of thoughts to be considered, in your planning

For more information, including information on how to get ready go to: https://getready.govt.nz/

Tsunami Evacuation Zones

You can view information and maps regarding the Tsunami Evacuation Zones in our District, here:

• Awakino (PDF 6.98 MB)
• Kinohaku (PDF 6.45 MB)
• Kiritehere (PDF 5.2 MB)
• Mokau (PDF 7.43 MB)
• Marokopa (PDF 6.18 MB)
• Taharoa (PDF 7.12 MB)
• Te Waitere (PDF 4.3 MB)
• Waikawau (PDF 7.36 MB)

If you would like to know more about Civil Defence in the Waitomo District, please contact our Customer Services Team on (07) 878 0800.