Agenda of Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Meeting

Attendees

Agency

CIMS Functions

EOC Exercise

Provide companion animal welfare in a CD emergency

Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Meeting item: 7.1

3 June 2025

TITLE:	Coordinating Executive Group Chairpersons Report
From:	Damian Rio, CDEM Emergency Manager
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 22 May 2025

Whakarāpopototanga / Executive summary

This report provides a summary of activities undertaken by or directly related to the delivery of the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group plan over the period since the last CDEM Group meeting in March 2025.

Ngā mahi tūtohutia / Recommendation

That the report ‘Coordinating Executive Group Chairpersons Report’ by Damian Rio, dated 12 May be received.

Background/Tuhinga

INDEX OF REPORTS

Page

1. Activations and response

2. Northland CDEM Group

3. Far North CDEM Update

4. Kaipara CDEM Update

5. Whangārei District CDEM Update

6. Welfare Coordination Group Update

7. Northland Lifelines Group Update

8. CDEM Communications Update

9. Māori Engagement Update

10. Tsunami siren replacement Project Update

11. Tsunami inundation mapping Project Update

12. Multi Agency Coordination Centre

13. Professional Development and Engagement

14. Natural Hazards update

15. Tsunami Siren Testing

16. Recovery

1. Activations and response

Northland CDEM have not activated in the past quarter, however staff have supported both the Mangawhai Tornado and Waipoua Forest Fire.

On Sunday, 26 January 2025, the Kaipara District Council (KDC) activated their Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to support the response to the Mangawhai tornado. The EOC remained in response, providing psychosocial support, meeting welfare needs and waste/debris removal, through to the afternoon of Monday, 3rd February 2025.

The EOC response was well supported by agencies including the Red Cross Disaster Welfare and Support Team, New Zealand Response Team (NZRT), Task Force Kiwi (TFK), Auckland Emergency Management, Auckland City Council and Northland CDEM.

On Tuesday, 25 February 2025, a fire occurred in the Waipoua Forest, burning over 90 hectares of vegetation. Twenty homes were evacuated, and Te Roroa Iwi supported the evacuated residents at Waikarā Marae. Te Roroa are now managing the recovery and clean-up work.

We acknowledge Te Roroa and the manaaki provided for evacuees during this time.

2. Northland CDEM Group

Kylie Cox has been appointed to the position of Group Emergency Management Welfare Specialist. This appointment was effective from 10 February 2025.

James Harvey’s six-month fixed term contract has been extended until the beginning of November 2025.

Damian Rio has been appointed to the role of CDEM Group Manager. Damian’s previous role was Emergency Management Specialist (EMS) for Whangārei District Council. A recruitment process for the WDC EMS role will commence in late April 2025.

3. Far North CDEM Update

Activities undertaken by Emergency Management Specialist are relative to the 2024-2025 Work Plan as outlined in the Far North District Council Service Level Agreement and include:

· Community Engagement - Community engagement to support and enhance Marae and Community resilience and reviews of community response plans (Opononi, Takahue, Rural Collaboration Group Northland Fijian Community, Doubtless Bay, Kerikeri, Moerewa, Te Hiki Development Trust, Ngati Kahu, Haititaimarangai Marae, Kaimaumau, Ngāti Rēhia)

· Operational IT - Review of IT and updates of FNDC Emergency Operation Centre laptops

· Northland Lifelines Group - Attendance at Northland Lifelines Group Meeting

· Regional Visit - Host visit to Far North District for Manager Regional Partnerships, NEMA.

· Tsunami Siren Upgrade - Assist with public education to support awareness of Tsunami Alarm replacement program in lead up to bi-annual alarm testing.

4. Kaipara CDEM Update

Activities undertaken by the Emergency Management Specialist - Kaipara relative to the 2024-2025 Work Plan as outlined in the KDC Service Level Agreement include:

· Mangawhai Tornado internal debrief – a debrief was held on Wednesday 12 March with KDC EOC staff to capture learnings from the response. An action plan is being developed to ensure lessons are executed.

· Mangawhai Tornado multi-agency debrief – a debrief was held on Tuesday 25 March with multi-agency representatives to reflect on learnings from the response. An action plan is being developed to ensure collaboration moving forward.

· SharePoint & Teams – work continues to finalise KDC’s new EOC SharePoint & Teams structure and roll out training to EOC staff.

· Initial Action Planning - Drought – in light of Level 4 Water Restrictions implemented under the KDC Drought Management Plan (DMP), and minimal significant rain on the forecast for April, a KDC Initial Action Planning meeting was held on Thursday 27 March to develop a plan to be implemented if a civil defence response is required.

· EOC staff – we currently have 55 staff in the EOC.

5. Whangārei District CDEM Update

Recent work undertaken with the Whangarei District Council (WDC) includes the following:

· EOC exercise – An EOC training exercise was held for the WDC EOC staff (25) which was well received and provided insightful training to help the staff to be more efficient and effective in their roles.

· Drop-in Sessions – We have held several one hour drop-in sessions to promote and discuss Civil Defence to the WDC staff. It is also an opportunity for EOC recruitment.

· Logistic procurement training – In March we provided Tech One training for the logistics and main EOC Leads to complement our procurement process guidelines.

· SharePoint – More work has occurred within WDC SharePoint to streamline processes and add EOC templates.

· Laptops – 30 new laptops are being set up (Win11) and will replace the current old laptops.

· Community Plans – We are currently reviewing the public facing ‘Community Plans’ in light of changing the tsunami evacuation maps and information.

· Function Lead Training - From April we will be providing the WDC EOC Function Leads with monthly training to cover all aspects of the EOC operations. This will build on their current function/EOC knowledge and focus on how the WDC EOC operates.

· EOC Staff – We currently have 59 staff in the EOC.

6. Welfare Coordination Group (WCG) Update

WCG held its first meeting for 2025 on March 6, 2025. The meeting brought together representatives from several agencies, including Fale Pasifika, Fire & Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), Inland Revenue Department (IRD), Kaipara District Council, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE TAS), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Development (MSD), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group (NCDEM), Red Cross, Rural Support Trust, SPCA, Tai Timu te Pari, Te Puni Kōkiri, and Te Whatu Ora.

The WCG is progressing steadily with the 2024/2025 work program, maintaining alignment with its strategic goals.

Engagements

Group Welfare Specialist has attended or engaged with the following over the past three months:

· Whangarei District Council EOC Exercise

· Kaipara District Council Local Welfare Managers

· National Group Welfare Managers Hui

· Alternate & Local Welfare Managers

Work continues to strengthen and enhance relationships with all agencies on WCG.

7. Northland Lifelines Group Update

A Northland Lifelines Group (NLG) meeting was held on Friday 28 February.

A comprehensive review of the NLG Electricity Outage Plan and the NLG Fuel Contingency Plan was completed in the last quarter, and these were presented to the NLG for approval. Both plans were subsequently adopted by the NLG and copies of both plans circulated to stakeholders.

Work continues to strengthen and enhance relationships with all members of the group.

Engagement

Meetings attended over the past three months:

· NLG meeting on 28 February.

· Several informal meetings held with NRC GIS team to finalise a vision and scope document to acquire lifeline and critical infrastructure spatial data sets from key stakeholders for CDEM Intelligence GIS platform.

· Resilience Explorer TAG quarterly meeting to progress project.

· National Lifelines Group Programme Managers quarterly hui via Teams.

8. CDEM Communications Update

CDEM Facebook page insights, Jan 1, 2025 – March 1, 2025

· Page visit: 16,778

· Facebook Page followers: increased by 320

· Total FB page followers as of Jan 1, 38,633

We saw good growth this period on our Facebook page with our summer preparedness campaign taking place, and a couple of weather-related incidents and warnings generating interest on the page.

The top performing post over this period was an update post about an Orange Heavy Rain Warning on Jan 21: https://www.facebook.com/civildefencenorthland/posts/pfbid0rcncHpPmp8ypUUUpFcdSkXro2w6Sd5nDPEqXc549tTjU19xcxKNcxX8dydzm1s1ql with 38K reach

Second was another post about this rain event when it was still a watch: https://www.facebook.com/civildefencenorthland/posts/pfbid0qSkQoZCBSdGNzv41Q1uUTc49t9MMahHY3mbCLN8SdANDBeTYmtpJmAeDDXNvTKWMl with 29.7K reach

Third was our post about the Mangawhai tornado: https://www.facebook.com/civildefencenorthland/posts/pfbid02WePoyfP3Ks9uivAHSM2z9JZnYK6ZqzpLWQ59itZeufn2DFsrqUzSggwvu1UkMUrfl with 17.5K reach

Our top non-weather/event related post was a reel on how to pack a grab bag: https://www.facebook.com/reel/595077036717862

With 10K views

Northland CDEM Web section insights, Jan 1, 2025 – March 1, 2025

· Total page visits: 9684

· Most popular pages:

1. Listen-to-the-tsunami-siren-sounds: 4512

2. CD home page: 2000

3. tsunami-warnings: 624

The website views remain relatively high, in line with having a campaign running. The CD home page is the page linked in the digital ads, so it makes sense that this would be the second most viewed behind the siren sounds, which is pretty consistently the most viewed page.

Preparedness campaigns – Get summer ready

As part of our efforts to promote community preparedness, we are launching a communications campaign featuring radio ads, Facebook posts, and digital ads over key summer and winter periods. The key focus for this will be to highlight easy, everyday preparedness tips and aligning as much as we can to NEMA’s get summer and winter ready campaigns.

As part of this we had three phone interviews with our CDEM Group members about prep steps. We are still awaiting data on the digital ads but from the increase in Facebook and website views, anecdotally the campaign appears to have had a positive effect on our engagement.

9. Māori Engagement Update

The Māori Engagement Advisor has attended, engaged and presented to the following whānau from December to April 2025.

· Supported the Flood Mitigation Project with NRC Rivers & Natural Hazards and CDEM with Marae Preparedness Planning:

- Supported the first CDEM workshops for 3 marae in the Pawarenga rohe.

- First engagement session presenting CDEM 101 kōrero with Marae from Kaihu (with Rivers and Natural Hazards Team).

- First CDEM planning workshop with 2 Marae in Kaipara District, 1 Marae in Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa and 1 marae in Waima (FNDC).

- Completed marae preparedness plan with Marae in Whangārei District (2 marae preparedness workshops).

· Tsunami Siren Replacement Project, supporting Project Lead:

- Received approval from Rawhiti Marae Committee for placement of Tsunami Siren.

- Have approval from Waitangi National Grounds Trust, and Te Tii Marae for placement of Tsunami Siren on Te Tiriti grounds.

· General Engagement with whānau across Te Tai Tokerau:

- Hui with NEMA Māori Relationships Ngatokorua Miratana.

- Attended Te Rā O Waitangi with CDEM information marque, partnering with FENZ Te Tai Tokerau whānau.

- Gave CDEM 101 presentations at 2 online sessions with Te Runanga-A-Iwi O Ngāti Kahu to Marae around Muriwhenua (8 Marae attended Online Hui).

- Supported NCDEM Team with their presentation to Omapere-Opononi Marae.

- Attended Te Whariki workshop Level 1 with NRC Māori Relationships Team.

- Supported Graeme MacDonalds Farewell giving mihi Whakatau and Karakia.

- Attended hui with Te Puni Kokiri about helping with CDEM marae preparedness plans for marae in Te Roroa and Ngāpuhi rohe.

- Attended Wananga Waiora in Waitangi to support the Event behind the scenes.

- Attended Te Ahuareka O Ngati Hine at Otiria Marae in the NRC-CDEM information booth.

As a result of the work in the Marae Preparedness Planning space, our workload has significantly increased since the beginning of the year, with the majority of Marae hui and workshops now taking place after hours or during the weekends.

The number of inquiries from Iwi Māori, hapū, additional Marae, and Māori organisations has also risen. As the Marae Preparedness Planning project concludes, we anticipate further engagement with many more Marae.

10. Tsunami Siren Project Installation Update

Construction is back underway with over 92.5% of the sirens now constructed throughout Northland. These were tested on 6^th of April and the result will be advised during the meeting.

The remaining sirens are scheduled for construction throughout May/June with the next test on the 28th of September also signalling the official move from the old network to the new sirens. This will result in NorthPower and Top Energy ceasing to support the old siren network.

All Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be updated to reflect these changes.

A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Figure 1 - Dashboard of roll-out progress TSRP

11. Tsunami Inundation Modelling Project

The new inundation models went live in March. This resulted in one of the largest number of views on Facebook for the Civil Defence Northland page in its history. This was a fantastic effort from Zach to ensure questions were answered.

The warning boards are also being replaced at coastal locations. This work will take some time as it’s a physical task with over 100 boards around Te Tai Tokerau.

The maps within our response plans are also being replaced.

This project was only possible due to the sponsorship of the Natural Hazards Commission, who we thank for their support.

12. Multi Agency Coordination Centre (MACC)

The NRC-FENZ MACC Heads of Agreement has been approved in principle by NRC councillors and an execution copy being finalised, this will lead to the NRC-FENZ MACC Development Agreement (binding) being executed. Significant design consultant spending will occur once this contract with FENZ is in place. In the interim, the Quantity Surveyor has been selected and the Architect and Design Team (Engineers, etc) RFQ has been drafted.

The fours Council’s MACC Heads of Agreement (binding) has been signed, and all funding has been collected or invoiced.

To ensure work progresses, the first Design Team meeting occurred in March 2025, with the next on 2 April 2025 involving a virtual ‘walk through’ of the Gold Coast Disaster and Emergency Management Centre. This will provide insights on design, useful particularly given their experience with Cyclone Alfred response.

13. Professional Development and Engagement

Training

The first Coordinated Incident Management System Level 4 (CIMS4) and CIMS functions training courses for the year were held in March. A summary of CIMS training attended by staff from each Council and stakeholder agencies is shown in the table below.

The next Coordinated Incident Management Training Level 4 (CIMS4) and CIMS functions training will be held at Far North District Council, Kaikohe in early May.

The NEMA/EMAT Annual Readiness Training (ART) was held in Canterbury 17 – 21 March. Northland based NZ Emergency Management Assistance Team (EMAT) members Jenny Calder and Shona Morgan attended the training which included tabletop exercises, Deployable Coordination Centre (DCC) build, governance, deployment skills, and responder wellbeing.

Whakahaumaru Exercise 2025

Planning continues for Exercise Whakahaumaru being held in November 2025.

The Exercise Coordinating Instruction is attached.

Engagement

Planning is well underway for the Northland Emergency Management Forum being held at Semenoff Stadium on Wednesday 30 April with a full programme of guest speakers. Registrations are currently over 120 with more expected. The forum flyer is attached.

14. Natural Hazards Update

Risk Portal

Work progresses on Te Tai Tokerau’s Resilience Explorer Portal with the next step being planning for internal release to councils and partner agencies. We continue to source and update supporting layers, and project management is working with the CDEM Lifelines specialist to ensure current lifeline data is sourced and installed.

We met with Northland CDEM in January to review the isolation feature and it was agreed that this function was more suitable for council planning purposes than emergency response.

Early Flood Forecast System

The trial Early Flood Forecast System for the Waitangi Catchment is was installed at NRC in late March 2025 with training undertake during April. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the Delft EFEWs system and proposed set up. There is funding in the NRC Long Term Plan to instal a region wide Early Flood Forecast System by 2030.

Nationally a number of councils are investing in early flood forecast systems and a national hui is scheduled for July in Auckland. NRC will be attending to demonstrate our system, share lessons learned and to learn from other councils’ projects.

Wairoa River Model

Work continues the Wairoa River model. An early version of the model has been delivered and is available to relevant technical staff.

Overtopping modelling

The flooding in the Hawke’s Bay caused by Cyclone Gabrielle identified that council hydrology and flood managers need to understand what may if flood protection works (such as stop banks and levees) are overtopped. Overtopping events occur when the volume of water in the river exceeds the capacity of riverbed and any flood protection.

NRC are developing an overtopping project and will work with flood modellers to identify where overtopping events may happen and what the water flow would like. This work is expected to extend through 2025.

15. Tsunami Siren Testing

Tsunami Siren Testing is scheduled for 10:00 AM on Sunday, April 6, 2025. This will mark the first activation of the new Tsunami Siren network and will feature an updated testing process.

Instead of the usual two activations (10 minutes at 10:00 AM and 1 minute at 10:30 AM), there will be a single activation at 10:00 AM for approximately 1 minute.

The CDEM Group Office will provide a verbal report on the Tsunami Siren testing at the CEG meeting.

16. Recovery

· Confirmed $1,122,000 EECA funding for Tranche 2 of the Community Renewable Energy Fund will support 17 Northland sites with stand-alone power systems. This project will increase Northland's evacuation sites with stand-alone power systems to 31, boosting community resilience.

· Prepared draft training schedule and initiated monthly training/update meetings for Northland Local Recovery Managers. Provided detailed feedback on Massey University/RRANZ draft course, aligned with new national skills standard.

· Managed Ngā Manga Atawhai, achieving targets six months early. Te Roroa will take over in July 2025, continuing to employ 15 Kaimahi, requiring MOU adjustments.

· Worked on national Recovery working parties, developing a draft Recovery Scorecard, Recovery Function structures, and a Toolkit for Recovery managers, soon to be circulated for consultation.

· Submitted six-monthly report to DMPC for Recovery Structure funding, attended the national Recovery Managers’ forum, and presented on Recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle at Hawkes Bay Regional Council.

· Delivered guest lectures at the University of Auckland and AUT on disaster recovery and communication.

· Consulted on the Hōretireti Whenua Sliding Lands Endeavour Programme, reviewing Cyclone Gabrielle and improving data provision for future events.

· Initiated conversations about hosting a national two-day Recovery conference in 2026 or 2027.

· Wound down All-of-Councils FOSAL meetings and began discussions with Auckland Council about a repository for FOSAL documents.

· Contributed to DPMC’s consultation on future Recovery settings.

Attachments/Ngā tapirihanga

Nil

Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Meeting item: 7.2

3 June 2025

TITLE:	Membership and appointments – Northland CDEM Group
From:	Kylie Cox, Emergency Management Specialist and Damian Rio, CDEM Emergency Manager
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 22 May 2025

Executive summary/Whakarāpopototanga

Whakarāpopototanga | Executive Summary

This report provides an up-to-date list of members and key appointments for the Northland CDEM Group. The list of key appointments is available on the Northland CDEM Group plan webpage.

Ngā mahi tūtohutia | Recommendation(s)

1. That the report ‘Membership and appointments – Northland CDEM Group ’ by Kylie Cox, Emergency Management Specialist and Damian Rio, CDEM Emergency Manager and dated, 21 May 2025 be received.

Tuhinga | Background

Membership of the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group:

Ÿ Councillor Stratford FNDC - Chair of CDEM Group

Ÿ Councillor Stolwerk NRC

Ÿ Mayor Cocurullo Mayor, WDC

Ÿ Councillor Lambeth KDC

Ÿ Wipari Henwood Commander, Fire and Emergency NZ

Ÿ Superintendent Matt Srhoj Northland Police District Commander

Ÿ Mike Gillooly NEMA (observer)

Membership of the Coordinating Executive Group:

Ÿ Jonathan Gibbard CEO, NRC

Ÿ Ruben Garcia FNDC delegated representative

Ÿ Simon Weston CEO, WDC – Chair of CEG

Ÿ Jason Marris CEO, KDC

Ÿ Wayne Ewers Inspector, NZ Police

Ÿ Graeme Quensell Assistant Area Commander, Fire and Emergency NZ

Ÿ Sarah Boniface Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora

Ÿ Ben Lockie St John Ambulance

Ÿ Mike Gillooly NEMA (observer)

Ÿ Liz Philips Interim MoH Representative

Ÿ Sarah Irwin Northland Lifelines Group

Ÿ Kylie Cox Northland Welfare Coordination Group

Ÿ Hone Dalton Iwi Representative

Ÿ JJ Ripikoi Iwi Representative

Ÿ Snow Tane Iwi Representative

Group Controllers:

Ÿ Jenny Calder

Ÿ Graeme MacDonald

Ÿ Alistair Wells

Ÿ John Burt

Ÿ Simon Weston

Ÿ Victoria Harwood

Ÿ Louisa Gritt

Local Controllers for the Whangārei District:

Ÿ Simon Weston

Ÿ Victoria Harwood

Ÿ Shona Morgan

Ÿ Calvin Thomas

Local Controllers for the Kaipara District:

Ÿ John Burt

Ÿ Jack Rudolph

Ÿ Alistair Dunlop

Local Controllers for the Far North District:

Ÿ Alistair Wells

Group Welfare Managers:

Ÿ Kylie Cox

Ÿ Chris McColl

Ÿ Raewyn Smythe

Local Welfare Managers for the Whangārei District:

Ÿ Toby Hoey

Ÿ Paula Urlich

Ÿ Kate Biddlecombe

Local Welfare Managers for the Kaipara District:

Ÿ Jenny Rooney

Ÿ Siobahn Holster

Local Welfare Managers for the Far North District:

Ÿ Kara-Mia Rogers

Ÿ Kirsty Roper

Ÿ Ange Simonsen

Group Recovery Managers:

Ÿ Mark Trüdinger

Ÿ Jenny Calder

Local Recovery Managers:

Ÿ Joanne Tasker (WDC)

Ÿ Sian Leith (WDC)

Ÿ TBA (FNDC)

Ÿ Glynis McCarthy (KDC)

Group Welfare Manager:

Kylie Cox was appointed to the role of Emergency Management Welfare Specialist / Group Welfare Manager on 10 February 2025.

Local Controllers appointments:

Addressing the shortage of appointed Local Controllers for Emergency Response in the Far North district.

The FNDC Shared Service Agreement Focal Point, Ruben Garcia, has raised preparedness concerns with the senior leadership team, and as an organisation, and they are prioritising this critical need, and are in the process of identifying suitable candidates to upskill and train.

Over the past 12+ months, FNDC have been challenged by significantly high levels of staff turnover which has affected the pool of trained staff to be available and involved in FNDC Civil Defence operations.

The current plan that the FNDC are working to in an effort to address this critical need, includes:

· Maximise FNDC participation in regional training opportunities;

· Conduct bi-monthly mock EOC exercises to test readiness;

· Identify at least two Controller candidates, and determine learning and development pathway.

CEG will be updated on progress.

Recovery Manager appointments:

· Glynis McCarthy has indicated her intention to step down as KDC Local Recovery Manager once the Mangawhai tornado recovery has been completed.

· In agreement with WDC, Sian Leith is taking a step back from Local Recovery Manager duties for the time being. She will remain on the appointments list for now, so that the CDEM Group does not need to re-appoint her if she continues in the role.

· Multiple requests to FNDC have been made over the last year to nominate a Local Recovery Manager, without resolution. Esther Powell has informally taken on this role, but the appointment needs to be confirmed by the process adopted by both CEG and the CDEM Group/Joint Committee. CDEM Group Manager and Group Recovery Manager will pursue with FNDC.

· Graeme MacDonald is no longer a Group Recovery Manager.

Attachments/Ngā tapirihanga

Nil

Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Meeting item: 8.1

3 June 2025

TITLE:	Community Response Planning and Marae Preparedness Planning
From:	Papanui Polamalu, Emergency Management - Iwi/hapū Engagement Advisor; Damian Rio, CDEM Emergency Manager; Tony Devanney, Emergency Management Specialist; Bill Hutchinson, Emergency Management Specialist and Kylie Cox, Emergency Management Specialist
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 22 May 2025

Whakarāpopototanga / Executive summary

This report provides an overview of the work being carried out with Community Engagements, Community Response Groups and on Marae Preparedness.

Ngā mahi tūtohutia / Recommendation

That the report ‘Community Response Planning and Marae Preparedness Planning’ by Papanui Polamalu, Emergency Management - Iwi/hapū Engagement Advisor; Damian Rio, CDEM Emergency Manager; Tony Devanney, Emergency Management Specialist; Bill Hutchinson, Emergency Management Specialist and Kylie Cox, Emergency Management Specialist and dated 15 April 2025, be received.

Background/Tuhinga

Emergency Management Specialists have maintained active, collaborative engagement with both marae and community groups to facilitate the establishment of new community response and marae preparedness plans. Concurrently, several active plans have been reviewed

Work undertaken

The following graphs present the collaborative efforts and status updated on the recent initiatives undertaken by the Northland Civil Defence Group. They detail initial engagement progress, completed plans, reviewed and existing plans, and the total engagement in the past quarter, for community response groups ad marae preparedness.

A reflection of who CDEM staff have been engaged with over the last 3 months

Year to date, 58 plans are completed.

Marae preparedness plans will increase once the Emergency Management Specialists complete workshops and Māori agree their plans

In line with the Government response (Strengthening disaster resilience and emergency management) to the Report of the Government Inquiry in the Response to the North Island Severe Weather Events Inquiry and acknowledging that communities are a key part of the official response, it is timely that we review community response plans that have identified hazards but not yet included essential information such as suggested evacuation locations and key community assembly points.

This will support the continuance in building community resilience initiatives and strengthen community cohesiveness.

At the beginning of 2024, engagement trends were initially slow as CDEM concentrated on rebuilding efforts and establishing key stakeholder relationships. Since then, processes for engagement have been developed, and staff are continuously testing and refining these methods.

“Other” are places such as schools/kindergartens, community engagement events and meetings undertaken in the last quarter where there has been a focus on response planning.

Māori Engagement

CDEM engagement with Māori continues to grow across the rōhe. CDEM have been working alongside Māori to enhance connections and develop hapū-led initiatives. Hapū continue to be pivotal in supporting the Northland Tsunami Siren Replacement Project.

Due to the relationships established with iwi-hapū and the confidence that CDEM provides in supporting preparedness and capability building, several marae are now reaching out. Requests for workshops focused on marae preparedness have increased with the goal of completing comprehensive Marae preparedness plans. This is projected to increase the CDEM team workload by approximately 35%. CDEM anticipate that this upward trend will continue during 2025 and do not foresee a decline in the near future. The CDEM group continue to carefully balance this additional workload with their existing accountabilities to ensure all community needs are met.

Climate Action

CDEM continue to support the Climate Action Team with the Climate Resilient Communities Fund as requested by staff.

Northland Flood Resilient Māori Communities and Marae Project

The Northland Regional Council (NRC) Rivers Team are currently executing this project to reduce the risk of flooding around Te Taitokerau. CDEM continues to support this project by providing Marae preparedness planning for the 35 identified Marae across Te Taitokerau that are currently exposed to one in 100 yr flood events. Collaborative efforts have empowered Marae to enhance their resilience.

Community Response Group mapping

You can view the community response group map here.

Attachments/Ngā tapirihanga

Nil

Deputy Chairperson, Vincent Cocurullo	KDC Councillor, Gordon Lambeth	NRC Councillor, Rick Stolwerk
NEMA Representative, Mike Gillooly	NZ Police Representative, Matthew Srhoj	FENZ Representative, Wipari Henwood
NRC alternate, Tui Shortland	WDC alternate, Nicholas Connop	FNDC alternate, Moko Tepania
KDC alternate, Eryn Wilson-Collins

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	NCDEM Group Joint Committee retrospectively approves the submission.	The Select Committee overseeing the Bill will be able to take into account Northland’s submission.	None.
2	NCDEM Group Joint Committee does not approve the submission	None.	The submission points would need to be formally withdrawn.

TITLE:	Confirmation of Minutes - 4 March 2025
From:	Haylee Labelle, Personal Assistant Community Resilience
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 20 May 2025

TITLE:	Receipt of Action Sheet
From:	Haylee Labelle, Personal Assistant Community Resilience
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 22 May 2025

TITLE:	National Emergency Management Agency Update
From:	Mike Gillooly, NEMA representative
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 20 May 2025

TITLE:	Submission on Emergency Management Bill
From:	Damian Rio, CDEM Emergency Manager
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 20 May 2025