Emergency preparedness: Solid progress made by Auckland Council following reviews

Auckland Council has made large steps towards enhancing our emergency preparedness and response capabilities, since the extreme weather events of early 2023.

That's according to the Auditor-General's report: Improving Aucklanders' emergency preparedness, which was tabled in Parliament today.

Councillor Sharon Stewart, Auckland Council's Civil Defence and Emergency Management chairperson says the uptake on the OAG report recommendations shows the council is committed to being better prepared for future emergencies.

"The flooding and cyclone events in early 2023 had a devasting toll on Auckland, with many people losing their homes and some people suffering the loss of a loved one."In the aftermath of these tragic events it was clear the council needed to become better prepared to help Aucklanders in future emergencies."We commissioned three independent reviews which all made a number of recommendations about enhancing our emergency response systems and processes."I'm heartened by the progress made by Auckland Emergency Management in considering and implementing the recommendations of the reviews."Continually striving to enhance our emergency preparedness will ultimately result in a safer region and could save lives."

Auckland Council Chief Executive Phil Wilson says last year was incredibly challenging and it was important to him that Auckland Council had a good honest look at how it did, and how well prepared it is.

"A number of internal and independent reviews, including this one carried out by the Office of the Auditor General, contributed to a prioritised programme of work."But we can't take our foot off the pedal - the risk is too high. With complex and difficult recovery efforts continuing, the work is by no means over and our community continues to suffer."We do not and will not shirk from the central role that Auckland Emergency Management and the council needs to play, but event after event shows us that as critical as our preparations are, we are not the only answer - every household in Tāmaki Makaurau needs to have a plan."If you haven't already, check your risk on Auckland Council's Flood Viewerand use the many guides available on Auckland Emergency Management's websiteto put that plan in place for your home and whānau," says Mr Wilson.

The council engaged the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) to report on how effectively Auckland Emergency Management has addressed the recommendations of three reviews following the early 2023 extreme weather events.

These were: the Auckland Flood Response Review: Independent, External Review of Events, January 27-29, 2023 by Bush International Consulting (The Bush Review); the Auckland Severe Weather Events 2023 Debrief by Toa Consulting (The Toa Review) and the Auckland Council: Preparedness for responding to an emergency, Controller and Auditor-General, June 2023, (The OAG review).

John Cranfield, Acting General Manager Auckland Emergency Management says he welcomes the OAG review and outlines the progress the council has made around enhancing emergency preparedness.

"Since the flooding and cyclone events in early 2023, the council has been working tirelessly to improve how we respond to future emergency events and we have acted on the recommendations of the reviews. We have made real progress across a number of emergency preparedness areas.

"Sites for new Civil Defence centres across Auckland have been identified to increase their number and geographical spread. They are now being provisioned and resourced.

"In the training space, we conducted two large scale exercises (in October 2023 and March 2024), which gave us an opportunity to test our Emergency Coordination Centre, procedures, and response staff. Almost 400 Auckland Council staff have completed foundation level emergency management training through our ACES programme and new emergency response standard operating procedures and guides have been put in place for all staff, the Mayor and elected members.

"Getting local communities emergency ready is a crucial element in Auckland's emergency preparedness. A new team of community advisors are working with local boards to develop readiness and response plans and provide support to local boards to increase readiness capabilities.

"Communications support has been enhanced within AEM, focusing on digital platforms, accessibility, increasing public awareness and keeping the Mayor, elected members and key stakeholders informed, during and after an emergency response.

"The welfare coordination group has been reviewed and the terms of reference re-established to ensure a planned and well-coordinated cross agency approach to Auckland's future emergency responses."

The OAG report found that Auckland Council is better placed today than it was in early 2023 to respond to the next major emergency, noting "there is more work to do to fully address and keep working to implement the recommendations of the three Auckland reviews."

The OAG report also stated that Auckland Council, "accepted the recommendations of the three reviews and developed plans to implement them" and once fully implemented the OAG "considers that all 51 recommendations [across the three reviews] have been met."

Editor's notes:

• Auckland Emergency Management's budget has been boosted by $4.8 million to deliver on our Group Plan and fund resilience and readiness programmes

• We have secured in excess of $2 billion, including government and partner agency grants, for resilience projects and buy-outs

• We are working with our 21 local boards on Readiness and Response Plans

• People from across the Auckland Council group and our partner agencies have collectively completed 593 modules to be response-ready.

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