Emergency Readiness- Is your household prepared?

On the 1st of April the WVA will be hosting Auckland Emergency Management for a redainess workshop.

Ahead of the workshop there are things we can do as a household to get ready for any eventuality. A great place to start is https://getready.govt.nz/prepared/household . You probably have most of the things you need already. You don’t have to have them all in one place, but you might have to find them in a hurry and/or in the dark. The key things to remember are:

• Water for three days or more — make sure you have at least nine litres of water for every person. This will be enough for drinking and basic hygiene. In our rural situation, make sure your can access the water in your tank without powever to your pump.

• Long-lasting food that doesn’t need cooking (unless you have a camping stove or gas barbecue) and food for babies and pets.

• Toilet paper and large plastic buckets for an emergency toilet - or prepare ways that you can use your septic tank without power.

• Work gloves and a properly-fitted P2 or N95 mask.

  
  

If you have special dietary needs, make sure you have enough to last three days at home. As well as in a grab bag. If you have to evacuate, emergency shelters may not have the food that you need.

Power cuts could affect EFTPOS and ATM machines, so it’s a good idea to have some cash at home.

Don't forget that you and your neighbours can help each other by sharing supplies too. 

By looking after yourself and your household, you'll also be helping emergency services focus their limited resources on the people who need the most help.

The WVA are in the process of writing our community response plan and would love to hear from you about ways that we can be better prepared as a community.

A household emergency plan lets everyone in your household know what to do in an emergency and how to get ready. Having a plan helps make actual emergency situations less stressful.

Make a plan with your whānau to get through an emergency. Think about the things you need every day and work out what you would do if you didn't have them.

Make sure your home emergency plan also lines up with emergency plans for your work, school, and other places where you spend a lot of time.

Access the form here https://getready.govt.nz/prepared/household/make-a-plan

Fill in the form then print it out, stick it on the fridge and make sure everyone knows the plan. Or save it as a PDF and email it to your whānau.

In some emergency situations phone connection may be unreliable. Therefore the WVA is looking at ways that we can stay connected. As the Community Response Plan is completed we will share more details both on our facebook page and this website.