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Waitakere City Emergency Operations Centre Opens

Media Release

26 September, 2007


Waitakere City Emergency Operations Centre Opens


Waitakere’s new Emergency Operations Centre has been officially opened. 

Civil Defence Minister Rick Barker and Mayor Bob Harvey opened the city’s new civil defence headquarters in front of a crowd of people including those involved in the first wave of any response to a natural disaster – the Police, Fire, Air force and civil defence personal.     

“Every night when you watch the news you see there are disasters all over the world, from fires in Australia to landslides in South America to flooding in England – and these events can overwhelm you if aren’t ready and people aren’t prepared,” Mayor Harvey says.

“This emergency operations centre acknowledges that this isn’t a game – this is a purpose built civil defence centre of excellence that people can trust and believe in,” the Mayor says.

“As Mayor of this city I have always felt an enormous responsibility to be prepared for a natural disaster and I feel that this is a centre where events can be controlled from.”

Mayor Harvey also noted the new coastal warning system that is being rolled out throughout the country and was recently installed on Waitakere’s West Coast –allowing the city for the first time to have a mass public warning system. 

As Minister Rick Barker told the audience, it is essential that New Zealand be well prepared for an emergency as the country is susceptible to all types of natural disasters.

New Zealand has large fault-lines running through the country, it is frequently subjected to high winds and heavy rainfall, and the country was host to possibly the largest volcanic eruption in the history of the planet when Lake Taupo erupted Minister Barker said.

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“For New Zealand to be ready to respond to a disaster we have to have plans at a national level, a regional level and also at a local level.

“But if we are to really going to look after ourselves in a disaster then we must also prepare at an individual level,” he said.


“The message as you all know is be prepared – get ready, get thru.”


In the event of an emergency Waitakere’s $2.5 million Emergency Operations Centre can be self-sustaining – it has its own water supply, an independent sewerage system if needed, solar power to back its emergency generators and has enough space to double as a regional civil defence headquarters if needed.


It also has state of the art radio systems, elaborate computer networks, and is purposely situated in Glendene – one of the highest elevations possible in urban Waitakere.

ends

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