Regional Civil Defence Office Still In Business

The Canterbury Regional Emergency Management Office (EMO), previously located at the Environment Canterbury office on Kilmore Street, Christchurch, is now up and running in a temporary office in Papanui.

All of the Regional EMO staff had active roles throughout most of the response phase but are now returning to coordination of risk reduction, readiness, response and recovery programmes across the Canterbury region.

Jon Mitchell, Regional EMO Manager, said "The team has made a huge contribution to the earthquake response, often working extremely long hours, leading or supporting key functions within the Christchurch Response Centre or delivering services directly within the response itself".

Robert Upton, Canterbury CDEM Group Controller, took the regional lead in the response on 22 February, moving into the role of one of several "Response Directors" within the integrated Response Centre.

Jon Mitchell was Planning Intelligence Manager at Regional Emergency Coordination Centre, initially at the "Bunker" at Environment Canterbury's Kilmore Street office and later at the NZ-i3 facility at the University of Canterbury. He then took on the role of Planning and Intelligence Chief of Staff within the Response Centre and is now providing support to the National Controller's Team, whilst leading the re-establishment of the Regional EMO.

Mr Mitchell has also been providing business continuity advice to small and medium enterprises affected by the earthquake, reminding them that the need for continuity planning is all the more important whilst businesses are in temporary premises, suppliers and customers are vulnerable, and the risk of further quakes and secondary threats remains high. Like many businesses in Canterbury, the Regional EMO has had considerable practice in business continuity recently.

James Thompson, CDEM Group Operations and Training Coordinator, performed the role of Emergency Coordination Centre Manager, later Emergency Operations Centre Manager, and then Special Projects Officer at the Response Centre. James is now focusing on enhancing response coordination training, with lessons learnt from both quake responses, as he leads the re-activation of Canterbury's Emergency Management Training Centre (www.emtc.ac.nz). Professionally developed and delivered response and coordination training is more popular than ever.

Andrew Howe, CDEM Group Logistics Coordinator, played a lead role in logistics support at the Emergency Coordination Centre and Response Centre. Andrew is now taking a lead in ensuring that equipment and information management needs are addressed to enable the Emergency Management Office to be fully functional and to ensure that regional support and coordination can be provide in any future emergency.

Janelle Mackie, EMTC Course Coordinator, and Jude Lathey, Administrative Support, played integral roles within both response centres and have also been active in their volunteer roles. Janelle was one of the team of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) dog handlers who played such a critical role in the first two weeks of the response. Jude and Janelle have also been assisting in the removal of vehicles from the CBD.

The Regional EMO, along with the regional council functions based at the Environment Canterbury's Kilmore Street buildings, has had to find a temporary home until the damaged Copthorne Hotel on Durham Street is fully secured. The Emergency Coordination Centre "Bunker", designed to withstand an 8.2 magnitude Alpine Fault earthquake, from which regional support and coordination to emergency responses anywhere in Canterbury is usually provided, is almost completely undamaged, but the Copthorne Hotel is currently a risk to staff and to the buildings around it.

In the meantime, the Emergency Management Office will have its mobile Coordination Centre radio and satellite communications systems ready to be deployed to the most suitable location should emergencies occur in Canterbury in the near future.

"We are ready as always to support responses anywhere in Canterbury or elsewhere in the New Zealand, just as our colleagues from throughout the country have done in support of us over the past 6 months" said Mr Mitchell.

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