In a major disaster, official services may be stretched and forced to prioritise the most urgent needs. This means we may need to support each other when help is not immediately available.
When you have checked on your household and neighbours, you and your family can go to your local Community Emergency Hub to:
- Ask for and offer help by sharing skills and resources among your community
- Share and find information about what's happening in your suburb
- Start organising the clean-up of your community
- Be in the company of others facing a similar situation.
Find your community emergency hub
Hubs are located across the District at community facilities and schools, and can be opened by keyholders living in the local area.
Locations:
- Ashley Rakahuri School (4 Boundary Road, Ashley) Hub Guide
- Cust Community Centre (Mill Road) Hub Guide
- Fernside Memorial Hall (287 O'Roarkes Road) Hub Guide
- Kaiapoi Borough School (20 Hilton Street) Hub Guide
- Kaiapoi North School (278 Williams Street) Hub Guide
- Loburn School Hall (73 Hodgsons Road) Hub Guide
- North Loburn School (813 Loburn Whiterock Road) Hub Guide
- Ohoka School (261 Jacksons Road, Ohoka) Hub Guide
- Oxford Area School Library (52 Bay Road) Hub Guide
- Pegasus Community Centre (8 Tahuna Street) Hub Guide
- Rangiora Borough School (64 Church Street) Hub Guide
- Sefton Hall (591 Upper Sefton Road) Hub Guide
- Southbrook School (26 Marshall Street, Rangiora) Hub Guide
- Swannanoa School Hall (1305 Tram Road) Hub Guide
- Te Matauru School (59 Pentecost Road) Hub Guide
- The Sterling Retirement Village – Clubhouse (300 Island Road, Silverstream) Hub Guide
- View Hill School (496 Island Road, View Hill) Hub Guide
- West Eyreton School (1651 North Eyre Road) Hub Guide
- Woodend Youth Centre (38 Rangiora Woodend Road) Hub Guide
How to run your community emergency hub
Hubs are run without official assistance and can be opened by community members who have a key.
Each Hub has a Hub Guide, which walks you through how to coordinate your neighbourhood response, and what roles need filling. Roles are allocated on the day, depending on who turns up.
While the Community Emergency Hubs are set up to run without official assistance, our Civil Defence and Emergency Management team are always here to help. Hub teams can communicate with the Emergency Operations Centre and seek help for issues you need some extra support with addressing in your neighbourhood.
What we've provided for you
Each community emergency hub has a guide for how to coordinate a local emergency response.
Hubs are set up with a small amount of equipment such as a radio to reach official centres, stationery, signage, whiteboards, first aid gear and maps. These items help coordinate a localised response while waiting for help from officials.
Frequently asked questions
A community emergency hub is needed when there has been a major emergency where people need assistance, and the support needed is beyond the current capability of council and emergency services.
If official support is available from the council and emergency services, then you probably don't need to open a hub.
Our Emergency Management team works closely with local communities to establish each hub. This includes training for the local hub leadership team, providing signage and equipment, working with the community to develop a Safety Plan, promoting each hub and ongoing support as able during actual emergencies.
If the hub has not opened, local communities can try and find a hub leadership team member or as directed by the hub team, find another venue to set up the Community Hub.
If the hub building is damaged or there is a risk to safety from the surrounding area, then the community emergency hub should not be opened. If this happens, try to find another venue to set up the Hub.
Civil Defence Centres are opened up and managed by Civil Defence Emergency Management staff and/or volunteers and are where people can go if they require emergency shelter, food, water and up-to-date information.
A community emergency hub is not the same as a Civil Defence Centre. These hubs are opened up by the community, where neighbours can go to support each other.
Community emergency hubs do not hold supplies, food, water or blankets. Most households should have enough supplies to get them through the first week after an emergency. Your community can gather the things it needs by working together via the hub.
Community emergency hubs are an interim measure that can provide help and support to local communities until officials can reach them. If people have serious injuries or are at serious risk, emergency services will get to them as soon as possible.
You can contact our Emergency Management team to discuss setting up a community emergency hub in your local area.
Contact:
Dean Eades
Emergency Management Advisor
Email: dean.eades@wmk.govt.nz
Cellphone: 027 216 5704