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The key to surviving any civil defence emergency, if you live on Whangaparaoa Peninsula, will be getting together as a community and being prepared, according to Janice Haferkamp of the Whangaparaoa Community Response Group.
Whangaparaoa Community Response Group is a small group of volunteers, which was set up in 2012 by Auckland Council with the goal of building resilience in communities. The group is now independent but works closely with Council’s Auckland Emergency Management arm.
Janice says a key role is to support the Whangaparaoa community in an emergency by providing a number of community evacuation centres.
Eight strategically placed facilities have been identified on the peninsula which can be used as safe places where people can gather to support each other and share resources and information during an emergency.
These centres are at the Hibiscus Coast Community RSA in Vipond Road, Whangaparaoa College, St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Manly Methodist Church, Peter Snell Youth Village, Whangaparaoa Golf Club, Gulf Harbour Country Club and the YMCA Shakespear Lodge.
A map is still being finalised that includes advice on emergency preparedness and the location of your nearest community evacuation centre. Details will be published in this paper in due course.
Janice says the big issue on the peninsula, at least until Penlink is built, is access with one road in and out, making it conceivable that the area could be isolated in an emergency. Flooding can also occur and availability of household water, should rainwater tanks be damaged, may also be a concern.
Disasters do not have to be the result of weather events – an outbreak of a virus such as Covid-19 could also isolate the community.
Currently the response group is looking at what it will take to make the various evacuation centres well prepared.
They are also working with the Hibiscus Coast Radio Club on how communications can be maintained in an emergency, including between the evacuation centres.
“We are one spoke in the wheel – there are a lot of groups on the peninsula such as Lions, Rotary, the Defence Force, Fire and Emergency, Police and Neighbourhood Support and local pharmacies like Unichem Manly. All of us working together is what will create resilience,” Janice says.
