Civil Defence in Southland

The Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 requires the Southland District Council to have a Civil Defence organisation.

The Act also requires the Southland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, of which Council is a member, to have a Civil Defence Plan.  The plan must be reviewed at least every five years and lists who can declare a Civil Defence emergency and who can direct the response to a disaster.

The Group Plan lists the Mayor as the person to declare a Civil Defence emergency and the Controller as the person who directs the response to a disaster.

Who is Civil Defence in your area?

You are. When you and your family are familiar with this basic Civil Defence information Civil Defence is already working.
Community Civil Defence preparedness depends on volunteers who give up some of their private time to train to ensure that when a Civil Defence emergency arises these volunteers respond.

Your Civil Defence organisation

Civil Defence depends on trained volunteers:

• To staff Civil Defence centres.
• As members of initial response teams.
• As members of basic rescue teams.
• As street co-ordinators.

Southland District is divided into 15 sectors with each Sector based on a community of interest. The Sectors are: Edendale, Lumsden, Mossburn, Nightcaps, Ohai, Otautau, Riversdale, Riverton, Stewart Island, Te Anau, Toetoes (Wyndham), Tuatapere, Waikaia, Wallacetown, and Winton.

In each Sector there is a designated Emergency Operations Centre staffed by volunteers who live within the Sector area. The Emergency Operations Centre is led by a Sector Manager who co-ordinates the overall response of a team with responsibility for functions such as Planning, Intelligence, Operations, Logistics and Welfare. Performed within the functions above will be activities such as communications, supply, transport, rescue, casualty and safety.

Thus an Emergency Operations Centre can be likened to a business with the functions as departments and the Sector Manager as Director.

Each Sector also has township and rural contact persons responsible for defined areas.  These contacts are the “eyes and ears” of the Civil Defence organisation and they report to the Sector Manager. 

Each Sector Manager, if communications are available, reports to the District Emergency Operations Centre, which manages the overall co-ordination of Civil Defence for the whole of the Southland District.