Katikati has a new emergency response team formed after Cyclone Gabrielle

Chris Webb and John Bothwell from the new Katikati Emergency Response Team.

A new emergency management team has been formed to co-ordinate Katikati’s response to large scale emergency events.

Katikati Emergency Response Team (KERT) is made up of a familiar group of local community leaders.

The initiative largely came about after the disastrous Cyclone Gabrielle flooding and subsequent isolation of communities - especially from the Hawke’s Bay to Gisborne regions.

Primary controller John Bothwell says Gabrielle showed people just how isolated small communities can be in a disaster and how each community had to operate on their own.

The new group’s area of focus is Katikati. Much of its coastal area is low lying and in the tsunami evacuation zone.

“There’s six bridges between Katikati and Ōmokoroa and a few are 6-7 metres below, while others are only a few metres. Just south of Katikati there’s one that just a metre below. It wouldn’t take much for those areas to flood and then we’re locked,” Bothwell said.

“We’d be on our own. We couldn’t get any heavy equipment from north or south so the adage is be self resilient for two to three days until help arrives, even up to five days.”

Backup controller Chris Webb reiterates the public needs to be aware of what they need, before they need it.

“There is a tendency to think that the cavalry will come marching in and that’s probably the biggest attitudinal change that we need to get across.”

Locals will soon receive the brochure Community Guide to Emergencies produced by Western Bay of Plenty District Council with input from KERT which is due out in September with the Lions Club of Katikati directory. The brochure details preparation including getting together a ‘grab bag’.

“Nature doesn’t take prisoners, you’ve got to be prepared for the worst possible scenario and hope it never happens,” Bothwell said.

KERT secretary Sandra Haigh mans the command centre and monitors emergency communications.

The new group is in place of the old local Civil Defence group which disbanded around the Covid-19 pandemic. The new steering group has been meeting since February, 2023 and operate out of The Hub.

The team comprises personnel with emergency management experience and works closely with Western Bay of Plenty District Council emergency management advisers. Along with Bothwell and Webb, team members are Chris Keightley, Trevor Burgess, Trevor Gilbert, Kristin Crockett, Sandra Haigh, Donna Hannah, Valarie Uilou, Jan de Faye, Shaan Kingi and Peter McKay.

An upgraded welfare centre has been developed at the central Katikati Community Baptist Church in Wedgewood St. The site has a water tank, emergency generator and an extension to Katikati Christian Foodbank. The centre is also close to Katikati Fire Brigade, St John Katikati and Red Cross Katikati, who they work in with, as well as Katikati Community Centre, church groups and local marae.

Bothwell said the welfare centre can cater for up to 100 people in an emergency and be self-sufficient if power and water services were out for five days.

“Plans are being developed to replicate this facility at other potential sites, north and south of the main township,” he said.

The next step for KERT will be a series of public meetings to engage the community to be more prepared for emergencies.