Honoured for civil defence service

SERVICES HONOURED: Brian Shepherd receives his award from Andrew Hickey (left) from the Ministry of CDEM, and Mayor Meng Foon looks on.

ALEX Hills and Brian Shepherd have been awarded Ministerial Gold Awards for their contributions to Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM).

Mr Hills, community emergency manager for Patutahi, and Mr Shepherd, community emergency manager for Awapuni, were presented with their awards by Andrew Hickey from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.

The Tairawhiti CDEM Community Link Groups in Te Araroa, Waiapu, Uawa and Waikohu were presented with the same award earlier in the year at the annual CDEM Conference in Wellington.

The community link groups were formed in Tairawhiti after Cyclone Bola.

“The community link groups are a very important and valued part of the local Civil Defence Emergency Management structure,” said Tairawhiti CDEM manager Louise Bennett.

“They work in a structured way within their own communities, the Tairawhiti CDEM Team and our emergency service partners as we try to manage whatever event is occurring at the time,” said Ms Bennett.

“The Tairawhiti CDEM Community Link Groups have set an excellent example on how to be prepared, take the right action at the right time, and to work as a community to look after each other.

“They stand out as having gone over and above expectations to respond to long or strong earthquakes that have the potential to cause a local tsunami.

“The Ministerial Award recognises the actions of these groups and individuals within their communities and congratulates both their readiness and their actions responding to events over the years in the district, ranging from floods to earthquakes and tsunami warnings.”