Manutūkē Civil Defence boosted with emergency radios donated by Corrections

Arec's Steve Main (third from left) and Kiri Smith of Corrections (fourth from left) with Manutūkē Civil Defence members (from left) Mitch Jones, Tamsyn Ria, Kera Mita, Dave Pardoe and the donated radios. Photo / Wynsley Wrigley

Manutūkē Civil Defence is better prepared for emergencies after receiving radio equipment gifted by New Zealand Corrections.

The equipment consists of 24 UHF handheld radios and four mobile/base radios.

Dave Pardoe, of Manutūkē Civil Defence, said the radio equipment would be divided between their civil defence sectors at Ōhako and Pāhou Marae, which are on either side of the Te Ārai River.

The river can flood and divide the township in extreme weather events.

“Anytime there is an emergency on the northern side of the Te Ārai, Ōhako will be the civil defence centre and Pāhou Marae, which is down Tuaraki Rd, will be the emergency centre there,” Pardoe said.

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (Arec) upper north regional manager Steve Main told the Gisborne Herald the organisation was aware Corrections had surplus legacy radio equipment and the government department agreed to donate it to Manutūkē Civil Defence.

“I suggested Ōhako and Pāhou Marae as they were being proactive with establishing disaster communications and are frequently subjected to natural events.”

Main was able to delete the former channels from the radios and programme Personal Radio Service (PRS) frequencies into them to allow public use under a PRS General User Radio Licence.

Before getting the new radio equipment from Corrections, Ōhako Marae had hosted a New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters “Ham Cram” – a weekend condensed training course designed to help individuals get their amateur radio (ham radio) licence.

Manutūkē Civil Defence, mindful of what happened during Cyclone Gabrielle, wanted the ham radio courses to enhance communications capability during emergencies, said Main.

The courses were run by Arec through EIT Tairāwhiti’s Adult Community Education (Ace).