Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence director Shane Briggs. Photo / Gary Hamilton-Irvine
Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence director Shane Briggs. Photo / Gary Hamilton-Irvine
Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence has appointed a new boss, who wants the region’s emergency response to be more “locally led” in another disaster.
Shane Briggs has been the acting group manager of Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group for the best part of a year, following the href="" rel="" title="">resignation of former group manager Ian Macdonald.
Last month, Briggs was permanently appointed to the director role after the top job was advertised.
The director role effectively replaces the group manager role.
The former Taranaki Civil Defence group manager, who moved to Hawke’s Bay after Cyclone Gabrielle, said there was a lot of work to be done.
He said one of his main focuses was implementing changes and reforms under what is known as the “transformation strategy”, signed off by the five Hawke’s Bay councils in January.
As well as that regional strategy, the Government is also working on plans to overhaul its national emergency management system, following reviews into weather events like Cyclone Gabrielle.
One such review highlighted that Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence and other officials were “simply overwhelmed” during Gabrielle in February 2023.
Severe flooding in Waiohiki near Napier during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / NZME
“At the moment, that is the main thrust of what we need to focus on,” Briggs said, of implementing the transformation strategy.
“That [strategy] talks about things like mana whenua being more involved, more of a community focus, it talks to having a more capable and confident and ready workforce, more resilient infrastructure for civil defence [and] better hazard and risk planning.”
He said in terms of the wider goal of those reforms, he wanted to see emergency response become more “locally led” in the region.
For example, he said there were no community emergency hubs in Hawke’s Bay when Gabrielle hit.
Community emergency hubs are places residents can go to in an emergency, such as a nearby school, marae, or community hall, which are run by communities (rather than an agency) and have resources readily available.
“There are 27 hubs that are fully established [now] and ready to go, with another 65 or so in progress,” Briggs said, for Hawke’s Bay.
“Those are community-established and community-led, and they will have various resources and systems.”
He said that was a significant improvement since the cyclone.
“If communities can look after themselves [immediately after a disaster], then it means we can focus the limited, scarce resources that we have on the communities that can’t,” he said, such as those in life-threatening situations.
He said it was also important to educate people about being prepared for emergencies and everybody having a role to play.
Many residents who needed them did not receive an emergency mobile alert warning them to evacuate until they were huddling under the eaves of their roofs or on top of tables in flooded homes, and in some cases they did not get one at all.
Briggs said the emergency mobile alert (EMA) system remained the best tool for emergency alerts in the country, and work was being done to improve that system which could benefit the region.
“There is some work to be done on whether the EMA can be sent over satellite to the phones.
“You will see now some new offerings, for example from One NZ, and Spark will be doing it soon, around having the mobile via satellite for text messages.
“So, that is something that is being looked at - is there ability in the future, with some development, to be able to push the [mobile alert] that way, so that if you don’t have the cell tower you will still get it by satellite.”
Briggs said Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence was part of a Hawke’s Bay Lifelines Engineering Group, which included telecommunications representatives, and was involved in those sort of discussions.
The next nationwide test of the EMA will be on May 25 between 6pm and 7pm.
Rebuilding reputation
When asked about rebuilding the reputation of Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence, Briggs said that would likely happen over time.
“That is part of the transformation strategy,” he said.
“It is going to be a long, hard road for us in that space, and that will only come with time, as more events happen and as we do better and demonstrate more of the work that we are doing to improve.”
Briggs leads a team of about 15 fulltime staff which could grow to about 21 under the reforms, not including the hundreds of people in partner agencies and groups trained by Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence to help in an emergency.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
