Disaster and recovery topics of Civil Defence conference

The danger and impact of bushfires will be one topic covered at Northland's annual Civil Defence Emergency Management Forum. Photo/Michael Cunningham.

Australia's worst-ever bushfires, the Port Hills fire and Northland's Civil Defence response to the Kaikoura earthquake will be among topics at a regional Civil Defence conference in Whangarei.

At the conference later this month, Australian disaster recovery specialist Anne Leadbeater OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) will talk about the lessons learned and the long-term community recovery from the impact of Victoria's Black Saturday fires.

More than 400 fires resulted in 173 people dying, more than 400 being injured and 2000-plus homes destroyed in February 2009.

Lessons from the February Port Hills fires near Christchurch will also be presented to the Civil Defence Forum by Marlborough rural fire officer Richard McNamara.

The two are among speakers talking on a range of specialist emergency and disaster management topics at Northland's annual Civil Defence Emergency Management Forum in Whangarei on Wednesday May 17.

Northland Civil Defence staff's in-the-field experiences supporting the national Kaikoura earthquake response will be among other forum highlights.

New Zealand director of Civil Defence Sarah Stuart-Black will talk about civil defence from a national perspective.

"The forum is Northland's major one-stop-shop conference feature bringing together some of the latest information of interest to those in the region's Civil Defence emergency management industry," said Kim Abbott, Northland Civil Defence officer.

The event will be held at Forum North in Whangarei. About 200 people are expected to attend from sectors including industry emergency response services and community civil defence groups.

It starts at 9am and is also open to interested general public.