Outgoing Civil Defence chief warns Wellington to plan and be ready for the next fight

Bruce Pepperell announced his resignation as head of the Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office today. Photo / File

Wellington's being told to get ready for the next fight.

The warning comes from the man who's stepping down after leading the response to the capital's biggest earthquake since 1855 - the Kaikoura earthquake on Monday November 14 last year.

Bruce Pepperell announced his resignation as head of the Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office, or WREMO, today while reporting back on the earthquake response a Civil Defence Emergency Management Group joint committee meeting in Upper Hutt today

He told those gathered that overall, Wellington's response following the Kaikoura earthquake was good.

While the city was still feeling the after-shocks, it was hit by a deluge that caused extensive flooding adding to the chaos.

Bruce Pepperell says if anyone had written an exercise scenario that said you were going to have your largest earthquake since 1855, followed by a tsunami, followed by floods, slips and swarms of bees and just about everything else, you would have said: don't be ridiculous.

But he's made a number of recommendations for improvement, the most important of which is teamwork - and warns Wellington needs to be prepared. "We need to be ready for the next fight because it's the next fight that's important, it's not the one you've just finished that defines you."

Bruce Pepperell was appointed manager of the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office, or WREMO, in October 2011.

Civil Defence Emergency Management Group joint committee chair Ray Wallace says,since then, Pepperell has made Wellington better prepared for a natural disaster.

He's seen the organisation go from many staged groups into one united force.