Rural residents should prepare for risks

• Published date: 02 June 2023
• Publication title: Oamaru Mail

North Otago Sustainable Land Management (Noslam) is hosting an adverse events workshop in the Weston Hall on June 8

It is inviting everyone who lives outside urban boundaries to go along and learn about likely risks in the near and more distant future and how to be ready to face them.

Noslam committee member Lyndon Strang said the group had looked at recent weather-related crises in various parts of New Zealand and considered the possibility they could become more severe, frequent and widespread.

While people could argue about this indefinitely, everyone needed to plan how to cope with floods, earthquakes or whatever else came their way, Mr Strang said.

The workshop aims to outline the roles groups such as the Waitaki District Council, Otago Civil Defence and Network Waitaki will take in an emergency, and encourage each rural community to ensure its residents are never left stranded.

‘‘You can feel a bit isolated in a rural area.’’ Mr Strang said.

‘‘It’s good to know there is back-up.’’

After the Kaikoura earthquake, a lot of people felt they had not been checked on, he said.

The Hawke’s Bay floods showed the need to look after neighbours and have a disaster response plan.

For example, every community needed to know who had a generator and who had satellite connectivity, in order to keep communication channels open.

It was important to include people living on lifestyle blocks. They were likely to have only small numbers of livestock and limited supplies of supplementary feed.

However, they should always have a buffer so animals had food and water for several...