Community Response

Community response to emergencies

Communities are full of skilled and resourceful people, businesses, groups, and facilities that could help solve many of the challenges that your community will face after an earthquake.

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In a major emergency, official services are likely to be overwhelmed during a disaster and may not be able to respond to every issue immediately. Emergency and council services must prioritise the most urgent call-outs.

Everyone will have to pitch in and help each other.

Did you know, all the skilled people you need in an emergency are already in your community?

There are people in your neighborhood who have all the skills you need to help – people just like you!

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During disasters, councils and emergency services aren't the only ones responding.
Communities have many of the skills and resources needed to solve problems and help each other.
Community Emergency Hubs are a way for people to work together to solve problems locally while still coordinating with councils about really big problems

After a disaster, solve problems close to home first

Your first priority is to do what you can to make you and your households safe
If you can help other households or need help with yours, go out and check with your neighbours.
If there are people In your neighbourhood who are able to help others or need help themselves, check the surrounding streets to see what can be done. Many problems can be solved at this level.

Then go to your local Community Emergency Hub

Hubs are a place for the community to congregate and coordinate their response to assist each other. They are not reliant on the physical building, so if the Hub becomes unsuitable, you can move to a better venue.
The Hub has a basic start-up kit consisting of an AM/FM radio, maps and a Civil Defence VHF radio that allows communication with the wider official response if phone lines are not working.
Other community support groups may also self-organise in your area, and the official response may come in, if needed. Work with them to make sure everyone in need is reached, the workload is shared, and the overall response is efficient and coordinated.
People working at the Hub have no legal powers to take resources from anyone or force anyone to do anything. All laws still apply in an emergency.

Your local Emergency Operations Centre will support your activities

If help is needed within your community that the community can't provide themselves, let the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) know. They may be able to get help from a community near you or from city resources. Likewise, if you have people or resources that could help outside your community, let the EOC know.
If more than one EOC is active, they might need to coordinate with each other. They do this through the Emergency Coordination Centre which connects councils with regional and national resources.