“Are you prepared to survive for several days without power?”

Whangārei Green Drinks presentation by Tony and Damien from Northland Civil Defence, went a long way to helping everyone present with the sort of information needed to be resilient in the event of this type of emergency.

Having a plan in place makes the difference between thriving or suffering through a variety of emergencies!

The opportunity to get concerns answered was very valuable and reassured people that basic individual actions and communal networks of support mean you have a far better chance of ‘surfing’ through challenging situations.

Civil Defence made it clear that they exist to support communities by co-ordinating the responses from emergency services. They are information providers whose aim is to prepare communities and set them up to survive emergencies. They’re not on the frontline like the fire service, police, St John, Northpower etc.

Their handouts are comprehensive and full of useful practical actions. We have some at He Awhi Rito, alternatively you’ll find lots of useful info on their website Civil Defence - Northland Regional Council or FB page (1) Facebook

Timebank has funding to build a support network in the event of an emergency, but it’s only as effective as the information members provide us with! In Whangārei we have a tick list members can fill in - so if you're reading this and would like to be a part of the network of support, please get in touch with me, Janey - janeype.tttimebank@gmail.com