Prepare for Covid-19, floods and Alpine quake

The man in charge during a state of emergency in Southland is urging people to plan for floods, the Covid19 pandemic and the Alpine Fault earthquake.

Emergency Management Southland group controller Simon Mapp said now was a good time to get ready.

The spread of Covid-19 in the south was just one scenario people could stock-up for, Mapp said, and the preparations should include treats for children to get through self-isolation, as well as stocks of basic medication.

Covid-19 had shown an international pandemic could come to New Zealand and change our lives.

A plan should basically have people ready for any situation where they could not get home, including who would pick up the kids, a meeting place if someone could not get home, and what to do if phone lines were down, he said.

Another simple tip was to fill plastic drink bottles and containers with water and keep them in the cupboard.

It was better to be prepared when in a ‘‘fight, flight or freeze’’ inducing scenario, he said.

Last year, Emergency Management Southland polled people on social media, at Field Days and at supermarkets about preparedness.

Fifty per cent of the 618 respondents had some form of emergency plan.

More respondents had plans when the survey was done last year, after the February floods, Mapp said.

He put that down to a ‘‘halo effect’’. We were used to living in a Covid-19 world, and the annual surveying started after the district had come through the February 2020 floods, which were no longer in the front of people’s minds, he said.

Mapp also found many people surveyed considered themselves unprepared, but in reality had a tramping bag, a generator or even a motor home.

When asked what he was most concerned about, Mapp said an Alpine Fault quake was always in the back of the mind, but floods were the most frequent and impactful.

As a former police sergeant who worked in family violence, Mapp was conscious that not everyone could afford to fill the pantry for a week or two in advance.

However, he urged people to prepare however they could, and just not for a virus.

At a Southland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group meeting last month, committee members were presented a general report that says the likelihood of an Alpine Fault earthquake has increased.

The probability of an Alpine Fault earthquake in the next 50 years has gone up from 30 per cent, to 75 per cent.

Many of Southland’s daily supplies came from Christchurch and Dunedin, so an Alpine Fault quake required planning, Mapp said.

A preparedness plan template can be found on getready.govt.nz.