A series of Community Civil Defence Response Wānanga is being held throughout the district to help prepare people for future emergencies.

The aim of the district-wide get-togethers is to bring communities together to form community resilience plans.

The wānanga are organised by the Wairoa District Council to empower communities to be as self-sustaining as possible during Civil Defence emergencies and weather events.

Wairoa District Council Chief Executive Matt Lawson said the workshops are about coming together, sharing intel, resources and needs of families in the area, and bringing all that local knowledge together and putting it into a plan.

“The wānanga are for the community, by the community, with local intelligence, knowledge, resources, and leadership at the heart of every plan.

“Key objectives from the workshops include building a trusted team of community response personnel who will play key roles during emergencies, building a database of vulnerable kaumātua/elderly and families, identifying key champions to connect with Wairoa’s Emergency Operations Centre (Civil Defence operations at Council) and building a database of equipment and materials that can be used during a response.”

The weekend events are being facilitated by Lillian Ward and Harry McClutchie from Tokomaru Bay. The pair are champions for Te Akau o Tokomaru – the local group in Tokomaru Bay that activates when their community goes into Civil Defence mode. They and their hapu/community designed and now run their own Community Civil Response Plan. When there’s a flood or weather event that isolates families in Tokomaru Bay, they activate their community resilience plan, look after themselves, and simply advise Tairawhiti Civil Defence what support they need.

The wānanga will cover natural disaster preparedness, community response models and response roles, teams and functions.

Workshops will be held over the next few months. For more information and to register for a wānanga near you, please email
Community Engagement Manager Austin King austin@wairoadc.govt.nz

2 September 2025

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