9. CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National—West Coast - Tasman) Link to this
to the Minister of Civil Defence
To the Minister of—
Mr SPEAKERThank you, Mr Speaker. How has the Ministry of Civil Defence enhanced its communications with the public?
Hon JOHN CARTER (Minister of Civil Defence) Link to this
The recent tsunami event of 28 February showed that the ministry’s revised 24/7 duty arrangements and process for working with the media worked well. In addition, the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management website received 44,000 visitors on 28 February. This compares with an average of 350 visitors a day for the rest of February. The ministry’s Twitter feed went from 166 followers to 1,347, and the ministry’s RSS feed also had 2,800 individuals subscribing. The significant increases over normal traffic show the usefulness of social media for civil defence purposes. However, I remind members of the House that it is what the individual knows to do in time of emergency, and how prepared people are, that determines whether people will get through.
What other technical advances has the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management put in place?
I am happy to announce that just 2 weeks ago I attended the demonstration of the Emergency Management Information System, known as EMIS, for use in the National Crisis Management Centre. This system will greatly enhance New Zealand’s civil defence capabilities by allowing the Crisis Management Centre and the regions to coordinate information in real time to help us better manage emergencies, and thereby make New Zealand safer and more resilient.