Waitaki

This vibrant district is home to nearly 23,200 residents and reaches inland from the Waitaki River mouth up the Waitaki Valley through Ohau to the top of the Ahuriri River Valley and extends south along the east coast beyond Palmerston to Flag Swamp.

The Waitaki District can experience storms, flooding, earthquakes, infrastructure failure, space weather and has low lying areas that are at risk to tsunami. 

For more information about hazards in the Waitaki district, visit Otago Regional Council's natural hazards portal

Being prepared to look after yourself during an emergency will help you, your family and community through times of disruption.  

• Get Home Ready

If life or property is at immediate risk, always call 111.

If you need assistance during an emergency, your first point of contact should be family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, or those immediately around you wherever you are. 

During an emergency, information will be available through several channels from Emergency Management Otago and Waitaki District Council.

When an emergency affects the district, the Waitaki District Council will provide information to the community and visitors through a variety of channels, including their website and Facebook

The Council will also use traditional media channels like radio and local newspapers to share information if available. 

Leave home only if you are in immediate danger or if you are officially advised to.

Stay inside (unless you are advised to evacuate) if there is a chemical or gas disaster or a storm. Listen to the radio, look at online media channels or TV for information. If the power is off, you can use a radio app on your phone, a solar or battery powered radio or your car radio.

If you need to evacuate, secure your home as though you were going on holiday and turn off power, water, and gas. Ensure each adult in your household knows how to turn these off.

Evacuate if there is:

• Fire - get out and stay out
• If an earthquake is Long or Strong, Get Gone. Move immediately to high ground if there is a large earthquake and you are near sea level on the coast, as tsunami can follow earthquakes
• Official advice to do so (Take your grab bag and listen to your radio).

No one knows a community better than those who live in it!

Community Resilience Groups are a team people in your area who are trained to open and run a Community Emergency hub.  They work with Emergency Management Otago to develop community response plans by the community, for the community. They are a great way for the community to come together, discuss and outline how they plan to respond and keep each other safe during an emergency event.

To ensure that Community Resilience Groups have the capability to activate, training can be provided by Emergency Management Otago to cover:

• Community Emergency Hub operations.
• Health and safety requirements 
• Status reporting and radio communications.

Contact your local Emergency Management Advisor for further information on creating a community resilience group for your area or to join an existing one. 

Emergency Management Otago works with communities across Waitaki to develop capability and resilience within each community so that they can prepare for and respond to emergencies. 

Together we have created a series of community resilience guides. These are living documents and are a short, ready-reference guide with information about local hazards and practical tips for preparedness.

Duntroon Community Resilience Guide

Hampden Community Resilience Guide

Moeraki Community Resilience Guide

Omarama Community Resilience Guide

Waihemo Community Resilience Guide