The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has published its internal review report of its response to the North Island Severe Weather Events of early 2023.
NEMA’s Internal Operational Lessons Report is attached and will be available to read atwww.civildefence.govt.nz.
NEMA’s Acting Chief Executive Jenna Rogers says it is standard practice for NEMA to conduct an internal review of its operational response after emergency events.
“Each emergency event is unique and presents an opportunity to identify lessons to improve our readiness, response and recovery capability for the future.
“This report provides us with an opportunity for reflection, and to reach out to our colleagues across the emergency management system and share what we have identified – including those things that went well and where improvements are needed.
“Our thoughts are with the whānau of the fifteen people who tragically lost their lives during these events. We acknowledge that local communities are still recovering and will wear the scars of these events for some time.
“We also acknowledge and recognise the efforts and sacrifices of all those who worked on the response. These were challenging events, that stretched the entire emergency management system’s capabilities and capacity, but everyone involved put in an extraordinary effort to support our communities and each other.”
Ms Rogers says that while this was an internally focused review, NEMA’s lessons are broadly consistent with the Government Inquiry’s findings and recommendations.
NEMA’s review was internally focused on three main themes: people and capabilities; policies and procedures; and technology, equipment, and facilities.
The lessons are consistent with those of other reviews and reports which show there is a lack of emergency management leadership experience and depth within NEMA and across the emergency management system. Some of the key lessons include:
· Science, intelligence and geospatial capability and capacity need to be enhanced to build situational awareness and support decision making during emergencies.
· There continues to be a need for a shared, system-wide “single source of the truth” (Common Operating Picture).
· The NCC/NCMC facility is not fit for purpose especially for a response of this scale. NEMA and NCC/NCMC IT was not reliable.
· Deployment of emergency management professionals into the regions was vital to support emergency response operations at local and regional levels.
· NEMA should build on the selection, training and exercising for emergency management sector deployments to grow capability and capacity to meet future demand.
· NEMA’s well-established relationships across the all-of-government network, and internationally, served us well in our lead agency capacity.
“Every response is a chance for us to further refine the way we do things, and we’re already implementing lessons we identified from this event,” said Ms Rogers.
“This includes a requirement for NEMA staff to devote twenty per cent of their time to strengthening their operational readiness, as well as streamlining the deployment process for surging support staff into impacted areas during emergencies.
“This year’s national Alpine Fault exercise will provide an opportunity to put those improvements into practice.”
Note: NEMA’s review was separate to the Government Inquiry into the Response to the North Island Severe Weather Events which had a broader focus to ensure that the design of New Zealand’s emergency management system is appropriate to support readiness for, and responses to, future emergency events.
