Civil defence and emergency management

Disasters can occur through natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunami, fire, floods and volcanic eruptions, or through other hazards including chemical spills, power failures or interruptions to our essential services, such as water.

Emergency management procedures can be put in place in situations where normal response services cannot cope or potentially cannot cope.

We can't prevent disasters but we can take some simple steps to ensure that we can cope when they occur.

By arming ourselves with the correct tools and knowledge, we can, as individuals, families, businesses, volunteers, organisations and communities, reduce the impact that natural disasters have on us.

In a disaster, you may need to look after yourselves without outside assistance for at least three days. You’ll need to make sure you have enough supplies to last for this period.

Call Civil Defence on 0800 22 22 00 for information and advice before, during and after an emergency.

What to do before emergency strikes
Public alerting
Where to go
Auckland Engineering Lifelines Group
Volcanoes of Auckland

What to do before emergency strikes

Preparing and planning for a major disaster is essential for lessening the impacts of such events and helping recovery.

Visit the Auckland Emergency Management website for all you need to know about preparing your household for an emergency, and what you should have in your emergency survival and getaway kits.

Public alerting

Tsunami warning sirens

Tsunami warning sirens are currently installed at the following locations:

Rodney

• Omaha
• Point Wells
• Whangateau
• Waiwera

Waitakere

• Bethells
• Te Henga
• Piha (north and south)
• Karekare
• Huia
• Little Huia
• Whatipu
• Te Atatu (north and south)
• Herald Island
• Westpark Marina
• Hobsonville Airbase (Harrier Point)

Regular annual tests will be conducted at midday on the Sunday of the start and finish of daylight saving.

Tsunami signals

The following signals will be used during an actual Tsunami threat:

1. Alert signal (dash – dash – dot – dot) sounded for 15 minutes

This signal notifies residents that a tsunami threat has been received by Civil Defence.

Residents should respond by:

• evacuating beaches
• listening to the radio / TV for information
• preparing to evacuate their homes/ businesses if required.

2. Evacuate signal (dot-dot-dot) sounded in continuous burst for 15 minutes

The signal is used when a specific threat to the coastline has been confirmed.

Residents should respond by:

• Evacuating immediately to the nearest high ground
• Avoiding using personal transport (e.g. cars) unless absolutely essential, as this may cause congestion.

3. All clear signal (a continuous tone for 5 minutes)

The signal is used to notify that the threat of a tsunami has passed.

Residents should respond by:

• Returning to their home/business if not affected
• Following the directions of the emergency services in affected areas.

For more information email Civil defence.

Free text notification for Rodney ward residents

If you are a Rodney ward resident, you can register to receive text message notifications of Civil defence emergencies which will be sent direct to your mobile phone.

Text messages will only be sent in the event of a tsunami, a potential local emergency such as a cyclone or when a Civil Defence Emergency is likely to be declared. The service is free.

To register, text OPTNRDCD to 2678.

When registering from your mobile phone you will receive a message confirming registration was successful.

For more information email Civil defence.

Register for North Shore ward tsunami alerts

In the event of a tsunami evacuation warning, people registered on the system would receive an automated phone warning.

To register, you will need to specify a phone number, either a mobile or landline.

Contact us if you want to register.

The automated tsunami warning phone system is activated only when there is genuine concern that a tsunami large enough to be a threat is likely to reach the North Shore ward.

If the tsunami originates some distance from New Zealand, the wave height monitoring systems in the Far North of New Zealand and in the Pacific Islands will help the authorities assess the risk of a tsunami with considerable accuracy.

However, if a strong undersea earthquake or landslide close to the New Zealand coast generates a tsunami, there will be little or no time for official warnings. The closer the undersea earthquake is to the shore, the less time there will be to take action to avoid any tsunami generated.

Where to go

During an emergency you may be required to stay indoors or be asked to evacuate your home.

Listen to your radio for information and advice, or visit the Auckland Emergency Management website for emergency status updates.

Auckland Engineering Lifelines Group

The Auckland Engineering Lifelines Group is a collaborative group of over 20 lifeline utilities which work together to improve the region’s infrastructure resilience. 

The group undertakes projects to assess the impact of various hazards on Auckland’s infrastructure and identifies ways of reducing these impacts.

They also work to improve our ability to respond and recover, for example by identifying the priority infrastructure sites that should be recovered first to assist quicker community recovery.

Volcanoes of Auckland

The volcanic formations within the Auckland region have developed within the last 200,000 to 250,000 years.

Visit Volcanoes of Auckland to find out more about Auckland's volcanic formations. Find out how and when they originated, and more about future eruptions from Auckland's volcanic field.  

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