MEDIA RELEASE
Horizons Regional Council

Thursday 22 August 2013

Households more prepared to ‘get thru’

Results from the annual Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management Colmar Brunton poll are now out and households in the Horizons Region have indicated they are more prepared if disaster strikes.

After a drop in preparedness last year (15%), 17% of Horizons residents feel they are fully prepared in the event of a disaster. To be fully prepared a household will have an emergency survival plan, even for when they are not at home, will have emergency items and water and will regularly check and refresh these items.

Furthermore 31% of households in the Horizons Region have indicated they are prepared at home, 47% have an emergency plan and 82% have survival items.

Results from the Region echo those around the country, with the Canterbury earthquakes still the main prompt for people to be prepared. Even so levels of preparedness are not increasing dramatically with survey respondents stating barriers including low motivation (30%), perceived likelihood of disaster being low (27%), complacency (20%) and cost (16%).

Horizons Regional Council Manager of Emergency Management, Ian Lowe thinks the recent Central North Island earthquakes may spur more people into action.

“The recent shakes have got people talking about what they need to do to prepare for a disaster,” said Mr Lowe. For those not already fully prepared hopefully this will result in them actually taking actions to further their personal levels of preparedness.

“It is important that households create a plan to look after themselves and their loved ones for at least three days or more. This would include such things as where to meet up after a disaster, where to store emergency survival items and what to have in your getaway kits.”

If anyone would like any further advice or information they should contact their local Council’s Civil Defence Emergency Management Office. Information regarding preparation for natural disasters is also available from www.horizons.govt.nz or www.getthru.govt.nz.

ENDS

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