Media Release

11 October 2016

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10-year-old Karauria Hamiora knows how to “Get Ready”

Ten-year-old Karauria Hamiora knows what to do in case of a civil defence emergency – grab food, water, clothes and the first aid kit.

In recognition of this week’s annual Get Ready campaign, which this year focuses on preparing children, Karauria’s Mum Jenna Samuel sat down with her son to talk about emergency preparedness.

Jenna asked what he’d do in an emergency if he and his young cousin Marky were at home and no adults were nearby.

He said they would get out of the house. “I’d grab Marky a game, some food, water, clothes and the first aid kit.”

Jenna says it’s imperative her son is prepared.

“I want to know that my son is confident in himself until help arrives,” she says.

Karauria soaks in his mum’s story as she recalls living through the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake and talks about her father returning home.

“Koro came tearing back from work, because Koro use to work at Tasman Pulp and Paper. [He] came rushing back, Nanny was screaming, she didn’t know what to do. First thing Koro did was [he] grabbed me and Uncle Tangimoana and Nan and then put us in the doorway and went over the top of us. While that was happening the house literally fell down around us.”

Jenna quizzes Karauria about what he should grab in any emergency.

“Food, water, clothes and a first aid kit,” he says.

Jenna says those were the same items his Koro told her to grab when she was a child. Karauria believes it’s important for children to know what to do in an emergency so they can get out safely”.

Jenna is proud of her son and his knowledge about how to “Get Ready”.

“As a mother, I’d like to know that if a disaster was to hit, my son can not only take care of himself, but other people that are around him as well. After coming from a disaster myself, I know how hard it can be on a child,” she says.

She encourages every family to ensure they have an emergency plan to keep them safe.

Rotorua district’s Primary Emergency Management Controller, Stavros Michael, agrees and reiterates how important it is for families to have an emergency plan and to pack a kit with some food, water and warm clothes.

He says children play a key role in educating families about emergency preparedness.

“Children are very important in that respect because they can influence parents and ask them have you got emergency supplies, have we got a plan, do we know what to do in an emergency and if we don’t what do we have to do to make sure we have a plan in place,” he says.

Click here to find more information about how to “Get Ready”.

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