Kiwis ahead of the Aussies in Emergency Management

Tuesday, 8 May 2007, 5:34 pm
Press Release: Open Polytechnic

Kiwis ahead of the Aussies in Emergency Management, says international expert.

"Since the recent Tsunami panic on the Australian East coast in April, Australians are particularly interested in New Zealand", says Open Polytechnic of New Zealand based crisis communication expert Dr Gary Mersham .

"New Zealand has recently jacked up its public warnings methodologies since the Tsunami controversy in May last year and is one of the world leaders in employing automated sensor alarm systems. The dissemination of information about the April Tsunami and the containment of the Mt Ruapehu lahar were good examples", he said. "There's still work to be done regarding warning systems for coastal communities, but these are being progressively implemented".

Dr Mersham, a communications scientist, has consulted to many large multinationals and the South African government, developing Disaster Management plans and crisis communications systems. He is presently researching Municipal Disaster Management systems in New Zealand.

He has been invited to present a keynote address at the international Conference on Emergency Management to be held in Brisbane, 10-14 May, hosted by the Australian Government's Emergency Management department in conjunction with the University of Southern Queensland. The paper will explore Emergency Management failures in internal and external communications.

He says that the main challenge facing Municipal Emergency Managers is that their role is often misunderstood and they do not get the opportunity to participate at the highest levels of strategic planning.

This was a problem because Emergency Management was attracting increasing attention as a result of a series of high profile natural disasters, global warming and international terrorism. Greater cooperation and knowledge exchange between Australia and New Zealand are possible in the near future, he says.

ENDS

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