Can you identify any of these people?

Our office was burgled during the night between Thursday 15 and Friday 16 February.

A number of laptops, emergency supplies, day packs and tools were stolen. These items are integral to the response the Porirua City Council can make in a civil emergency and of course if we have an emergency before the items are returned or replaced the response will be severely diminished. The emergency centre is a community based resource.

The Porirua Police have posted some CCTV footage of people carrying our stolen gear as they passed though the subway by Porirua train station. If you recognise any of the people in this footage, or have any information about this incident, please contact Constable Damian Parker at the Porirua Police 04 439 0624 or call Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. All calls are confidential. When calling please quote reference 120217/0681.

https://www.facebook.com/PoriruaPolice#!/photo.php?v=261078680637166

https://www.facebook.com/PoriruaPolice#!/photo.php?v=261079770637057

February 22 - One year on

I wasn't there, so I can't give a personal view of the actual Canterbury quake of February 22nd 2011. I have friends and family who lived through the quakes, and some came through it better than others, but the general concensus was that it sucked big time. I can't give justice to the enormity of it without having lived through it, so I'm not going to try. I'm sure there will be plenty of stories in the media about people's personal experiences.

For myself, this time last year I was attending an Emergency Management conference at the Amora Hotel in Wellington, along with many of the Emergency Management Officers from around the country. Many of the Canterbury Emergency Management staff were at the conference to present on their experiences of the September quake.

We had listened to a presentation from Dr Kelvin Berryman from GNS Science about the first quake. I vividly remember him saying that it was remarkable how well the majority of buildings in Christchurch had come through, but he wouldn't want to roll the dice again.

We'd just stepped out for lunch when phones started ringing just after 12:51, and then almost every phone in the room went off with a Geonet notification of a 6.3 quake right under Christchurch. There were hurried conversations and more phone calls, and people started leaving. The conference staff looked a bit sad as their entire conference walked out the door. Conferenz has very kindly rescheduled it for next week, now new and improved with even more lessons learned!

The Canterbury staff headed straight to the airport to get the first flight able to land at Christchurch Airport, and many of us headed straight to the National Crisis Management Centre under the Beehive - "The Bunker" was up and running, and fully staffed within about 30 minutes of the quake. I had worked there after the September quake, but had come in on about Day 3, this time I was there from the get go - at the turning on the computers and opening up a new incident file stage.

It was quite a different experience , but quickly settled into the routine of not having much idea what was going on in the world anywhere other than in Canterbury, and going left to the ladies room, when I should have gone right, or was it the other way round? The NCMC is arranged in a ring in the basement of the Beehive, so either way worked. Finding the exit after a night shift is the tricky part, despite it being well signposted.

There were some quite hard moments - many staff had friends or family in Canterbury, and it wasn't uncommon to find people taking a moment in a quiet space to deal with their emotions.

People in Canterbury all know where they were at 12:51 on Tuesday 22 February 2011 - my Facebook newsfeed is full of the oddest things my Christchurch friends remember about the morning before the quake, where they were at the time, and the things they did immediately after. For some (me too), the week after seems to be a bit of a blur, but the day itself was crystal clear.

Do you remember where you were that day, when you found out what had happened? You might have been at home, at work, out and about, at school. If you think back, if it had happened here, at that time, how would you have coped? Did you have a plan for how to get your family in contact and reunited? Did you have enough water and food and other survival items stored at home to help you through at least a few days?

And how about now, one year later? Now that you've had a chance to see just what a disaster of that scale can do to a city, what it does to people, and how people coped and helped each other, have you taken some steps to improve how prepared your family is?

We're interested in finding the most prepared family, business and school in Porirua, so tell us your story!

More wind for Friday

MetService has issued a Severe Weather Warning for strong winds tomorrow.

Between 5am Friday and 6am Saturday, northwest winds are expected to reach 65 km/h at times, with gusts up to 130 km/h. These winds have the potential to cause damage to trees
and powerlines, and make driving very hazardous.

So make sure you have secured all the things that can blow around outside your house, and if you have problems with your roof lifting in the wind, call 111 and ask for the Fire Service - there were quite a few calls for that on Sunday in the last storm we had.

Wind and rain - batten down the hatches!

MetService has issued a Severe Weather Warning for the Wellington area for strong southeasterly gales gusting to 120km/h in exposed places, as well as heavy rain - 60-80mm over the 12 hours from 9am today.

Make sure that you have secured loose items around the outside of your house, things that can blow around and cause damage, like outdoor furniture & trampolines, and things that just get messy,like the rubbish and recycling bins, and make sure the gutters are clear to help prevent surface flooding. You can easily prevent problems by just dragging a rake across the grate, if you see that it's become clogged - which can happen pretty easily with the pohutukawas dropping flowers everywhere at the moment. Ring the council 237-5089 if the problems are beyond your ability to fix, and emergency services if things are really bad!

Heavy rain for Friday

MetService has added the Wellington area and Kapiti Coast to its heavy rain warning for tomorrow.

Rain is expected to become heavy at times from the early hours of Friday until Friday night. In the 20 hours from 2am to 10pm Friday, expect 60-90mm of rain in places. Peak rates could reach 10-15mm per hour late morning and early afternoon.

Rainfalls of this amount has the potential to cause rivers and streams to rise rapidly, and lead to surface flooding and slips. Driving conditions could also become hazardous at times. People, especially holidaymakers, should keep up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings, and plan accordingly.

We have our fingers crossed for Nelson.

Porirua's Red Cross team deployed to Nelson

Porirua's Red Cross Response Team is lending a hand down in Nelson.

They headed over this morning, and today they have been assisting those who have been forced out of their homes to go back in in 30 minute stints to collect their belongings. They are working in teams with geotechnical engineers, civil defence and rescue team members to make sure the site is secure before going in.

Such a lovely view from this house -


But then you have a look out the back, just up the hill....

Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you

Now I've got the Crowded House song stuck in my head...

I'm betting there are a few people in Nelson wondering who brought the weather with them on holiday, and hoping they could take it away again.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6141806/Tales-of-destruction-as-flooding-sweeps-Nelson

A State of Emergency has been declared to help manage the response to the flooding and slips.

It makes you think, doesn't it? Could that happen where you're going on holiday this Christmas?

Is your favourite camping spot on a river flat which could flood? Are you tramping through an area where you'd have to cross streams or rivers?

What about other hazards? Is the bach in a tsunami evacuation zone, or in an area with a high fire danger?

I know it's a bit doom & gloom for what is supposed to be happy time of year, but unfortunately there are plenty of things that could go wrong while you are on holiday. Fortunately you can reduce your risks with some careful planning, and some of the same basic things that you do to prepare at home.

Know your risks - ask the local district council of the place you are going to.
Have a plan & learn where the important facilities are - medical centres etc
Take extra water and survival items with you. Something to keep the kids entertained in the car definitely counts as a survival item. Bored kids is a disaster on its own!

What do you do when the lights go out?

Parts of Auckland, Wellington & the Hutt Valley are currently without power, apparently due to some kind of fault at the Huntly power station.

Porirua is unaffected so far, though I make no garrantees that will continue!

EDIT: Doh! My bad. While the CBD has had no interruptions, it looks like most of the rest of Porirua has no power! We now have reports of outages in Aotea, Ascot Park, Waitangirua, Cannons Creek & Whitby.


Does your business rely on having a power supply to remain open?

Or have you got a back up plan?

A generator maybe, or gas for cooking if that's what your business involves - cafes in Wellington that cook with gas do a roaring trade during power cuts, as the office workers leave their buildings when they have no way to work without power.
Things you can do that don't require power - paper-based systems etc, or good batteries on a laptop. Some way to process eftpos & credit card transactions that doesn't rely on being plugged into the mains.

All things that you may want to think about for keeping your business going - especially at such a busy time of year.

Shaking again

Once again we are reminded that the Wellington region is carved up by a large number of fault lines, with an earthquake measuring 4.2 triggered just 10km West of Porirua at 10:16 this morning.

It was quite noticeable at the Emergency Management Office - the initial rumble of the primary waves felt and sounded like someone was parking a Mack truck under the floor, and then the secondary waves hit with a definite side to side shaking.

Here's the Stuff article - http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/6106968/4-2-quake-hits-Porirua


Here's the data from Geonet:

The following earthquake has been recorded by GNS:

Reference number: 3623397/G
Universal Time: 2011/12/07 21:16:42
Local time (NZDT): 10:16 AM on Thursday 08 December 2011
Latitude, Longitude: 41.15S, 174.75E
NZ Map Grid (E, N): 2657000, 6005000
NZ Trans Merc (E, N): 1747000, 5443000
Location: 10 km west of Porirua
Focal depth: 30
Magnitude: 4.2

Web page: http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/3623397g.html

Felt widely around the Wellington region

Click on the link, check out some of the maps and things, and fill in the Felt Earthquake Report.

Did the earth move for you?

Much of the central part of the country had a good shake earlier this evening, when a magnitude 5.7 quake struck 30km east of Picton at 7:19pm. Fortunately it was located about 60km down, so it has only caused some minor damage - some people have lost a few ornaments (I can't recommend Fix, Fasten & Forget enough!), and it looks like the Meridian building in Wellington had some minor damage to its louvres.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6081992/Large-earthquake-rattles-both-Islands

I'm a bit worried that people in a cafe in Picton ran out into the street during the shaking - some of the fatalities and injuries in the Christchurch quake were from falling debris hitting people who had run out of buildings. If you are inside a building when the shaking starts, it's safest to stay inside, and take shelter under something. if you are outside, stay outside and move away from the buildings, as things may be falling off them. What you don't want to be doing is heading out the door and passing through an area of significant danger.

Drop, Cover & Hold is still the best advice.