Get prepared

Your immediate resources in an emergency are your community and the preparations you’ve made before the event. We’ve outlined information below that could be vital to your family and community thriving through an emergency event. Read it over, and get your plan together!

Community emergency hubs

Community emergency hubs are your go-to place until wider services can bring help; there’s one in your neighbourhood – get familiar with where it is, and get involved!

WREMO leads and coordinates emergency management services on behalf of the nine councils in the Wellington Region. Find out more about your community emergency hub on their website.

Get your whānau prepared

It’s easy to get prepared – check out WREMO’s Home Ready page for ways you can get prepared and know you’ll have the tools to manage in an emergency. Some of the handy resources available on WREMO’s page are:

earthquake planning guide
prepare your business
store emergency water, including for pets and livestock as well as your whānau
make a grab bag for the whole family (including leashes etc for pets)
know how to make an emergency toilet
train or volunteer
find your hub, and check out your community’s plan.

Emergency training

Check out the following events to help you know how to care for your whānau and community in an emergency.

Earthquakes

An earthquake can happen at any time. There's no early warning; the first is often a rumbling sound followed by rolling and shaking. Make sure you look now at all the resources above, and WREMO’s earthquake planning guide, and have your plan together!

Tsunami

It's vital for everyone in Kāpiti to know if they live, work or play in a tsunami evacuation zone, and where to evacuate to:

know Kāpiti’s tsunami evacuation zones
preparedness brochures
'Are you prepared for a tsunami?'[PDF 4.58 MB]– for people who live or work in tsunami evacuation zones
'You're in a tsunami evacuation zone’[PDF 114 KB]– for businesses or clubs in evacuation zones, to make available to customers or members so they know what to do.

Before a tsunami

If you live or intend to live in a tsunami evacuation zone you should:

check out all the links above, and get your whānau prepared
have an evacuation route and test it
know how far you need to go to get out of the tsunami evacuation zone
do a test evacuation; walk inland to the edge of the evacuation zone, keeping an eye out for any useful areas of higher ground as you go
familiarise yourself with evacuation maps in areas you travel to often – for work and school, as well as home
if you’re buying land or a building in a coastal area, talk to the Council about the risks of a tsunami, coastal storm surge and erosion.

Find out what to do in a tsunami emergency.

Floods

Make sure you're familiar with evacuation routes if your property could be subject to flooding.

Have a household plan (including for your pets and/or livestock) in case you need to evacuate, and a grab bag ready to go.

Check out our Helping us help you page for how you can help manage your flooding risk.

If there’s the risk of floods, listen to emergency announcements and follow the directions to evacuate if required.

See Civil Defence’s Floods page to know what else you can do to be prepared.