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BackgroundCommunity Emergency Hub.

In a disaster, there may be widespread damage to power lines, water pipes, buildings, roads, and phone networks. Emergency services will be dealing with the most urgent matters, so the people you live nearest to will be your most immediate, and ongoing, source of support.

Communities are filled with people who have different skills and can work together to solve local problems. By coming together in Community Emergency Hubs, people can make collective decisions to ensure the safety and comfort of everyone in their community. 

 

Your local Community Emergency Hub is a place to coordinate your community efforts to help each other during and after a disaster.

During Cyclone Gabrielle we saw communities across the region provide much needed support through the setup of hubs. Hawke’s Bay Emergency Management Group acknowledge how essential these community-led hubs are in a time of uncertainty and have developed a Community Emergency Hub Guide to support this community-led initiative.

The Hawke’s Bay Emergency Management Group assists these community-led hubs through the support of local Council, emergency services, local agencies, iwi and hapū. With the Community Emergency Hub model, we aim to build a more resilient Hawke’s Bay community.

 

What will I find at a Community Emergency Hub?

Community Emergency Hubs are places where communities can come together to share information, skills, and resources following an emergency. The facilities, services, and resources available will vary between hubs depending on the needs, capabilities, and assets of each community. Hubs are not necessarily stocked with emergency supplies such as food, water, and blankets. Instead, they are designed around the principle that communities already possess many of the resources they need, and that by working together they can identify, coordinate, and share those resources during the initial response to an emergency.

What is the purpose of a Community Hub?

  • Ask for and offer help by sharing skills and resources among your community

  • Share and find information about what's happening in your suburb

  • Start organising the clean-up of your community

  • Be in the company of others facing a similar situation

How is a Community Emergency Hub run?

  • Community members run a Hub without official assistance - it is a place for neighbours to help each other in a coordinated way. Each Hub has a Hub Guide which explains how to organise an emergency response within your community, and describes the different roles needed to run a Hub.
  • HBCDEM works alongside communities to prepare how they could respond to an emergency and help the people they live nearest to get through even some of the most challenging issues.

To learn more about your local Community Emergency Hub, email your local council emergency management team: 

Wairoa District Council: cdem@wairoadc.govt.nz

Hastings District Council: emergencymanagement@hdc.govt.nz

Napier City Council: communityservices@napier.govt.nz

Central Hawke's Bay District Council: emergencymanagement@chbdc.govt.nz

A Community Emergency Hub is opened when there has been an emergency where people need assistance, or when your community decides it needs a place that everyone can gather to aid each other.

Hawke's Bay Emergency Management supports emergency management alongside the local authorities in the Hawke’s Bay Region. Our role, with councils, is to work with communities to plan for emergencies and practice how to organize an emergency response.

No.  Everything is through consensus, co-operation, and community generosity. People running the Hub cannot force anyone to provide or do anything that they do not want to do.

If the Hub has not opened, communities can try and find a keyholder or find another venue to set up the community support. If the Hub building is damaged or there is a risk to safety from the surrounding area, then the Community Emergency Hub should not be opened.  If this happens, try to find another venue to set up the Hub.

The Hub can stay open for as long as the community needs to be supported. It might have to move if the facility owners need their space back and will probably close overnight if there is no lighting.

Click on the sections below to read the steps to run your Community Emergency Hub.

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