Description

Perched just above the Roaring Forties in latitude and geologically young, New Zealand is exposed to a wide-range of naturally occurring hazards including flooding, earthquakes, windstorms, snowstorms, volcanic activity, and tsunami. The Manawatū-Whanganui Civil Defence Emergency Management Group is a collection of lifeline utilities in the region. Learn about how they prepare for these types of events - from asset and risk management to preparation, response, and recovery. Shakespeare said that all the world is a stage. If that’s true, lifeline utilities are the backstage crew that keeps it all running. The goal is to respond to emergencies and bounce back with more resilient networks.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, you will be better able to: 

• Discuss the impact and role of utilities during emergency events.
• Be more proactive in the civil defense framework: reduction, readiness, response, recovery.
• Minimize the impact that disasters can have on utility services.

Speaker(s):

• David Miller, BE (Hons), ME (Hons), DELF, Wastewater Treatment Plant Manager, Whanganui District Council, New Zealand