User:TimClicks/cdem

New Zealand

In New Zealand, responsibilty for emergency management is primarily local. Within each region, local governments (known locally as territorial local authoriries (TLAs)) are unfied as Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups (CDEMGs).^♥♣ As a local CDEMGi soverwhelmed, mutual-support arrangements are activated. These structures are defined by regulation, and best explained in The Guide to the National Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan 2006, roughly equivalent to FEMA's National Response Framework.

Within the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management (MCDEM) has statutory authority for managing any state of emergency declared by the central government. Local government bodies such as city and regional councils have their own emergency management agencies to manage localised states of emergency, but these all defer to the MCDEM in the event of a national state of emergency. The Wellington Emergency Management Office (WEMO) occupies a purpose built building with its own water, electricity, communications and sewerage facilities to ensure continued operations in the event of an emergency or disaster.

^♥ New Zealand uses different terminology from the rest of the world. It uses the term civil defence to mean community preparedness, e.g. it does not have a militaristic connotation.
^♣"Civil defence emergency management" is a single term in New Zealand. Is is defined by the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 s4, paraphrased as the application of knowledge to protect against emergencies.