CIVIL DEFENCE PLAN BASED ON SCHOOLS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30558, 29 September 1964, Page 1

CIVIL DEFENCE PLAN BASED ON SCHOOLS

Details of the emergency services to be provided if Christchurch is declared a disaster area were given by the civil defence officer for the Christchurch metropolitan area (Mr J. Leggat) at a course on civil defence for health inspectors which opened at Bumham Military Camp yesterday.

Mr Leggat gave a list of the organisations which had agreed to organise their members in preparation for an emergency, and stated what services would be provided by each organisation. In most cases, the organisations had already arranged which member would go where, Mr Leggat said. Relief services in each district would be based on the State primary and post-prim-ary schools,' said Mr Leggat. Anyone wanting to give or get help should go to a school or send a message there. The area covered by the scheme comprised Christchurch City, the Lyttelton and Riccarton boroughs, and the Heathcote, Paparua, and Waimairi counties. The area centre would be the City Council chambers if they were - still standing; the next in preference would be the Waimairi County Council office, und failing that the Riccarton Town Hal). Radio Report The emergency services would swing into action on the declaration of a state of disaster, which would be made by radio, Mr Leggat said. The decision on whether such a declaration was warranted would be made by the metropolitan civil defence committee (or as many of its members as could be located), on the advice of the City Engineer. The engineer would base his recommendation on reports from his own staff and the chief engineers of the counties and boroughs, the harbour and drainage boards, am electricity and gas undertakings. .When the declaration of disaster was broadcast, the local bodies, contractors, and Ministry of Works would each assemble their available equipBlind Voting Copies of the British political party election manifestos in Braille are shortly to be sent out to blind voters by the Royal National Institute for the Blind.—London, September 28.

ment in a specified place and a list of the equipment would be given to the civil defence controller. Architects and engineers in private practice would also report to the controller through their own organisations. Certain nominated traffic officers would make their way to the main radial routes and keep these clear for essential .traffic. The radial routes comprised only such major exit lines as Riccarton road, Memorial avenue, and Papanui road. “With one motor vehicle to every three persons in Christchurch, my guess is that streets in general will be choked with traffic almost immediately after any disaster breaks,” Mr Leggat said. Primary Schools The primary schools would each be in the charge of a vzarden who would be either a member of the Police or a special civil defence policeman. He would be trained in first-aid, but his main responsibility would be to maintain law and order and protect life and property in the school district. He would have power of arrest. Also at the school would be la taxi to provide communications with the centre through its two-way radio. The Taxi Proprietors’ Association had assigned a cab to each school, and in the near future a plate would be fixed to the front of each cab giving the name of the school to which it would be taken in an emergency. The plates were considered necessary in case a taxi was being used at the time by a relief driver. St. John Ambulance Brigade personnel would work in their own school districts and take charge of all first-aid services. Male (ambulance) personnel would be out in the district while the female (nursing) division members would work in the schools. Each St. John member would be responsible for recruiting an emergency first-aid team of which he or she would be the leader. High Schools Persons needing further treatment but for whom no hospital bed was available would be sent to forward medical aid units at the postprimary schools, where welfare services would also be concentrated. The British Medical Association and the Registered Nurses’ Association, Mr Leggat said, had arranged for their members not on hospital duty to go to one or other of the forward units, and the North Canterbury Hospital Board had planned for kits of medicel supplies to go to the units. The Red Cross Society would provide nurse aids. The Red Cross would also run the welfare services, which were intended to care for those who had been given emergency treatment and then discharged, or who were upset or lost or awaiting transport to country reception centres. Included in the programme was the provision of light emergency meals, which Red Cross members would prepare. The Nurse Maude Association would co-operate by taking care of the elderly, not only at the centre but those known to be invalids at home; the Plunket Society would look after babies and nursing mothers. The welfare work would be coordinated by persons appointed by the various Rotary clubs. Local body traffic officers

would be assigned to the high schools (designated area subcentres) to arrange for convoys for essential traffic and the transport of evacuees to reception centres. A police sergeant and two constables would be at each sub-centre to carry out general police work and such duties as the identification of the dead and control of the temporary morgue. Information on casualties and evacuees would be listed by members of the staff of the Social Security Department for the benefit of relatives. Requisitioning Members of local body treasury staffs had been nominated to the area sub-centres to act as requisition officers, to keep track of the requisitioning of foodstuffs and i other materials from grocers' stocks and other sources. This was both to protect property owners and to provide some basis on which a refund for money spent might be claimed from the Government. Communications from the area sub-centres to the centre would be maintained under the supervision of members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Corps. On the question of evacuation, Mr Leggat said the object would be to enable people to live In their own homes wherever possible, and to this end milk, water, bread, meat, and other supplies would be organised as necessary. . Where evacuation proved necessary, he thought some form of Social Security benefit should be organised to help those who acted as hosts. Mr Leggat asked the health inspectors to consider what they could do to ensure that a trained person was available to carry out health inspections as needed at each area sub-centre. Health problems could become serious in a very short time in a disaster situation, he said, and local inspectors would also be required to organise food distribution. He was told this would be discussed during the course. Fainily Contact Asked what precedence a family man should give his family as against his emergency job, Mr Leggat said the sensible thing would be for a man to go home to comfort his family as soon as the disaster broke, and stay at home until the declaration of disaster came over the radio; he would then proceed to his post. Asked what would happen if the Christchurch radio stations could not broadcast the disaster call, Mr Leggat said the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation was confident it could overcome such a difficulty, if necessary by broadcasting from stations outside Christchurch. His committee estimated there was at least one transistor radio to every two households in the city, so reception should be no problem. Other speakers at the course yesterday included the chief inspector of health, Wellington (Mr T. W. Adams), and the regional commissioner of civil defence (Brigadier J. T. Burrows) About 30 inspectors are attending the course, from all parts of the country. Many of them are supervising inspectors of health from district offices of the Health Department; others are senior health inspectors with local bodies. Similar courses will be held later for other inspectors.