Principles For Co-operation In Civil Defence

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30602, 19 November 1964, Page 15

Principles For Co-operation In Civil Defence

Principles for the co-opera-tjon of local authorities and Government departments in an emergency were proposed by the South Island regional commissioner for civil de-

fence (Brigadier J. T. Burrows) at the opening of the annual civil defence controllers' conference for the northern half of the South Island at Lincoln College. The most important principle, he said, was that one person—the controller— must make the major decisions as

to what relief and rescue operations were to be carried out and in what order.

The second principle was • at, once the decisions had been made, the staffs of the various departments must be left to cary out the work

tinder their own leaders. This applied also to large private

organisations such as oil companies.

.The third principle was that the use of the resources of Government departments and other large organisations should be based on plans for tne sub-region or province, not on what happened to be available within the boundanes of a particular local authority. There was a need for plans for mutual aid in the use of these resources, Brigadier Burrows said. C°punon misconceptions about the role of Government departments in an emergency he said, were that the departments should act only in liaison with, rather than under, the civil defence controller, that the departments would be best to engage in their normal activities in such conditions. The departments were as much a part of the community as any other organisation, and must

be under the direction of the civil defence controller in each local authority area. A misconception about civil defence in general was that it was for the sole purpose of rescue and relief—saving life, treating the injured, and sheltering the homeless. This was certainly the main purpose of civil defence, but if the survival of the community were threatened—for example, by nuclear bombs from Indonesia or some other country—then the civil defence organisation would be called on not only to help people live through the disaster but to help to restore the services on which the community depended. Of the 100 local authorities in the South Island. 78 had approved civil defence plans, while another 14 had plans prepared in draft form. Brigadier Burrows said. Some of the remainder were considering joining neighbouring local authority groups which already had plans.