Role Of Civil Defence Committee Outlined

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31124, 29 July 1966, Page 14

Role Of Civil Defence Committee Outlined

Without the regional civil defence committee, and the co-operation of its members, civil defence in the South Island could not have been so well developed. Brigadier J. T. Burrows, the South Island regional controller, told members of the committee at a meeting yesterday. He said he did not look on the committee as something dissociated from local authorities. The meeting was attended by heads of Government departments or their representatives as well as a representative of the fuel and oil industry. Brigadier Burrows said the committee had both an operational and advisory function in the civil defence scheme. “On the operational side, members of this committee are part of a regional, or South Island, civil defence headquarters,” he said. “While all may not necessarily be called together at the one

time or all operate from the one headquarters, each member will have a specific part to play in a disaster situation. “The situations which could require me to open a regional headquarters would be disaster situations on a very large scale, affecting all or a large part of the South Island; a disaster in the North Island which required aid from us, or a disaster in a sub-region or province in the South Island for which we were requested to provide additional aid.” He said he expected that disasters on a small scale would be handled in the first instance by the local authority, then the sub-region. Of the advisory function of the committee, Brigadier Burrows said he looked on members as experts who could advise him on many matters affecting civil defence, but in particular on how their men and resources could best be used in disaster situations. “Once a decision has been reached, they should be able to go about their tasks with no interference.

“This is a principle I insist on at all levels. At all our civil defence courses we emphasise that, while the local controller has very wide powers under the Civil Defence Act, Government departments and other large agencies make their best contribution in a disaster situation if they are represented in the planning of operations, and are able to carry out their role under their own executive officers or foremen,” he said. Draft, and in some cases final, plans of operation for each of the departments concerned were tabled for discussion at the meeting.