‘CIVIL DEFENCE READY’

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33512, 18 April 1974, Page 1

‘CIVIL DEFENCE READY’

Apart from “one or two minor problems” of organisation, Civil Defence preparedness in Christchurch at the time of the extensive flooding on Tuesday night had been first class, according to the Mayor (Mr N. G. Pickering).

He is also the chair-1 man of the Combined Civil Defence Committee of Christchurch local i body representatives and. as such, would have been the man to declare a state of emergencyhad it become necessary, i “As it was, the police did| a really excellent job of organisation. We were really just standing back waiting.” said Mr Pickering yesterday. “But there is no doubt that had a Civil Defence emergency been called we would have been able to handle it.”] he said. Key persons in the organisation were alerted about 6] om. when it became obvious: that widespread flooding was! inevitable if the rain continued At 8.30 p.m. the Civil ■ Defence groun controller (Mr •C. M. A. Thompson) was

.asked by the police to inform] I Mr Pickering of the situation] 'and the Civil Defence head-: I quarters in the Manchester] I Street parking building were] opened. The operations room; (was fully manned from 9.30 p.m. Conference At 10.30 p.m. there was a ■ conference of Civil Defence section heads with police i liaison officers present, and it was decided the Civil Defence organisation would maintain a watching brief while the police continued to cope with the problem. Two sectors of the organisation were called into acition. however, and evacua-: tion centres, staffed by( ’volunteers, were set up at the) (Cashmere and Aranui high schools. They were not used.; At the request of the pol-; (ice. nine troop-carrying vehicles were brought into; Christchurch from Bumham: 'Military Camp and these were'

| used to ferry rescuers through the areas of worst! (flooding. About 30 soldiers! (were involved. Mr Pickering, who was at ithe Civil Defence headquarters from 11.30 p.m., said that ithe flooding had provided the first real test for the organisation since the Wahine storm in 1968, at which time it had come in for quite a lot of criticism. “But there was no fuss and bother on Tuesday night and the organisation has grown in confidence because of it,” he said. "There were one or two small organisational matters, but on the whole it was firstclass organisation.” he said. “Rallied round” : “And next to that, the most gratifying feature of the .whole episode was the way ; in. which everyone rallied round with offers of help,”’ ‘said Mr Pickering I

The organisation’s telephone switchboard was swamped with offers of assistance from the public, jet boat operators, a club of utility vehicle owners, tip

truck and tow truck operators, nurses, and a bus line. “The Ministry of Transport and the Red Cross were, of course, grand and did so much work that any praise I can give would be inadequate,” said Mr Pickering. “It was a great community effort and something I am verv proud of.” By 2 a.m. yesterday the danger period was passed and floodwaters were receding so all Civil Defence staff who had been on stand-by were released. The headquarters was closed down at 2.30 a.m.

In all, about 500 persons were involved in the Civil Defence alert, either actively i committed or on stand-by.