‘Refugees’ pour into Addington

Press, 11 August 1980, Page 4

‘Refugees’ pour into Addington

About 240 “refugees” were evacuated to an emergency camp at the Addington Show Grounds on Saturday in a Civil Defence exercise designed to test Christchurch’s ability to. cope with a major evacuation.

Scouts and girl guides were called on to supply the “refugees” with emergency accommodation, and according to the Scout Association’s publicity officer (Mr D. J. Denniston), they proved up to handling a big evacuation. “Refugees” — played by scouts, their parents, and friends—were outnumbered by the 270 scouts and guides in the exercise. Mr Denniston said that there were still a few problems that needed iironing out, but Civil Defence staff were satisfied with the handling of the evacuation. , Scouts and guides would be called on in such an emergency as they were the only groups pxperi- ■ enced in running large scale camps, he said. A blueprint of the procedure to be followed in an evacuation had been drawn up, and this would be revised in the light of .the experience gained at the week-end. No other groups had prepared such a blueprint in New Zealand, and Australia had only a “very sketchy” plan, said Mr Denniston. The revised Christchurch blueprint would be made available to groups in New Zealand and overseas.

The exercise was planned with a major evacuation from Christchurch or nearby towns in mind. “If Christchurch itself is destroyed we might not be called on as we might be otherwise engaged, or destroyed ourselves,” he said. “But this would give a group at Nelson, or somewhere else, an idea of how to deal with an evacuation from Christchurch,” Mr Denniston said.