Homes flooded in the Auckland suburb of Epsom following the Auckland anniversary floods. Photo: RNZ / Rayssa Almeida
A report by the Office of the Auditor General has found that Auckland Council is now better placed to respond to the next natural disaster, compared to early 2023.
The report, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, followed up on council's progress on improving its emergency preparedness, following multiple reviews in the aftermath of the Auckland anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
The report found that council had addressed 38 of 51 recommendations so far.
"Our work found that Auckland Council has made significant progress in addressing the recommendations, and is better placed than it was in early 2023 to respond to the next major emergency," the deputy auditor-general Andrew McConnell said.
Read about some of the reviews already undertaken into the 2023 weather events:
- National emergency response facing 26 separate inquiries: What have we learned
- 'Significant shortcomings' in NZ's emergency management system - inquiry
- FENZ unprepared and lacked equipment, training to deal with weather events
- Cyclone Gabrielle, Auckland floods exposed holes in emergency management - ombudsman report
What's been achieved: New guidelines, more training, new technology
Council now has a new set of emergency response standard operating procedures for the mayor, elected members, duty teams and its incident management team.
A full emergency management briefing will form part of the induction packages for future mayors.
An emergency learning module is also now part of council staff inductions.
Nearly 400 of council's staff have completed foundation-level training in responding to emergencies.
Seven new senior community advisors have been hired, who will be working with local boards to build community preparedness for natural disasters.
Auckland Emergency Management have held at least two major test exercises - including one in October 2023, based on the scenario of a tsunami, and another in March 2024 based around a mock tornado event.
The report also recognised new technology council has procured, including a specialised software - DH4 - designed to rapidly collate information, and a geographical information software - ArcGIS - for mapping emergency events as they unfold.
In October, council is expected to launch an open online database showing information and contact details for about 90 Civil Defence centres in Auckland.
Areas for improvement
The report also outlines a number areas the council needs to continue to work on - including enhancing community disaster resilience, and thinking about how the city will fund its disaster resilience plan over the next five years.
"It is essential that Auckland Council prioritise work to understand gaps in community emergency preparedness and target its resources towards communities that might need more support," McConnell said.
The report said effective relationships with communities and stakeholders will be essential to the successful implementation of the Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group Plan 2024 - 2029 (the Group Plan).
The report noted that South Auckland communities had told the government's 2024 inquiry into the severe weather events of early 2023, that they did not know what to do or where to seek help, and that local evacuation and information centres were not responsive to their language, cultural, or faith-based needs.
The report also highlighted that resourcing remains a risk for the city's long-term emergency management goals.
It said while council plans to use funding from its current long-term plan to carry out programmes under the Group Plan, there appeared to be insufficient details on whether all the activities would be funded for the period 2024-2029.