EQC to share their expertise in council workshops
A team of experts from the Earthquake Commission (EQC) will visit Central North Island councils this week to share their expertise to help local authorities prepare for natural disasters.
The visiting delegation will cover the way EQC handles insurance claims after a natural disaster, and explain the other important roles the commission plays in natural hazard research, public education and community resilience.
“After the Canterbury earthquakes, most New Zealanders will be aware of EQC’s role in helping people with damage to their land or homes, but most people are surprised to hear how much work our organisation puts into research and public education,” says Jo Horrocks,
Head of Resilience, Strategy and Research at EQC.
“We fund around $17 million in research across New Zealand to better understand natural hazards and where they may cause most damage, but also to develop better building and engineering techniques to protect our properties.”
The EQC delegation will visit the Tararua District Council and Horizons Regional Council on 29 October, and the Rangitikei and Manawatu District Councils the following day.
During the presentations, EQC’s technical experts will share the available data and other information for the particular councils, which their staff can use when planning new infrastructure or residential developments.
“We want to show the common areas between the work EQC and the councils are involved in and where our expertise and data can help individual councils,” says Horrocks.
“We want to create more awareness of our roles and expertise, so council staff know how to tap into that expertise where required.”
Horrocks says that council staff will also be interested in learning more about how council information on property titles can affect future EQC claims and they can help their residents get in touch with the right people at EQC in the case of an emergency.
“Previous council visits have demonstrated that staff working with consents or with civil defence responsibilities have a lot of good questions for our staff, so we are again expecting big turn-outs this week.”
