Exercise Ruaumoko
The Exercise Has Been Completed
The exercise started on Monday March 3rd with volcanic related tremors being roleplayed underneath Auckland. Civil Defence agencies were alerted and walked through in a desktop exercise format their response plans to the event. The "fictitious" volcanic tremors increased to the main exercise days of 13 and 14 March.A public education programme has been underway with an educational DVD made for schools, newspaper articles, competitions and increased advertising on the "get ready, get thru campaign" to help households prepare for disasters.
Background
In 2005 Cabinet directed MCDEM to conduct two national disaster exercises to test New Zealand's all-of-nation preparedness for a major disaster. The first of these, Exercise Capital Quake, took place in November 2006 and tested response to a Wellington earthquake. The second of these exercises, Exercise Ruaumoko, commenced in November 2007 (to take place mainly in March 2008), and will test all-of-nation preparedness for a volcanic eruption in Auckland.
Exercise Ruaumoko is a Tier 4 (national-level) exercise in accordance with the National Exercise Programme. Planning for the exercise is well underway, being led by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management, and the Auckland Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group. The exercise will be supported by the Northland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty CDEM Groups, central government departments, emergency services, lifeline utilites, and other agencies and organisations, as appropriate.
Exercise Aim and Objectives
The aim of Exercise Ruaumoko is to "test New Zealand's all-of-nation arrangements for responding to a major disaster resulting from an impending volcanic eruption in Auckland."
The three core exercise objectives are:
- roles: understand, develop and practice the respective roles of agencies in response;
- arrangements: embed the National CDEM Plan arrangements in standard processes for all participating agencies; and
- connections: confirm the connections between local, regional, national and international agencies.
The five supporting objectives of Exercise Ruaumoko are:
- planning for the evacuation of affected communities;
- planning for the continuance of essential services, including local government, lifeline utilities, emergency services, and government agencies;
- management of potential economic impacts;
- co-ordination of science aspects; and management of public Information and education.
Exercise Scenario
- The scenario is based on a possible volcanic eruption somewhere in the Auckland Volcanic Field . The exercise commenced with the identification of precursor activity in the form of seismicity in the Auckland region in November 2007, such that planning meetings are required. In early 2008 unusual and sustained seismicity in the Auckland region has prompted further attention. As the source of seismic activity becomes shallower, it will become clear that a volcanic eruption is imminent.
Auckland CDEMG Profile
The document below describes the profile of the Auckland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group (CDEMG).
Media Releases
November 2007
Media Coverage
Media web stories listed below. Note that as some coverage is not placed on web and some is in other formats e.g. radio this is not a comprehensive list of all media coverage the exercise has received.
February 2008
- 11/03/2008 - NZ Herald coverage of excercise launch, web article
- 11/03/2008 - Scoop Independant News, web article
- 10/03/2008 - Scoop Independant News, web article
- 08/03/2008 - Stuff.co.nz, web article
- 26/02/2008 - TV3 coverage of exercise, web articile and video clip
November 2007
- 13/11/2007 - TV3 coverage of exercise launch, web article and video clip
- 13/11/2007 - NZ Herald coverage of exercise launch, web article
This site will be updated regularly so check back to see the exercise develop.
