Otago is at Red under the COVID Protect Framework (Traffic Light System)
Get a booster dose if you’re over 18 and it has been 4 months since your last dose. Wear a face covering whenever you leave the house. Make sure you have your My Vaccine Pass ready to be scanned – most places will have restrictions in place. Keep scanning QR codes everywhere you go with the NZ COVID Tracer app. Keep physically distanced where possible. If you have cold or flu symptoms, isolate immediately, and call Healthline for advice about a test. Workplaces remain open but where a workplace deems it appropriate, they may choose to have employees work from home. Schools and early learning centres will be open –extra public health measures including mask wearing for everyone from year four and up. It is our intention for schools to return as planned. Retail is open with public health measures in place. Some businesses may choose to have a My Vaccine Pass requirement. With My Vaccine Pass, public facilities, close customer contact business, hospitality and gyms are open. With My Vaccine Pass, you can have gatherings of up to 100 people, based on the size of the venue (including private social gatherings at home). Contactless pickups are required at cafés, restaurants and bars. Gatherings at a home can have up to 25 people. At gatherings held at other venues, there can be up to 25 people based on 1-metre physical distancing. There will be distance learning for tertiary education. You cannot visit gyms and close customer contact businesses, like hairdressers.Hazards relevant to this area
Where to get information in an emergency
Radio stations
Radio stations are a good way to keep up to date with the latest local information reports and people should listen to them in an emergency. Below is a list of sources of information for Clutha.
Clutha
More FM - 93.7 FM (South Otago from Clinton), 92.9 FM (Balclutha), 107.1 FM (from Lawrence).
Social Media
Twitter:
Facebook:
Other
Hokonui - 94.8 FM (Southland), 91.3 FM & 88.3 FM (South Otago), 95.2 FM (West Otago).
RNZ National - 101.4 FM / 810 AM.
Civil defence centres
Clutha District's 24-hour Emergency Contact Number: 0800 801 350
Clutha District Council's main office located at 1 Rosebank Terrace in Balclutha becomes our Emergency Operating Centre in an event. Council service centres throughout the district have the ability to become ward co-ordination centres and other buildings have been identified as potential welfare centres. Residents will be notified on where to go and who to contact in a civil defence event/emergency.
Community Response Plans
Community Response Plans outline what specific communities should do in a civil defence emergency or what action to take in advance of an emergency to prevent potentially devastating effects.
When an emergency occurs, these plans will be activated by the community. Other agencies will respond to the event by activating their own plans and coordinating their activities to manage the impact on the community.
Community plans are being worked on for various communities in the Clutha District. The full Toko Mouth plan is complete and available for download here. Residents wanting to know more about community plans can contact our Emergency Management Officer on 03 419 0200 or 0800 801 350.
Assembly points & evacuation areas
Residents will be informed of relevant assembly points and/or evacuation points during a civil defence event or emergency.
These will depend on which areas/towns (or part of areas/towns) of the district are affected during the event.
Volunteers
If you're interested in offering your services as a civil defence volunteer, there are a number of organisations you can contact.
If you would like to help out in a welfare capacity contact:
The Red Cross: www.redcross.org.nz
The Salvation Army: www.salvationarmy.org.nz/about-us/volunteer-with-us
If you would like to help out in an operations capacity, contact:
LandSAR: www.landsar.org.nz
The Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org.nz
About Emergency Management in Clutha
The Clutha District Council employs an officer within the Regulatory Services Department to organise and co-ordinate our Civil Defence initiatives and to keep our emergency systems up to date and at a high state of readiness.
In a sense, all Clutha residents are part of Civil Defence, because when a serious disaster happens, people in the affected area will probably have to fend for themselves as individuals, as families, as neighbours, and as a community until other help can be provided.
A Civil Defence emergency is only declared when emergency services feel the situation is beyond their resources and a life threatening situation exists. If this happens, the Civil Defence organisation takes over to co-ordinate the response and local Civil Defence centres are activated.
There is no vast full-time Civil Defence force standing by. Council's own staff and other material resources form a basis, and are supported in a Civil Defence emergency by locally available resources of emergency services, government departments, by voluntary organisations in the community, and by individual volunteers.
Your Civil Defence Centre is somewhere you can go to for assistance or to offer your services during a Civil Defence emergency. During an emergency, the location of open centres will be broadcast on your local radio station.
The reality is that in such an event, Civil Defence and emergency staff cannot immediately be at everyone's doorstep and do everything at once. The response is determined by priority; the first of which is always people's safety.
It is therefore vital for all Clutha residents to take steps of your own to help you prepare you and your family for the possibility of a Civil Defence emergency.
Find out more about emergency management in our district by reading Clutha District Civil Defence Emergency Plan 2012-17.
Grab and Go Emergency Kits
In a major emergency, you may need to quickly leave your home, work or vehicle with little or no warning. Clutha District Council Civil Defence has put together a Grab & Go Emergency kit that contains important items if you need to evacuate quickly. These can be puchased online by clicking on the link: http://grabandgo.co.nz/shop/.
However, no emergency kit can give you everything you need (only you know your shoe size, dietary requirements, important medication and documents). This is a handy household emergency checklist.
Red Cross Hazard App
Download the New Zealand Red Cross Hazard App (free) from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store: Hazard App
The Hazard App is a free life-saving app for smartphones and tablets. The app helps you identify, prepare and respond to hazards in New Zealand. The app is pre-loaded with information about hazards including floods, earthquakes, tsunami, fire, weather, epidemics and biosecurity risks. The Hazard App enables you to receive official emergency warnings and alerts according to your location or the locations of your friends and family.