It's Get Ready Week!

The Team from Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management

This year the theme for Get Ready Week is Prepared Kids. We know that when kids are involved in preparing for emergencies and learning about natural hazards, they encourage their families to be more prepared and play a more active role in responding to and recovering from emergencies.

As part of Get Ready Week 2016, we are launching our redeveloped schools resource What’s the Plan, encouraging schools to update their emergency preparedness plans and use the new resource to build resilience as a life skill for their students.

Here are our top tips for Prepared Kids
1. Give the school or day care a list of three people who can pick the kids up if you can’t get there.
2. Talk to your kids in an honest (but not scary) way about what might happen in an emergency, what you can do to keep safe, and what your plan is for if you can’t get home. The more involved they are, the less scared they will be if an emergency does happen.
3. Make a plan with your kids. Sit down together and talk about the things you need every day and work out what you would do if you didn’t have them. Grab a piece of paper and write down what you agree, who you need to contact and things you need to do to get ready.
4. Get your kids involved in getting supplies and checking them regularly. In an emergency you could be stuck at home for three
days or more. You probably have most of these things already, and you don’t have to have them all in one place, but you might have to find them in a hurry and/or in the dark.
www.happens.nz...

More messages from your neighbours

16 days ago

Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!

Mei Leng Wong Reporter from NZ Gardener & Get Growing

Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.

Local Highlight

1 day ago

Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑

Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.

We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?

Want to read more? The Press has you covered!