New websites to help communities before, during, and after a crisis

Kerry McSaveney from Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO)

Two new websites, developed by the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO), were launched last week.

One helps people find out what’s happening in their communities during and after an emergency. The other helps people prepare before the big one hits.

The two new websites provide reliable information for people across the region.
www.wremo.nz... - provides local information when an emergency happens and is also the corporate site for WREMO.
www.getprepared.nz... - contains everything people across our region need to get prepared before any emergency occurs.

“The two new websites, along with our Facebook page, are our key communications channels for the people of our region. During an emergency we need people to quickly understand what is happening in their area and how it might affect them, so they can make the best decisions for them and their families,” says Bruce Pepperell, Regional Manager at the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office.

“Working with local councils’ communications people, we know that if an earthquake, tsunami or any other emergency happens, the new WREMO website can be updated quickly and easily. This will be a reliable source of information giving people of the region more certainty about what they need to do”.

"People need specific, targeted and correct information they can follow. We need people to follow official warnings, and it’s imperative they use a credible source for disaster information. These new websites, along with our Facebook page, are those credible sources,” says Mr Pepperell.
“Plus by having information to help people get prepared separated from operational information, means we can best meet the needs of both types of users. It gives us flexibility and our region certainty.”

Following extensive feedback after November’s earthquake, the need to provide localised information became a key priority for WREMO.

Last Novembers’ event saw an increase of 76.9% new users come to WREMO’s website for information, particularly to find tsunami evacuation zone information. Over 160,000 people accessed WREMO’s emergency information within the first hour of the 14 November earthquake. By making these two websites mobile friendly means clear information gets out to where it’s needed, when it’s needed.