Exercise "ShakeOut" is your opportunity to check your preparedness

With only one month to go – “Come on the Bay”

This National “Drop” “Cover” “Hold” Exercise is like no previous National Civil Defence Emergency Management Exercise.

The target participants this time are you, your staff and every household aiming to improve Institutional and Household resilience.

At the regional level we are not planning to activate the CDEM Emergency Operations Centres.

The focus of this exercise is within your organisation, as a place of employment and economic recovery.

Exercise ShakeOut is an opportunity for you to review your staffs and institutional preparedness, response plan, and disaster recovery procedures. These activities might be documented in your emergency procedures manual or a business continuity plan or disaster recovery documents and Exercise ShakeOut presents an opportunity for you to test your organisations readiness and discuss with staff how they might respond if your business activities are interrupted by a significant disaster.

Here are the easy steps for participation:

1.       Within your organisation find a champion [perhaps someone in your executive management team] to role out the following activities

2.       Register – ensure your organisation/branch and every staff member register to participate http://www.getthru.govt.nz/web/GetThru.nsf

This online [internet] activity should be promoted now

3.       Staff (households) – encourage your staff to register from home and review their preparedness using the “Get Thru” website for guidance. http://www.getthru.govt.nz/web/GetThru.nsf

This activity could happen over the next couple of weeks. use you intranet or staff newsletter to inform staff.

4.       Staff (Workplace) – circulate your organisations Business Continuity Plan and remind staff the important role they will play in keeping your business going during and after a localised emergency or larger disaster
The MCDEM website may help http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/memwebsite.nsf/wpg_url/being-prepared-how-to-be-prepared-in-your-business-index?opendocument

5.       Staff emergency procedures – review your emergency procedures remind staff of what they should do when an earthquake strikes [Drop Cover hold] and the evacuation routes and safe assembly point for after the shaking stops.

6.       Exercise “ShakeOut”. At 26 past 9 on 26th September complete a workplace earthquake “drop cover and hold” exercise. http://www.shakeout.govt.nz/

Perhaps arrange to take some photos or observe how staff responded and post photos or your work place story on the ShakeOut website

NOTE: To simulate an earthquake at 9:26 on 26/9 it’s probably best practice to get your floor or area safety wardens to shout out “exercise” or “earthquake”, naturally inform staff so they know what’s coming.   On site Fire alarms and other sirens won’t sound when a real earthquake strikes so it is not recommended to use these systems as this could cause confusion with your staff, where as it is far more likely that a staff member upon feeling a strong earthquake may yell earthquake as part of their natural reaction!!!. 

7.       Share your work place or Household story or photographs post these to http://www.shakeout.govt.nz/share/index.html

There are plenty of resources posters and banners available on the ShakeOut website under the resources tab http://www.shakeout.govt.nz/resources/index.html please use these resources freely to make the most of this opportunity to better prepare your organisation and staff.

Don’t put it off everyone will be doing it on 26th of September so join in.

If you normally participate in Civil Defence Emergency Management exercises at the group or local operating centre or in simulated operational activities this exercise is different, we will not be activating call out lists or operating centres this exercise is designed to allow you to participate and focus on what needs to happen at your work place.

You may be aware that Napier City Council plan to sound their public alerting sirens at 9:26 on 26/9.  The purpose of that action is to act as a public reminder to participate in the “Drop, cover, hold” activity of exercise shakeout, it is emphasised that during a “real” earthquake public alerting sirens will not be sounded as the earthquake itself acts as the public notification.