Current projects - regional hazards and emergency management

We are working with district councils and communities around our region to help them understand their risks to natural hazards and how we can plan for future climate change.

Joint community strategies our team is involved in include:

• Wharekawa Coast 2120, led by Hauraki District Council
• Thames Coromandel Shoreline Management Plans, led by Thames Coromandel District Council
• Adaptive management plan for Port Waikato, led by Waikato District Council.

The November 2019 Building Code Update has revised B1/AS1 to ensure new buildings are built safe and strong enough to withstand liquefaction effects.

To help district councils within the Waikato region, we have done a liquefaction hazard assessment to provide Level A liquefaction mapping for the whole region. The purpose of this work is to inform a liquefaction vulnerability assessment based on the Planning and engineering guidance for potentially liquefaction-prone land (MBIE, MfE, EQC)

The new liquefaction hazard map is published on the Waikato Regional Hazards Portal, 'Earthquakes and landslides' tab. 

New river flood modelling has recently been competed from Horotiu to Ohinewai, including with multiple climate change scenarios, to inform the proposed Waikato District Plan. This modelling provides insight into the current and future flood hazard from the Waikato River, to better inform future planning. The technical report is available here.

Similar modelling projects are underway or planned for other river systems or main residential areas to align with district plan reviews and assist with implementing Waikato Regional Council's Regional Policy Statement.

Waikato Regional Council's Emergency Management Office (EMO) continues to review our response processes to make sure that we maintain best practises and that we can easily work alongside other agencies during emergencies. 

As one part of that review, we are part of national endeavour to develop and implement a tool that will assist with the disposal of waste arising from disasters. Think waste demolition and waste construction materials on a massive scale that could be further contaminated by any number or types of pollutants from sewage to radioactive materials used in research or medicine.

Another focus for the EMO is improving response times to marine oil spills, in particular relocating equipment closer to high risk locales around the Coromandel peninsula.