Call for investigation into emergency preparedness in schools
A research has found New Zealand schools are inconsistent with their emergency preparation. (File photo)
Schools across the country are "inconsistent" when it comes to emergency planning, a researcher says.
After conducting multiple studies between 2011 and 2018, doctoral researcher Karlene Tipler says she found some schools were more prepared than others, and she has called for an investigation into how they respond to emergencies.
"There is variation in the extent of emergency preparedness activities schools undertake," she said.
"But there's no link between decile and how much they're prepared."
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Tipler wanted to see better planning for the four response actions – a shelter, a lockdown, evacuation and relocation.
Schools were unaware of some of the things they should be doing, her report said.
For example, a Porirua school let their children go home after the Seddon earthquake in August 2013, unaware of the damage it had done to the region and its transport network.
But the school later created a policy that if children went home and no one was home, they would return to school.
The third national ShakeOut earthquake drill will take place on October 18 at 9.30am. This year's focus will be on childcare centres, schools and tertiary institutions.
Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management director Sarah Stuart-Black said schools often became super-vigilant after a major emergency, but would then return to normal levels of preparedness.
The best thing people could do to prepare was to talk to children at home about what they should do in an emergency, she said.
Katrina Casey, the Ministry of Education's enablement and support deputy secretary, said how schools prepared for emergencies varied depending on their risk profile.
"Schools are encouraged to work with their local civil defence group, fire and police to finalise their emergency management plans."
APP FOR ALERTING PARENTS TO DANGER
Kaikoura mother Sharlene Barnes saw a need for better parent-teacher communication after the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
"Our building started to collapse, and after the initial thought of helping other people I thought to myself, 'I've got to get to my son'," she said.
"As a parent I was concerned about him, being extremely worried. Basically, we had no idea if the school had fallen down or what had happened."
Kaikoura woman Sharlene Barnes has created a mobile app, Skool Loop, to improve communication between schools and parents.
Barnes said she ran three kilometres, barefoot through liquefaction and sewerage, to his school.
The earthquake drove Barnes to create Skool Loop, a mobile app that uses push notifications to alert parents to school issues. It is now used by more than 600 schools.
Schools who had to phone parents individually or used web-based automated text messages, were not prepared, she said.
In the moments after the 2011 earthquake, phone communication was lost.
Rongotai College principal Kevin Carter said his school used the app on May 21 when their pipes broke.
The school had no electricity for two days. With their school database down, they had no way to send text messages to parents, he said.
- Stuff
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