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Community Emergency Hubs

Rotorua Lakes Council is working with local communities to build resilience and empower residents to respond during emergencies.

Community Emergency Hubs provide small, rural or isolated communities with a nearby location where locals can work together to solve issues, share skills and information, and support each other.

Tile showing logo for Community Emergency Hub

What is their purpose?

In an emergency it’s likely that official services will be stretched and dealing with urgent priorities such as restoring critical lifelines. Your neighbours will be your most immediate source of support.

A Community Emergency Hub is a place where you and your neighbours can go to receive support and share resources. They are locally led, use community facilities and can be opened by keyholders living in the area.

At the hub you will be able to:

  • Ask for and offer help by sharing skills and resources.
  • Share and find information about what's happening in your area.
  • Start organising the clean-up of your community.
  • Be in the company of others facing a similar situation.

What you will find there

Each Hub has a guide for how to coordinate a local emergency response.

Hubs are set up with a small amount of equipment such as a radio to reach official centres, stationery, signage, whiteboards, first aid gear and maps. These items help coordinate a localised response while waiting for help from officials.

Other things you might find at a Community Emergency Hub include:

  • Notice board for sharing key information.
  • Maps pointing out key issues or hazards.
  • Needs and offers board for sharing of resources or offers of assistance.
  • A community space where people can seek company or wait for help.

What you won’t find there

Community Emergency Hubs do not hold supplies, food, water or blankets. Most households should have enough supplies to get them through the first week after an emergency. Your community can gather the things it needs by working together via the Hub.

Image showing people helping after an earthquake

How they run

If able, official Emergency Management groups will be in contact via phone or radio, but the Hubs are led and run by local community members.

Each Hub has a guide with instructions for how to coordinate an emergency response and describes the types of roles needed to help run the Hub.

Roles are allocated by agreement between whoever turns up. Anyone can be part of the Hub team on the day.

Rotorua Hub location

Council is working with several communities to establish the first local community hubs. Watch this space!

Hubs don’t have to be in rural areas, any neighbourhood can set up its own Hub. If your neighbourhood would like to establish a Community Emergency Hub, please contact us. We would be happy to help.

Being prepared

In an emergency, being prepared is the best thing you can do for yourself and the people around you. This means having a plan in place and having supplies ready to go.

Get prepared

During emergencies, communities naturally pull together and help each other, and smaller or more isolated communities are usually great at sharing resources to get by. If disaster struck, having a local Community Emergency Hub helps the community by:

  • reducing the risk of travelling long distances to get help.
  • enables local residents to get support and information sooner.
  • provides a central location for coordinating help and resources.
  • eases the pressure on official emergency response groups.

A Community Emergency Hub is needed when there has been a major emergency where people need assistance, and the support needed is beyond the current capability of council and emergency services.

If official support is available from the council and emergency services, then you probably don't need to open a Hub.

Council’s Emergency Management team works closely with local communities to establish each Hub. This includes training for the local Hub leadership team, providing signage and equipment, working with the community to develop a Safety Plan, promoting each Hub and ongoing support as able during actual emergencies.

Hubs are best suited to community facilities that are easy to access – these can be schools, club or community halls. The Hub supervisor will have access as well as others who hold different Hub roles.

If the Hub has not opened, local communities can try and find a Hub leadership team member or as directed by the Hub team, find another venue to set up the Community Hub.

If the Hub building is damaged or there is a risk to safety from the surrounding area, then the Community Emergency Hub should not be opened. If this happens, try to find another venue to set up the Hub.

Official Emergency Management teams will likely be responding to urgent priority callouts, so each Hub is led by the community using local residents to pitch in to help their neighbours in a coordinated way. Even though the Hubs are set up to run without official assistance, Emergency Management personnel will do what they can to offer help and guidance.

No, Community Emergency Hubs are an interim measure that can provide help and support to local communities until officials can reach them. If people have serious injuries or are at serious risk, emergency services will get to them as soon as possible.

Yes, depending on the size and scale of the emergency, Emergency Operation Centres would likely still be set up in key locations. The Community Hubs will continue to be a localised community-led space you can go if you need assistance in an emergency.

No. Everything is through consensus, co-operation, and community generosity. People running the Hub cannot force anyone to provide or do anything that they do not want to do.

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