Survey on public's understanding and expectations of emergency management and response in Aotearoa New Zealand

GNS Science, with input from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and some Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Groups, is undertaking a survey to investigate the public's understanding and expectations of emergency management and response in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The survey aims to assess the public’s awareness of the roles and responsibilities of agencies, communities and the public in a disaster event, and their perceptions of how prepared different agencies and groups are for future disasters. Fire and Emergency is cited as one of the organisations which respondents are asked to rate their perceptions of preparedness and ability on.

It’s important to note that this survey is not a critique of emergency management agencies, but instead aims to enhance the way that organisations such as Fire and Emergency communicate with the public during a disaster event. While Fire and Emergency is not responsible for the survey, we believe it is valuable to promote it to our people who will be able to provide important evidence-based feedback. This will provide GNS Science with a pool of data from a greater variety of backgrounds to inform their research.

The survey opens on Friday, 21 March and runs until Sunday, 27 April. It is open to all and we would encourage you to share it with anyone who may be interested in providing feedback.

You can find the survey here.(external link)

The results will be shared in a public science report and will help us to better prepare for any future disaster events.