March has been a bountiful month for the Resilient Communities Initiative.

The first big success was finishing the website – https://www.resilientaucklandnorth.org.nz/  The website is designed to help visitors connect with the emergency preparedness work.

You can keep up to date by signing up for the e-newsletter and/or Facebook group, or browse helpful resources and links. The website will host the community-designed plans for all the suburbs in the Devonport-Takapuna local board area, allowing for collaboration and maintenance of the plans so they remain relevant over time.

An exciting area of the work has been connecting with existing organisations to coordinate tools and opportunities for communities. For example, we can help communities to organise a St Johns 3 Step for Life course. This free community programme teaches CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) use. According to their website, utilising these skills can increase a patient’s chances of survival by up to 40%.

An invaluable tool for communities is Neighbourhood Support’s GetsReady website (https://northshore.getsready.net/ . This tool allows households to sign up and list their resources, skills and special requirements. In the event of an emergency, this information is shared with community coordinators who can then direct services and responses.

We are also working on making sure the Resilient Communities initiative is accessible to all community members. We have partnered with English Language Partners to make workshops and resources accessible and the Sunnynook Community are in the process of translating their “5 Ways to Prepare” flyer into multiple other languages thanks to their own community volunteers!

In April, we have 2 more community connections planned for the Devonport and the Milford / Castor Bay areas. If you’d like to get involved, please email me at madison@ancad.org.nz or sign up to our Facebook group – Resilient Communities Auckland North.