Dunedin's civil defence head is pushing for the city to take a wider view of its safety preparedness than just stocking up with an emergency survival kit.
For this week's International Disaster Reduction Week, civil defence manager Neil Brown has called for more use to be made of the Neighbourhood Support service, which has already been working on emergency support, outside its primary focus of crime prevention.
As part of disaster reduction week, a national Get Ready, Get Thru campaign will concentrate on having a household emergency plan, an emergency checklist and a "getaway kit" of essential emergency and medical items if people need to be evacuated.
Mr Brown said the recent tsunami in the Pacific, power outages and heavy snowfalls should have made people more aware of the possibilities.
Most streets in Dunedin had people with a variety of skills, and Neighbourhood Support groups provided a good way of providing mutual support.
"Neighbourhood Support has got to be one of the avenues to achieving that."
Mr Brown said civil defence worked with the groups for two to three years.
Some did extensive work towards disaster support.
Information groups could gather included hazards that might affect the neighbourhood, the skills and resources it had, and residents who might need particular support.
Neighbourhood Support regional co-ordinator Sarah Hexamer said the Broad Bay community had been working on the idea, and already had street contacts for each street.
The Brighton community was another getting involved.
Apart from those communities, Dunedin had 114 groups, with a membership of 1610.
Mr Brown said civil defence would also be doing a management exercise on Thursday, and this year the heads of emergency services would deal with a simulated earthquake.
