Central Otago Civil Defence emergency management advisers Derek Shaw and Jacqui Lambeth hosted a meeting in Roxburgh to encourage people to set up a community response team.
The Teviot Valley was a long, linear area which could be completely cut off in both directions, with two hydro dams above it and the Clutha Mata-Au river running through it.
Mr Shaw said the team would not be doing search and rescue or filling sandbags. They would open the hall, set up a generator and offer a place of refuge during an emergency.
Roxburgh was no stranger to self-reliance, with flooding across State Highway 8 isolating the town in the past. While a lot of work had been done to mitigate future flooding it would remain a risk, along with other potential natural disasters.
There were many volunteers in the community, in the fire brigade, ambulance and search and rescue teams, Mr Shaw said.
"This country runs on volunteers. I’ve been at crash scenes where there were 40 people and the only ones getting paid were the police and the helicopter pilot."
To help communities become more resilient in a disaster, Civil Defence was investing in generators, Starlink communications and training for community response groups, he said.
In some communities, existing hall committees or other groups had become the point of contact, but Roxburgh did not have a single group like that.
There would be jobs for people of all skill sets, from running communications to making tea and keeping the place tidy, Mr Shaw said.
After the meeting, 26 of the 55 people present had put their names forward to be part of the group, which was an incredible response.
Those people would all be contacted and further training arranged, he said.
