The Otago Civil Defence Emergency Management Group held a region-wide desk-top exercise yesterday afternoon simulating the effects of a major snowfall hitting the region shutting roads, isolating rural communities, cutting power and causing supply shortages.
Emergency operation centres were on full activation in Dunedin, Oamaru and Alexandra as the capacity and effectiveness of the region's civil defence and emergency management was tested.
Civil Defence staff in Balclutha and Queenstown also took part.
Group co-ordinator Scott McNaughton said the objectives of the exercise, such as focusing on co-ordination and communication between all of the groups across Otago were met and it had been a good learning experience.
There was good participation from services such as police, fire service, St John and health boards and the local authorities.
The initial impression from the afternoon's exercise was that the region had the capability and resources to deal with such an emergency, he said.
"We're pretty well placed and I have no significant concerns as a result of today."
A formal debriefing would be held next month to see if there were any issues that needed to be improved on from a regional perspective, he said.
Central Otago incident controller Murray Washington, assets manager of the Central Otago District Council, was also pleased with how the exercise went.
"The intent was to test our ability to react and co-ordinate emergency services, and get a team up and running, practise our roles and our co-ordination, and it went well. It didn't take very long before we were functioning well as a team, I think, and it was a valuable exercise in testing our preparedness."
Waitaki District Council emergency services manager Chris Raine said about 25 staff gathered at Civil Defence headquarters in Oamaru to deal with the scenario of 1.5m of snow at Hampden, 60cm in Omarama and 40cm at Palmerston along with high winds and blizzard conditions.
