To get ready for situations out of our control, such as natural disasters, we must come together to support one another - and in that way, we are all Civil Defence. Every five years the Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group reviews their Strategic Group Plan and they need your feedback to see if there is anything else that needs to be included.

The aim of the plan is to create a disaster resilient Waikato and that means we all have a role to play.

Councils have to be ready too, to support their communities when disaster strikes. We, along with all the local councils in the Waikato are required to go through Civil Defence Emergency Management training, and every year we each hold exercises with a scenario relevant to a hazard in our area. This training gets put to good use when we come together to support the community during a real disaster. We are graded throughout the exercise by qualified and experienced CDEM Group staff, so we can see where our strengths are, and discover areas for further growth and development. The Waikato region is varied and includes coastline, a volcanic caldera, faultlines, and has land subject to landslides and liquefaction.

You can have your say on the Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Strategic Group Plan 2025 - 2030 at waikatocivildefence.govt.nz/strategic-plan before 9 May 2025.

The Waikato CDEM Group area spans from the south of Auckland to south of Taupō, from the west coast of Mokaū to Port Waikato, through to the eastern coast of the Coromandel Peninsula.