Katikati’s new emergency shelter gets the nod

The Katikati Community Baptist Church site was chosen due to its proximity to emergency services.

Katikati Community Baptist Church is now the town’s primary emergency shelter.

Katikati Resilience Project steering group has been working towards its plan to keep residents safe in the event of an emergency by preparing the church site and make it the official emergency shelter in a severe weather event requiring evacuations.

The project — which was initiated by Rotary Club of Katikati — and community response plan was fast-tracked after Western Bay flooding this year, says project chairman John Bothwell.

“For Katikati, our biggest concern was isolation through flooding if the bridges were washed out, so we would have to be self-sufficient.

“The site was chosen due to its central location close to emergency services Red Cross Katikati, Katikati fire station and St John Katikati ambulance station. Katikati Christian Foodbank is also based on site. The church is equipped with a large kitchen, ablution facilities and space for up to 50 people to be housed.

In an emergency involving evacuees, volunteers would man the site and report to Western Bay of Plenty District Council civil defence and emergency management team.

The resilience project organised an upgrade of church infrastructure including the purchase and installation of an emergency generator. Phase two had the installation of a 25,000-litre water tank donated by local horticulturist Ian Stevens. This will make the building self-sufficient if the town water supply were lost for a few days, John says.

The new 25,000-litre water tank installed at Katikati Baptist Church.

The third phase involved a 15sq m extension to the foodbank to increase its storage capacity. The foodbank has seen an increase in demand for food parcels over the past few years, manager Sue Spriggens says, and they are enjoying the extra space, which also future-proofs the facility. The extension means they have storage for about a week’s worth of food in an emergency.

Katikati Christian Foodbank was extended to cater for those housed in the emergency shelter.

The previous site was Katikati Memorial Hall but it had major deficiencies, John says, with no generator or communications.

John would like to acknowledge the support of Taylor Bros Transport Ltd, Katikati ITM, Switch Electrical, Devan Water Tanks, Bay Trust, the council and Katikati Lions and Rotary clubs.

The financial support and volunteer labour saved more than $10,000 on the total project cost originally quoted, he says.