Hard times hit Civil Defence as budget cut

Auckland's civil defence budget will shrink by $200,000 this year in response to a call for reduced levies by the region's eight local authorities.

"They felt there was a generous budget when they were under pressure to trim their rates bills in tough economic times," said emergency management group chairman Derek Battersby.

He said savings in the new $1.4 million budget would not affect levels of service.

About $125,000 was trimmed for projects that could be put on hold and it would be up to the councils' successors in the Super City to decide what they wanted to pay for.

Mr Battersby said he was confident that budget cuts would not affect the civil defence group's part in dealing with any swine flu epidemic.

Staff had been helping health agencies since April 30 and could supply trained emergency managers and communicators.

One of the projects in store for the super city's blessing is a mass public warning system for a tsunami.

Waitakere City Council, which has a network of sirens, is the only local council able to guarantee notification of people in danger zones.

However, work has been approved on refining evacuation zones.

Present maps go on the basis of evacuating all areas on the Auckland coast lying less than 10m above sea level.

Auckland Regional Council will pay for the work which is to be completed by March.

ARC hazard manager Greg Holland said the coarseness of the 10m contour evacuation zone presented difficulties with implementing and justifying the areas to be evacuated.

The contour was chosen originally because it could be easily adopted by each council and gave an ample margin for safety over estimates of a 3.5 metre high wave coming from northern Chile.

The ARC is aiming for an assessment of actual tsunami inundation risk for setting evacuation zones.