Whanganui Rural Community Board votes for emergency communication upgrade

Chairman David Wells was instrumental in the Whanganui Rural Community Board's decision to fund four Starlink devices. Photo / Bevan Conley

The Whanganui Rural Community Board will fund emergency communications equipment after the lessons of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Board chairman David Wells said he realised during the cyclone how many people were left out of touch because of a lack of emergency communications.

He started talking to Whanganui Civil Defence and Emergency Management about the issue and discovered it had only one Starlink device and a few iridium handheld satellite systems for the whole region.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that allows communication even after natural disasters and other emergencies.

“One of the things that came out of Cyclone Gabrielle was communications and the value of Starlink – and it turned out our civil defence only have one Starlink available, and no funding to improve on that,” Wells said.

The community board decided to help fund Starlink devices from about $10,000 left in its Rural Community Grant Fund.

Starlink satellites viewed over the Remutaka Hills near Wellington. Photo / Ricky Situ

“We realised there was this deficiency in the civil defence – so the board voted to use up any unallocated funds to assist our civil defence team with improved communication ability,” Wells said. “Starlink was identified as a good option.”

At its meeting on Wednesday, the board voted to buy four Starlink devices and backup generators for each one, which would cost about $5200.

“We’re pleased to be able to fill this gap.”

Wells said the community wouldn’t see the benefit of the devices immediately but would they would be needed if and when there was a civil defence emergency.

“Large weather events or seismic events are inevitably going to affect our rural community in the future, cutting or damaging existing infrastructure, roads and communications, isolating large areas of our community for extended periods,” the board’s meeting agenda said.

The devices would be held in a storage container owned by Whanganui Civil Defence and Emergency Management until they are needed, in which case they would be deployed to rural locations either before or immediately after an event.

Training would be provided to key rural community members on how to use the devices.