Council staff and support agencies have participated in two emergency exercises including a major earthquake scenario and an oil spill in Picton.
Exercise Pandora 2024 was a South Island-wide event centred on a major rupture of the Alpine Fault. It operated out of the Emergency Coordination Centre in Wither Road.
Marlborough Emergency Services Officer Gary Spence said the exercise’s aim was to measure Marlborough’s response to the complexities of an Alpine Fault (AF8) earthquake.
It was an opportunity for Marlborough CDEM to be lead agency along with support agencies including Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Hato Hone St John, NZ Police, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora, Ministry of Social Development and infrastructure entities such as Marlborough Roads and Marlborough Lines.
“The day went well and it was great to see all the functions and agencies coming together to trial this response. The lessons learned will be valuable for all involved when we face this in real time one day,” Gary said.
Around 20 people from Council - including most of the Nautical and Coastal Team, Maritime NZ, Marlborough Emergency Management and Port Marlborough - dealt with a mock diesel spill at Waikawa’s northwest marina.
The area covered a total of 10 hectares with booms and skimmers deployed to contain and scoop up the diesel. “This was an opportunity for response teams to evaluate plans, equipment and systems. All went well,” Regional On-scene Commander Pete Hamill said.
