Improving the Communication of Weather and Wildfire Information

During the past few decades, technology has changed the way communities are informed about the risks of high impact weather events and imminent threats to lives and property. However, there has been limited research to date on how best to do this in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Working with stakeholders and partners, including emergency management groups, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Queenstown Lakes District Council and MetService, we aim to develop more effective communication strategies for high impact weather events.

To do this, we are investigating how social media and other technologies can be used to communicate risks and gather information about the impact of events. Other areas of focus are the increasing wildfire risks posed by growing populations in the urban fringes around our towns and cities and the best ways to include Māori in planning and preparedness for high impact weather.

Our research will include analysis of the communications and community responses in case studies of actual events: the January 2017 storm in Wellington, and Cyclone Debbie and the Edgecumbe flooding in 2017.

In addition, the team is carrying out a qualitative study of wildfire risk perception and preparedness of urban fringe residents in northern Wānaka and Albert Town in the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes districts. This community has been selected for the study as they are exposed to high wildfire risk but have not experienced a significant wildfire event.

Our goal is to make Aotearoa New Zealand more resilient to high impact weather by identifying targeted and effective communications methods.

I ngā rua tekau tau kua hipa, nā te hangarau i panoni i te āhua whakamōhio i ngā hapori mō ngā tūraru o ngā takunetanga huarere pānga nui me ngā tūpono tūraru ki ngā tāngata me ngā rawa. Engari he whāiti noa ngā rangahau i tēnei wā me pēhea te mahi pai rawa i tēnei i Aotearoa.

Mā te mahi tahi ki ngā kaiwhaipānga me ngā hoa rangapū, pēnei i ngā rōpū whakahaere ohotata, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand, a Queenstown Lakes District Council me te Te Ratonga Tirorangi, e whai ana mātou ki te whakawhanake i ngā rautaki whakawhitinga whaihua ake mō ngā takunetanga huarere pānga nui.

Hei whakatutuki i tēnei, e tūhura ana mātou me pēhea te whakamahi i ngā pae pāhopori me ētahi atu hangarau ki te whakawhiti i ngā tūraru me te kohi mōhiohio mō te pānga o ngā takunetanga. Ko ētahi atu take arotahi ko te pikinga o ngā tūraru ahiniwha nā te tipu haere o ngā taupori i ngā tapa o ō tātou tāone, ā, me te huarahi pai ake ki te whakauru i te Māori ki ngā whakamaheretanga me ngā whakaritenga mō te huarere pānga nui.

Ka uru ki ā mātou rangahau ko te tātaritanga o ngā whakawhitinga me ngā urupare hapori i ngā take rangahau o ngā takunetanga: te āwhā nui i Te Whanganui-a-Tara i te Kohitātea 2017, a Cyclone Debbie me ngā waipuketanga i Edgecumbe i te tau 2017.

Tāpiri ake, e kawea ana e te rōpū tētahi rangahau inekounga o te aroā me te noho rite ki te tūraru ahiniwha o ngā kainoho tapa tāone i Wānaka ki te raki me Albert Town i ngā rohe o Te Puku o Ōtākou me Tāhuna. Kua kōwhiria tēnei hapori mō tēnei rangahau i te mea e tino noho whakaraerae ana ki te tūraru ahiniwha, engari kāore anō kia wheako i tētahi takunetanga ahiniwha nui.

Ko tō mātou whāinga kia manawaroa ake a Aotearoa ki ngā huarere pānga nui mā te tautohu i ngā tikanga whakawhitinga ūnga, whaihua hoki.