In Gore, Emergency Management Southland (EMS) is the organisation in charge when there is a civil defence emergency.
It is a stand-alone entity working on behalf of Gore District Council as well as Southland District Council, Invercargill City Council and Environment Southland.
Gore District Council provides staff to EMS when there's an emergency and sometimes sets up an Emergency Control Centre (ECC) if there's an emergency where we need to help manage locally.
We support communities throughout Southland to undertake Community Response Planning.The best people to prepare for, respond to and recover from an emergency are those who know, understand and are part of that community. By coming together to develop Community Response Plans, communities will ensure they’re as ready as possible for any adverse event which may affect them.
Our Community Team is working across Southland to ensure all communities are part of this process. We bring together interested people to form a local Community Response Group. We then assist them to produce a short Community Response Plan that identifies local hazards and local resources that may be used in an emergency.We also help to identify Community Emergency Hubs. These are often the natural “hub” of a community and are places where people can come together and support each other during an emergency.Our aim is to empower local communities to do what they do best – look after each other.