The Wānaka Community Resilience Group (WCRG) is inviting community groups to get involved with their work to help the community prepare for possible emergencies.

Over the past year or so the volunteer-run group has strengthened its partnerships with emergency services agencies, secured funding for a custom-built emergency trailer, held a local emergency preparedness event, and launched a new website.

It has also recently changed its name - swapping ‘response’ for ‘resilience’ to better reflect the work it does, WCRG member Carly Parker told the Wānaka App.

“We’re not first responders,” she said. 

“We’re essentially communicators encouraging people to build resilience in their households ahead of an emergency.”

The emergency risks in the local area include a major earthquake on the alpine fault, fire, flood, tsunami, snowstorm and landslip.

The better prepared the local community is - on an individual, household and community-wide level - the more resilient it will be in the event of a major emergency, the WCRG says.

Carly said the WCRG is looking for support from community groups with resources, skills, supplies, or equipment that may be useful in an emergency.

It is hosting a round-table session next Wednesday (August 20) at 7pm at the Upper Clutha Rugby Clubrooms and encouraging community groups to come along for a chat to see if there is a way to work together.

“There are so many different community groups - it could be any kind of group that has human resources,” Carly said.

She said there is no need to sign up before attending - it will be a casual meeting in the hope as many groups as possible will come along.

The mission of the WCRG is to build resilience in the local community to prepare for emergency events, coordinate communication with Emergency Management Otago, establish community emergency hubs, and supply and circulate relevant emergency preparedness information in the community.

Visit the new WCRG website here.

PHOTO: Supplied