Emergency

Doctors on strike today; but hospital emergency dept staying open

Community, Emergency, Health, News, Warning / By

News from Capital and Coast District Health Board Resident Medical Officers who are members of the New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association union will undertake strike action around the country from 7am on Tuesday to 7am on Thursday. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski Patient safety and wellbeing remains our highest priority and focus during this time. Contingency …

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Be alert tomorrow night (it’s only a test)

Civil Defence, Emergency, News, Warning / By

NZ Civil Defence are running a nationwide test of their Emergency Mobile Alert system between 6.00 and 7.00pm on Sunday 25 November. In an emergency, these alerts can be really helpful, and the nationwide test is a necessary part of making sure the Emergency Mobile Alert system works well. The test is sent to cell towers …

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Fire in Customhouse Quay building causes delays

Emergency, News, Police / By

Motorists are advised to expect possible delays in central Wellington following reports of a fire in a building. Police are in attendance on Customhouse Quay assisting Fire and Emergency NZ at the scene. While traffic is currently flowing, please take care and avoid the area if possible.

What will you do when the big one comes?

Community, Emergency, Government, News / By

This week’s earthquake is a reminder that no one in the Wellington region can tell when are major disaster might strike. Are you prepared? The Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMOnz) are holding a series of Plan and Prepare Workshops, starting this evening in Wadestown. In a hui of korero, sharing and networking among neighbours, …

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Strong quake shakes Wellington (updated)

Emergency, News / By

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake shook Wellington and many other parts of the country today at 3.13pm. Geonet report the quake, originally reported as having a 6.7 magnitude, was centered 25 km south-west of Taumarunui, at a depth of  207km. Comments using #eqnz on Twitter included “hell of a big shake” (Wellington), “big shake in the Hutt”, …

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The end of the world could have started this month – in the Hutt

Emergency, Health, Hutt Valley, News / By

It’s the little things that could take us down. MARK CUBEY gets bacterial. Humanity faces its most likely extinction, or at least severely depletion, by the myriad “natural” disasters caused by anthropogenic climate breakdown, allowed to happen by unaddressed CO2 emissions and general governmental slackness and inability to think beyond the next electoral cycle. Then …

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Fire, rain and wind assail Wellington

Emergency, News, Southern Suburbs, Transport, Weather / By

Fire has engulfed a house in Lyall Bay, and rain and wind have caused ferry cancellations and flooding on SH1. Photo by Stevo O’Rourke Firefighters were called this morning to a large house fire on Hungerford Road, on the hills above Lyall Bay. Six fire appliances and a command unit are attending the scene. All …

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Your (double) high five events for the weekend of 6 and 7 October

Dance, Emergency, Events, Music, News, Police, Waterfront, Youth / By

It’s always a squeeze trying to get the weekend down to five high-five events, so in a trial exercise we’re running ten tips for what you might do over a spring weekend in Wellington (and extending a bit beyond our usual $20-or-under benchmark). Events exclude the WOW activities we wrote about today – check those …

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Dangerous URM façade fixes meet tight deadline

Council, Emergency, News, Real Estate / By

All but one of the potentially unreinforced masonry (URM) façades of 113 Wellington buildings have now been secured. Maguire’s Building, 168-174 Cuba Street; designed by prominent Wellington architectural firm Thomas Turnbull and Son in 1900, and now well reinforced. Photo by Mark Cubey The owners of the offending buildings have had 18 months to secure the …

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200 seconds to die, if you don’t have a plan

Death, Emergency, Health, News / By

You all know what to do to prevent yourself dying in a fire, right? You may have your photoelectric smoke alarms up to date (daylight saving this weekend, good time to check the batteries), and know that if you have the misfortune to be caught in a house fire, you need to dial 111, get …

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Compost source of Carterton school freakout

Emergency, News, Police / By

Police have identified fresh compost as the source of illness at a Carterton primary school last week. Emergency services were called to the school on High Street about 2.30pm on Friday with reports of an unpleasant smell and a number of ill children. “Police spent a great deal of the time over the weekend searching …

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Nearly 50 buildings with Grenfell-like cladding identified in Wellington

Architecture, Council, Emergency, News, Real Estate / By

A high school, a private hospital and several apartment blocks are among the 49 Wellington buildings identified with combustible cladding similar to what fuelled the fatal Grenfell Tower fire in London last year. Report from RNZ by Phil Pennington @pjppenn [email protected] Photo of Grenfell Tower, by ChiralJon (CC2) The Wellington City Council was ordered by the …

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Pipeline across the harbour will provide alternative water supply

Council, Emergency, Features, News / By

A $116 million project aimed at improving water supply resilience for the metropolitan region was approved yesterday at a meeting of the Greater Wellington Regional Council. The Council approved the Cross Harbour Pipeline as the preferred project for an alternative water supply to Wellington City, Wellington City’s water is currently piped from the Hutt Valley …

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NZ central bank vacating Wellington HQ for three months due to asbestos

Business, Emergency, News, Real Estate / By

Content provided by BusinessDesk, “the only business news source you need”. A ten-day free trial is available at https://www.businessdesk.co.nz/ by Rebecca Howard Aug. 10 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s central bank is vacating its Wellington headquarters for about three months to remediate asbestos issues. The central bank’s currency, payments and settlements, and markets operations will not be affected as …

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Reserve Bank building evacuated for asbestos removal

Emergency, News, Real Estate / By

There will be a planned evacuation today from the Reserve Bank building on the corner of The Terrace and Bowen Street so that job of removing asbestos can begin next week. The building houses public service staff from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, State Services Commission and other organisations, including Defence staff relocated after …

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Power outage should be fixed by 4:00pm

Emergency, News / By

A power outage at Transpower’s Wilton substation this afternoon has caused a loss of supply to the Wellington Electricity network, mainly affecting the northern and western suburbs. Wellington Electricity report that they are working with Transpower to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Transpower estimates that power should be restored by 4:00pm today. They …

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Factory fire at Gracefield

Emergency, News / By

Firefighters were called out shortly after 6:00 this morning to battle a large blaze at the two-storey Chair Solutions premises in Gracefield, Lower Hutt. A spokesperson for Fire and Emergency reports that a dozen trucks are at the scene, including specialist support. No surrounding properties are at any risk, but nearby residents have been warned …

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Petone fire causes health risks, transport changes

Emergency, News / By

Buildings surrounding the Macaulay Metals factory in Seaview Rd in Petone were evacuated this morning as fire and emergency services worked to extinguish a large blaze. Fire and Emergency Hutt-Wairarapa reported that the fire was at the western end of a large scrap metal pile, which included insulation from fridges and other materials, producing toxic …

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Water tank for marae first project for Wellington Resilience Fund

Emergency, News / By

An 800 litre water tank is being installed at an Upper Hutt marae with the assistance of the Nikau Foundation’s new Wellington Resilience Fund. This is the first project for the Fund, part of the Nikau Foundation’s mission to increase grants available for community resilience projects around the region. The water tank is being installed …

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First community water station opens

Council, Emergency / By

A special event to open the first of Wellington’s community water stations was held at at Johnsonville’s Truscott Park yesterday. The 22 stations will form the foundation of the city’s above ground emergency water supply network.   One of the 20,000 litre on-site bladders that will act as pop-up reservoirs at Water Stations.  The Minister …

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