Are you ready? Amanda Robinson of The Lightfoot Initiative

In this series, Crux catches up with community leaders and business people to find out how prepared they are, or not, for a major Alpine Fault quake. There are no 'gotcha' questions here - it's about starting conversations and sparking action. First up, Queenstown active transport advocate, school board member, and mother Amanda Robinson.

What’s one of your biggest worries about an AF8 event?

Widespread death and destruction, and that the Remarkables will topple onto my house (I know this is unlikely).

Prepared or crossing your fingers and hoping for the best - what best describes your or your household's approach to disaster readiness and why?

We're semi-prepared, in that I am psychologically ready to deal with an emergency of this magnitude. The adults in my house are both First Aid trained, with experience in the outdoors, we have enough emergency food and water to last a few weeks, including water purification tablets and first aid etc - although further work is needed on a portable toilet solution. 

What’s one thing you pledge to do in coming weeks to ‘Get Prepared’?

Shift from 'browsing' rain water storage tanks to actually getting one and, of course, joining the Frankton Civil Defence group. I think we need to get solar too.

What’s one burning question you want an answer to about planning for the big one?

Can the Queenstown Lakes District Council subsidise (or at least bulk buy) rain water tanks for ratepayers to buy, similar to what happens in other parts of New Zealand? 

Now we're on the topic, any other thoughts you're keen to share?

Work is happening within community associations to help prepare each suburb to respond to a Civil Defence emergency. It would be great to see real progress in this space, and more clarity around local plans such as rally points, methods of communication in an emergency etc.

I'm on the Queenstown Primary School board, and it would be great to review the school's emergency management plan annually.

Clarity about how resilient our public transport network is, and information about how quickly we can restore the network to keep people moving who are in key jobs, is crucial.

I think that the recent water contamination scare highlights how important it is to look out for neighbours and friends. Smaller events like those help reinforce why we need to be planning for a more significant event.

Click here for the main Get Prepared index page 

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