New Zealand Response Teams are groups of people from the community, who volunteer their time in emergencies to help when the emergency services are overwhelmed.
Response teams are part of the response to an emergency – their activities are coordinated through the Emergency Operations Centre.
They are trained to professional standards as an emergency resource that can complement or support the emergency services, if the size of an incident or event is beyond what they can usually manage.
The teams train weekly to maintain their response capabilities.
Response Teams can be deployed to help undertake a variety of tasks during an emergency response such as:
- Light rescue
- Reconnaissance
- Impact assessment
- Intelligence gathering
- Assisting evacuations
- Cordon and movement control
- Supporting Emergency Assistance Centres and Community Needs Assessments
- Mass casualty support
- Water and rope rescue.
If you are interested in joining our NZRTs, contact:
NZRT7 - Victoria University Emergency Response Team
NZRT8 – Wellington Emergency Response Team
NZRT9 - Upper Hutt Community Rescue
NZRT18 – Hutt City Emergency Response Team
