Southern Phase of Exercise Whakarauora Tangata complete

Responders and regional incident management teams tested during the latest activities in the Nationally Significant SAREX series.

During the table-top exercise lead by the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) on 11 October 2023, participants played out a response to a Nationally Significant Category II SAR incident. The incident involved a boutique cruise ship foundering near the entrance to Doubtful Sound, with multiple casualties and missing people. The scenario was highly relevant to Southland; over 129 cruise ships visit the waters of Fiordland each season.

Using the response plan developed during that activity, the Exercise Whakarauora Tangata planning team were able to tailor a comprehensive exercise control plan for the activities that followed. This was used to create a much more realistic exercise for participating agencies. On 18 November 2023, over 200 people from multiple agencies participated in a functional SAREX, conducted in the Lake Manapouri and Lake Te Anau area. A crew from TV 1’s Seven Sharp programme attended and produced a report which aired on 21 November.

A range of actors, mannequins, other vessels and even floating soccer balls were used to test the frontline-responders and incident management personnel.

“We deployed around 20 soccer balls onto the lake to simulate drifting items of interest,” says Nathan White, National Police SAR Coordinator. “When search teams found them, each had useful snippets of information which was fed back to the Incident Management Team to refine the response.”

The Incident Management Team exercise was led by NZ Police, and held at the Environment Southland Emergency Operations centre on 7 December. “This activity focussed on on-scene coordination and responding to requests from RCCNZ,” says John Dyer, Lead Planner for Exercise Whakarauora Tangata. “Next they transitioned to managing the reconcilliation process for the 257 people who were on the cruise ship.”

Feedback from both exercises confirmed that participants valued the opportunity to work together and benefited from learning from each other. The venue also showed its suitability to host a multi-agency integrated Incident Management Team and the support provided by Environment Southland was greatly appreciated.

Following from the success of the Bay of Plenty and Southern Phases of the exercise series, the planning team is working hard to refine the exercise to ensure that lessons to date are incorporated into the future activities.

The Wellington IMTEX took place on 20 March 2024, with the Eastern district activities due to take place in May. To watch the Seven Sharp feature video and learn more about the exercise series, visit nzsar.govt.nz/natsigsarex

Participating agencies in this SAREX were: 

New Zealand Defence Force
Southern Lakes Helicopters
NZ Police
Surf Life Saving New Zealand
Coastguard
Land Search and Rescue
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Hato Hone St John
New Zealand Red Cross
Emergency Management Southland
Te Anau Water Response Team
Fire and Emergency New Zealand Southland Health/Te Whatu Ora
NZ Customs Service
Southland Harbour Master
Rescue Coordination Centre NZ

Feature image: Inflatable Rescue Boats en route to the search area. Supplied. 

This story was originally published in the April 2024 issue of Link magazine.