About Nelson Tasman Civil Defence

We're here to help the community understand - and reduce - risks from natural disaster and emergencies.

Civil Defence is about the resilience of our communities. We assist families and businesses to be ready when disaster strikes. 

We make plans, so we are ready to respond to emergencies, lead the response to emergency events, and coordinate recovery afterwards.

A group approach

The Nelson Tasman Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group is a partnership between Nelson City and Tasman District Councils and key partner agencies. These partner agencies include:

  • Police
  • Fire
  • Ambulance
  • Nelson Marlborough District Health Board,
  • The Ministry of Social Development
  • Local iwi, and
  • The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.

Read the full list of partners.

CDEM Group Plan

The Nelson Tasman Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Plan provides for an ‘all hazards’ approach to emergency management planning and activity within Nelson City and Tasman District.

It is our main tool to identify and assess hazards and risks in our region and decides the acceptable level of risk and how it is to be managed.

It includes the structure and systems necessary to manage those hazards, including the arrangements for declaring a state of emergency in the Group’s area.

Nelson Tasman CDEM Group Plan

Response Team - NZ-RT2

Our region is fortunate to have a specialist civil defence rescue team, known as New Zealand Response Team 2 (NZ-RT2). 

A team of up to 24 volunteers regularly train to meet national Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) standards. While specialising in Urban Search and Rescue work, the team has a role in all types of Civil Defence emergencies. Possible deployments include floods, collapsed, buildings, and landslips. They also support the Emergency Services in the region and has a close relationship with Land Search and Rescue (LSAR).

Key links

We've collected some links to local and central government, and to our partners and other responsible agencies, with a few international links of interest. 

Go the key links page.