Prepare for an emergency

Learn how to make an emergency kit, keep your pets safe and prepare your home or business for an emergency.

We teamed up with Whakarongo School to teach you how to build a home emergency kit by adding items to your supermarket shop over 10 weeks. Watch the video below to get started.

Prepare your pets for an emergency

Your pets, just like you, will need emergency supplies and a place to stay during emergencies, which may vary depending on the type of emergency.

Emergency kits for your pets

When building your emergency kit, consider building your pets’ at the same time. You should consider if they will have enough food and water to last three days or more. Ask yourself, do you have cages to transport them? Do you have someone to collect and look after your animals if you can’t get home? Include your pets’ vet records.

Checklist for your pet's emergency survival kit(PDF, 279KB)

Where will your pets stay?

Pets may not be allowed in public emergency shelters – it's important to have a backup plan in an emergency such as a family member, friend or shelter.

We will let you know during an emergency if we can house your dog in our animal shelter. If we're able to, we will need to know:

  • your dog's name
  • date of birth
  • microchip number
  • vaccination records
  • any likes or dislikes and behaviour traits.

 When preparing your pet's emergency kit, write this brief down on a piece of paper and keep it somewhere safe.  

Other animals

If you have other animals on your property that are not necessarily pets (such as livestock), you will also need to include them in your emergency planning and preparation. 

Find out how you can make a plan for your other animals in an emergency

Ask us about emergency education and training 

Our emergency management officers provide a free service to the whole community and deliver over 100 presentations each year to community groups, schools and businesses. 

To ask about presenting to your group or running workplace training, business continuity planning, or a school activity, call us on 06 356 8199

Websites and activities to help you and your whānau prepare for an emergency

Find out how to get ready: at home, at work, at school and on the marae 

What's the plan, Stan? Activities for kids and schools

Advice for disabled people

Lifestyle Block Emergency Preparedness Handbook (PDF, 6MB)

Help prepare your business for an emergency

Emergency planning for businesses | business.govt.nz

Continuity and contingency planning | business.govt.nz

Useful websites

Earthquake Commission

Fire & Emergency NZ

GeoNet

Horizons Regional Council

MetService

Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management