Person centred planning will save lives in storms

Northland has always lived close to the weather, but the past few years have felt different. Storms that once arrived as one-off events now seem to result in relentless floods and slips, leaving whole communities cut off. Shakespeare encapsulated this sense of relentless attack long before climate change entered our vocabulary, when he wrote of how “when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” That line could have been written for the weather of the last few weeks. 

We prepare for these events and respond to them with urgency, and, often, with money. We insure our homes, our cars, our businesses. Councils harden infrastructure. Governments debate recovery packages. All this matters. But there is a quieter investment we repeatedly underfund: time spent planning, especially planning that centres on the people who are most at risk when a civil emergency unfolds.

Disabled people, older people, and those with chronic health conditions experience emergencies differently. Power cuts are not just inconvenient when you rely on medical equipment. Flooded roads are not just a delay when you depend on carers, medications, or accessible transport. Yet emergency planning is still too often built on assumptions about independence, mobility, and access to information that simply don’t hold true for many people.

International experience makes this painfully clear. Around 10 to 15 years ago, Australia was hit by a series of Category 5 cyclones, major floods, and catastrophic bushfires. Early analysis showed that disabled people and people with functional needs did not fare well during or after these disasters. Many had no emergency plans at all. Others had plans, but they were imposed on them written by agencies or family members with little or no consultation. These plans were worse than useless. They created the illusion of readiness without real understanding, ownership, or agency. When the crisis hit, the plans fell apart.

Closer to home, Cyclone Gabrielle revealed similar fault lines. In some cases, Civil Defence assumed people knew what to do. In many cases however, communities were waiting for Civil Defence to tell them what to do. That gap between institutional expectation and lived reality is where harm happens.

This is where Person Centred Emergency Planning comes in. Person Centred Emergency Planning is not about filling in a form or ticking a compliance box. It is about supporting people to think through their own risks, supports, strengths, and priorities, and to build a plan that actually makes sense in their lives. It works, but only when people are genuinely invested in the process.

Service providers play a crucial role here, and that role requires a shift in mindset. Service Providers need to get on board with Person Centred Emergency Planning, but they also need to relinquish control. The task is not to do a plan for someone, but to support them to develop their own. That difference between doing with and doing for is everything.

In Aotearoa, we already have a strong foundation to build on. The Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO) has developed a Person Centred Emergency Planning workbook adapted for New Zealand use. It is clearer, less wordy, and practical enough to use in workshop settings. WREMO’s rollout plan follows the Disability Inclusive Emergency Preparedness (DIEP) model  starting with disabled people living independently, then those in supported living and residential settings, and finally bringing agencies fully on board.

Rolling this approach out in Northland would be a smart, effective investment. It would cost far less than repeated recovery efforts and deliver far more than any insurance policy ever could. As Shakespeare warned, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” In a changing climate, failing to plan, especially for those most at risk is not bad luck or an act of nature. It is a choice. And it is one we can no longer afford to keep making as the next storm gathers.

This article has been published by the Northern Advocate.
Read the article here.

Author: Designer