Weaknesses in the rural cellphone network are leaving emergency services ‘‘hamstrung’’ during community crises, Clutha officials say.
Emergency Management Otago adviser (Clutha) Jason Michie attended both West Otago and Lawrence-Tuapeka Community Board meetings yesterday, to answer concerns raised by the boards following last October’s destructive storms.
Mr Michie said a review of communication resilience was under way following the storms, which left much of the South without power for up to three weeks.
The extent of the disruption also meant some essential cellphone infrastructure stopped working during the height of the crisis, as cellphone repeater back-up battery storage ran out.
This had left emergency services ‘‘hamstrung’’, he said.
Ongoing weather emergencies in the North Island had helped highlight communications resilience as a critical national issue, Mr Michie said.
Current discussions between Civil Defence and telecommunications (telco) companies were targeted at improving resilience, so communications could remain in place even during extended, large-scale crises such as the October storms.
‘‘[The storms] were something different we’d never experienced before, and provided all of us with key learnings.
‘‘One potential solution that’s been proposed is installing better solar panels and more batteries at cellphone sites.’’
Members of both boards said the cellphone failure in October had brought long-standing issues into stark relief.
Clutha District Mayor Jock Martin questioned why back-up power for repeater towers was not up to standard.
‘‘I’d like you [Jason] to go back to the [telco] providers and ask why back-up contingencies were not already in place and working?’’
West Otago board member Robert Kane echoed the mayor’s sentiment.
‘‘The technology has long been out there to provide resilience, so let’s put this in place.’’
Fellow West Otago board member Cecil Crawford questioned why residents could not simply plug in a generator themselves to keep repeaters working.
Mr Michie said feedback from powerline companies was that this could cause dangerous surges, potentially harming line workers fixing broken lines elsewhere on the network.
Responding to Mr Crawford, West Otago ward councillor Michele Kennedy, who also works for Hato Hone St John, said infrastructure issues should only be addressed by qualified personnel.
‘‘We [St John] had to attend an electrocution after the storms.
‘‘We don’t want well-meaning but unqualified members of the public getting involved.’’
Back-up Civil Defence VHF radio communications generally worked well during October, Mr Michie said.
‘‘VHF is great when there’s power, but when it’s a situation that takes time to fix, as it did in October, it’s also important to have enough back-up battery power.’’
He said the council had indicated it was addressing this issue.
