Members of the Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief NZ offered their services to assist in the response and recovery immediately following the disastrous typhoon in Myanmar. They are collaborating with their colleagues in RedR Australia in responding to requests from UNHCR and the World Food Programme for water & sanitation engineers, and for logisticians able to work in emergency start-up work.

RedR NZ was registered as a charitable entity under the Charities Act 2005, on 16 May 2008. Its Registration Number is CC24467. Information about the Charities Act, and relevant information about RedR NZ can be found at the Charities Commission website at www.charities.govt.nz

The 13th Annual General Meeting of RedR NZ was held on Tuesday 17 July 2007. After the presentation and acceptance of the annual reports, and the election of the Board for the coming year, we were given a presentation of the major review of the operations and structure of RedR NZ that we had recently commissioned. The recommendations of the review were accepted unanimously, and the Board was instructed to proceed with the steps outlined on the associated timeline. These steps will help to consolidate the gains made to date, and set the path for the continued growth of RedR NZ.

RedR NZ Register members continue to provide vital assistance to the rebuilding work which continues in the countries affected by the December 2004 tsunami, most particularly in Aceh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. They are working with the Red Cross, UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP on the planning for the replacement of destroyed infrastructure and housing, and the implementation of rebuilding work.

It is good to see that ten of our RedR NZ members have been awarded the New Zealand Special Services Medal (Asian Tsunami) for their efforts in helping to rebuild infrastructure and communities in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami.

Other RedR NZ people have been on assignment in Iraq, Darfur (Sudan), Afghanistan, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, North Korea and Russia.

Most requests to us have been for civil engineers in water supply, sanitation, buildings, shelter, roads and bridges. We have also received requests for logisticians, security people and for quantity surveyors.

If you have skills in these areas, and would be prepared to be called upon to help in recovery work following a disaster, please consider joining our Register. Have a look at our Join RedR NZ page to see what to do.

RedR NZ continues with its core training scheme. This year's programme includes the basic courses Essentials of Humanitarian Practice and Personal Security & Communications. Further details are on the Training page.
Other specialist courses, such as Humanitarian Logistics, are carried out in cooperation with RedR Australia.

All of this work, as well as the day to day operations, costs money, and although much time is given by willing volunteers, there are still other things which need real money.

RedR NZ has been granted Tax Donee status by the IRD. This means that donations to RedR NZ can be claimed as a rebate on personal and company tax.

Although the strength of RedR NZ lies in the members of its Register, there is scope for people to support us by way of Associate or Corporate membership.

For further information, please contact the Director, Neil Mander, at director@redrnz.org.nz

Major activities carried out by RedR NZ over the past year include:

• Running the five-day residential course Essentials of Humanitarian Practice,
• Running the three-day residential course Personal Security & Communications,
• Maintaining our Register of members,
• Processing Register applications and Assignment Requests,
• Processing assignment requests from UN and NGO humanitarian agencies,

This document (Acrobat PDF 373KB) gives some suggestions on what you can do, and some advice on what not do, to give the best assistance in the event of a disaster or emergency overseas.

RedR NZ welcomes new Corporate Member Terrane Consultants Ltd of Tauranga. Their support and sponsorship is gratefully acknowledged.

RedR NZ Director Neil Mander was awarded honour of Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 2007. This was in recognition of his services to engineering and the community.

Engineering in Emergencies - A Practical Guide for Relief Workers
by Jan Davis and Robert Lambert
This is one of the highly recommended reference books (ie, don't leave home without it) for engineers and others on disaster relief assignments.

This book deals in depth with 'hard' subjects (water, sanitation, roads and shelter) and also places an emphasis on the 'soft' subjects needed for effective relief work (managerial skills, personal effectiveness, an appreciation of the needs of refugees and the international relief system). It is an accessible and practical guide for field workers and an essential reference for all relief workers. It is available from the Practical Action Publishing website.

David Hammond Lectures 1995 - Urban Search and Rescue, Structural Collapse, Building Triage
As a reminder, we have copies of the full lecture notes of the Hammond Lecture Series (November 1995) available at a cost of $40 per set. These notes include the full set of material, including illustrations (but not photos) of the November 1995 lecture series. The notes include a lot of data on the Oklahoma bomb incident, including structural detail on the building and the analysis of the bomb blast and the resulting damage. In more general terms there is a description of different types of building construction methods and their collapse modes as initiated by earthquake, flood or storm. The procedures adopted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are described.

Contact Neil Mander at email director@redrnz.org.nz