Volunteer to help your friends, family and community before, during and after emergencies.

Volunteer in emergency management

Most communities have a Civil Defence Centre or community hub. Locals can come together there during and after an emergency to support each other.

In an emergency, centres will be opened and run by communities so people can come together to help their community during and after an emergency.

New Zealand Response Teams work alongside and support civil defence, emergency services and other responding agencies. Teams are located throughout New Zealand.

The National Emergency Management Agency are currently working on building a robust and sustainable volunteer capability and capacity for emergency management in New Zealand.

Contact your local Civil Defence Emergency Management Group to find out how you can volunteer.

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Civil Defence logo

Find your local Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group.

New Zealand Response Teams (NZ-RT)

NZ-RTS are teams of qualified emergency responders. They support Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups and their communities during an emergency. NZ-RTs work with emergency services. There are teams across New Zealand.
NZ-RTs do a lot of different tasks in an emergency, including:

  • supporting emergency services
  • helping with evacuations
  • managing Civil Defence Centres
  • working in Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups to coordinate emergency responses.
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Civil Defence New Zealand Response Team logo

Learn about New Zealand Response Teams and where they are based around New Zealand.

Building a robust and sustainable volunteer capability and capacity

The National Emergency Management Agency is currently working on building a robust and sustainable volunteer capability and capacity for emergency management in New Zealand.

The National Emergency Management Agency, along with Fire Emergency New Zealand, New Zealand Police, New Zealand Search and Rescue and the Ministry of Health are committed to having a model that is fit for purpose and flexible enough to meet future challenges across response and recovery.

New Zealand Search and Rescue

Many different organisations provide search and rescue services in New Zealand. Land Search & Rescue, Coastguard New Zealand, Amateur Radio Emergency Communications, and Surf Life Saving New Zealand work together in emergencies to find lost, missing and injured people.

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Land Search and Rescue New Zealand Rapa Taiwhenua logo

Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) is a national volunteer organisation. It provides search and rescue help to lost, missing and injured people across New Zealand.

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Coastguard logo

Coastguard New Zealand provides search and rescue help to people at sea. They run education programmes and community initiatives on marine safety.

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AREC logo

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (AREC) is a collective of volunteers who use specialist communications and technical skills to support search and rescue in New Zealand.

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Surf Life Saving New Zealand logo

Surf Life Saving New Zealand provides lifeguard and emergency rescue services. They also offer public beach safety programmes.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is responsible for fire prevention, response and suppression.

Volunteer with Fire and Emergency New Zealand to help communities prevent, prepare, respond and recover from emergencies.

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Fire and Emergency New Zealand logo

Volunteer with Fire and Emergency New Zealand. Fire and Emergency New Zealand is responsible for fire prevention, response and suppression.

Volunteering New Zealand

Volunteering New Zealand (VNZ) is an association of volunteer centres and national and other organisations with a commitment to volunteering.

VNZ can put you in touch with a number of volunteering opportunities.  

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Volunteering New Zealand logo

Volunteer in your community. Volunteering New Zealand is an association of volunteer centres and national organisations with a commitment to volunteering.