[Chris Piper Keymaster]

Some more input, responding to Michael Buckley’s comments:
1. You’re correct, in that DRM/EM practitioners need to prepare for events which could happened 24/7. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami (see Mod 1.12.5) of course occurred on Boxing day, and, because of the holiday, this did impact on responses at various level. The module 3.4. includes work on the Otway fires which occurred over the 2015 Christmas/New Year period along the Great Ocean road (which is a key time for thousands of holiday makers), the Inspector General’s Emergency Management (IGEM) report on this Wye River event makes fascinating (!?) reading. It did highlight the challenges of balancing fighting the fires, and not disrupting (by multiple evacuations) the holiday season too much. I personally think the stakeholders involved did a tremendous job, and no lives were lost. see also comments below on the Tonga volcanic eruption.
2. One of the challenges of the volcanic eruptions was the potential for dangerous (to both planes and humans) dust to be put into the air…and this was one of the jobs of the NZ experts (they found the eruptions was mainly steam rather than heavier dust, fortunately). An air charter (using a plane from the local airline) was planned, and this would have been able to fly upwind and view the activity from the air. What sunk this option however was an extremely high insurance premium demanded by the airline insurers..this meant that further surveys would need to be taken by sea). The first sea-trip was carried out by a privately-contracted launch, but in their excitement in leaving the harbour for the second trip, they ran over rocks, and damaged their propeller. That was why the Tongan navy launch was used for the second trip
3. The first eruptions were noticed over the Christmas/New year period, but all the stakeholders involved worked around this holiday period to ensure there was the minimum of delay. I personally thought the NZ high commission in Tonga, together with the relevant government offices in wellington, did a great job in getting finances and resources rapidly mobilised.