NEMA's After Action Review of the 2023 North Island Severe Weather Event

Following the response to the North Island Severe Weather Event (Auckland Flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle events) NEMA is undertaking an After Action Review (AAR) of our role and actions in the response and early recovery phases of the event.  

Following any significant emergency, NEMA reflects on how well things went while also looking for opportunities to make things better – there is no better time to identify improvements than immediately after an emergency.

This review is being undertaken as part of NEMA’s continuous improvement work programme. We expect it will provide us with important lessons to improve our readiness, response and recovery capability for the future.

NEMA’s AAR is not a review of the emergency management system, or other agencies’ response to this event. The focus of this review is NEMA’s own response only.

The Minister for Emergency Management has announced that there will be a Government Inquiry into the response to the 2023 North Island severe weather events. The Government Inquiry is separate from NEMA’s AAR and will review the actions and design of the emergency management system as a whole. We expect the insights collected from NEMA’s internal AAR will act as an input into the wider Government Inquiry, however the outcomes of NEMA’s AAR will have no bearing on any decisions that may be made as a result of the Government Inquiry.

As this was a multi-agency response, some people from CDEM Groups and partner agencies who were involved in the response may be called on to support NEMA's AAR process. We are keen to gather their perspectives on NEMA’s role and actions during the response and early stages of recovery. 

This was a complex event which covered a broad geographic area, and involved many responding agencies and stakeholders. Unpacking the lessons from this event will take time to do thoroughly.

NEMA has divided this work into four workstreams: 

  • Internal review with NEMA staff
  • Engagement with external partners
  • Drafting report
  • Report publication

We have made great progress on our internal review workstream, and are now looking ahead to engaging with external partners. Detailed communications on what this will look like will be sent to relevant parties. 

We will keep you informed as we make progress on the AAR process but if you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to lessons@nema.govt.nz  


Published: Jun 30, 2023, 10:28 AM