Hutt Valley DHB Logo

(04) 566 6999
HUTT HOSPITAL

Published Wednesday 9 Oct 2019

If a large earthquake hits we are pretty resilient. Our Building Services team have been working hard to make our buildings as safe as possible and our utility services strong. This includes making sure we have enough water so come see how we treat water in an emergency and check out how resilience our hospital will be when an emergency even happens.

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to ensure when there is an earthquake everything we need to continue operating is available to us – even if we have to work differently for a while. Of course we still need to have our own plans in place and know what our teams are expected to do but there is some wonderful work already done to keep our hospital running. Some of the cool things we have in place to help us continue to support our communities are highlighted below.

Potable Water

Each area of the hospital has water stored in bottles, which can be used immediately following any damage causing earthquakes.
Building services installed a water treatment plant under the hospital which will draw water from the aquifer, treat it, and run it through our pipes as per normal. Meet Kevin one of our plumbers who takes us through this great investment.

Base Isolator

All of our buildings are expected to withstand the shaking of a major earthquake, and the ED & T block is base isolated. Find out more about how a base isolator works.

Contained sewerage and a plan for disposing waste

Although we will have to change the amount of waste water we generate in an emergency, (limiting showers, only flushing toilets when we have to, using sterigel), there are flexible tanks for sewerage containment, and a plan to have them emptied.

Power

Diesel generators will kick in which will supply power to each building; with a plan in place to ensure more diesel is available if required

Food

There is enough food on site to ensure that staff and patients can be fed.

Flexible connections

The ensure things like our emergency water and waste tanks don’t fall over and the water and power can continue to flow.

PAlert detector

This little contraption gives information on the size of the earthquake and the amount of shaking the building has withstood. There are several of these across the site including in the Heretaunga Block. They provide structural data about the building post quake and helps us keep the building operational to make sure we can continue to look after our patients.

Find out more about preparing for an emergency at work, in your home and in your community here: https://getready.govt.nz/