Food and Water

What every Hāwea household needs before an emergency

There is no community food or water reserve in Hāwea. The Lake Hāwea Community Emergency Hub will not provide food or water. Every household needs its own supplies in place before an emergency happens.

Hāwea has one supermarket — FreshChoice — but do not rely on it in an emergency. Stock is limited at the best of times. In a major earthquake, shelving will collapse and goods will be on the floor. Whatever is there will be taken quickly. By the time most people get there, there will be nothing usable.

Roads into Hāwea may be blocked after a major earthquake and resupply could take weeks. National Civil Defence guidance is a minimum of three days. For Hāwea, plan for at least two weeks.

Food

Store at least two weeks of food that doesn't need refrigeration or power to prepare. Rotate your stock regularly so nothing expires unused.

What to store:

Tinned goods, dried foods, crackers, nut butters, muesli bars, rice, pasta
Food for babies, young children, elderly family members, and any dietary needs
Food for pets
A way to cook without power — a gas camping stove, a wood fire, or a barbecue with spare gas cylinders
A manual can opener
Some cash kept at home in coins and small notes — EFTPOS and ATMs will likely not work, and change will be hard to come by.

A number of New Zealand companies supply freeze-dried and dried emergency food packs — search for 'NZ emergency food' or check the Get Ready NZ supplies page for current options :

Emergency Foods NZ — freeze-dried meal packs
Survive-It — emergency food and water supplies
Freeze Dried Emergency Food — NZ-based freeze-dried meals

Water

Plan for at least nine litres per person per day for drinking and basic hygiene for the first three days. For two weeks you will need a refill plan.

Do not assume Lake Hāwea is safe to drink from.

Living beside a large lake may feel like water security. It is not. After a major earthquake, pipes carrying sewage around the town will likely crack or rupture — this is a standard consequence of ground movement in a major seismic event, regardless of how new the infrastructure is. Sewage will leach into the ground and potentially into the lake, particularly in the area closest to town where people would naturally go to collect water.

There will be no way to confirm whether the lake is contaminated. No official will be available to test it. You will not be able to tell by looking at it.

Treat all lake water as contaminated until officially confirmed safe. Do not drink it untreated under any circumstances.

Storing water at home — do this now:

Use clean two-litre plastic soft-drink bottles — not milk bottles, which cannot be fully cleaned and cause bacterial growth
Fill to the top, label with the date, store in a cool dark place
For detailed water storage and treatment guidance, see Get Ready NZ — storing water (linked at the foot of the page)."
Fill plastic ice cream containers and keep in the freezer — they help keep food cold if power fails and can also be used as drinking water
Your hot water cylinder holds 150–300 litres of drinkable water — check it is well secured against shaking and know how to drain it safely
The toilet cistern (the upper tank, not the bowl) holds clean water from the supply. Only use this water if you do not use chemical cleaning tablets or bleach blocks in the cistern

If stored water runs out — treating water from the lake:

If you must use lake water, treat it every time without exception — regardless of how clear it looks:

Boil for at least one minute — the most reliable method if you have a way to heat water
Use a portable filter such as a LifeStraw or Sawyer squeeze filter — available from camping stores, worth having before an emergency
Use water purification tablets — available from camping and outdoor stores

Note: filters and tablets reduce most biological contamination but may not remove all chemical contamination from a serious sewage event. Boiling is the safest option.

Do not use the Hāwea River or riverbank to collect water or as a route after a major earthquake. See Identify Your Risks for why.

Torches, batteries and lighting

Power will likely be disrupted in a major earthquake. Battery-powered lighting is the safest option — do not rely on candles. Candles can tip over in aftershocks and start fires.

Store the following in a location every household member knows:

Torches with spare batteries — a torch beside each bed is good practice if shaking wakes you at night
A battery-powered or hand-crank radio to receive emergency broadcasts
Portable power banks to keep phones charged while they still have signal
Work gloves and a properly-fitted P2 or N95 mask — useful for clearing debris safely

Frozen food

Power outages will affect your freezer. Treat frozen food as a short-term resource — eat perishables in the first 24 to 48 hours after power is lost. After that, rely on your stored dry and tinned goods.

Filling plastic ice cream containers with water and keeping them in the freezer serves double duty — they help keep food cold longer when the power goes out and can also be used as drinking water when thawed.

Official guidance

The national Get Ready website has detailed household supply checklists and water storage instructions:

Get Ready NZ — supplies — full national supply checklist
Get Ready NZ — storing water — detailed water storage guidance

Last reviewed: May 2026.

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