Severe weather events are becoming increasingly common in New Zealand, bringing widespread disruption to communities and critical infrastructure. Cyclones, flooding and extreme winds can impact lifeline utilities, cutting off towns and regions from essential services.
Kordia’s knows first-hand the importance of maintaining critical networks during natural disasters and major emergencies. Through our network of transmission sites and towers, we’re responsible for broadcasting TV and FM transmissions to the vast majority of New Zealand. We also leverage our infrastructure to provide critical communication services for the likes of Airways, Maritime NZ and emergency responders, as well as telecommunications for a wide range of Kiwi businesses and government organisations. The nature of our business demands resilience and continuity.
Over 60 years, Kordia has maintained networks through some of New Zealand’s worst natural disasters – from the storm that sank the Wahine in 1968, to the Kaikoura and Christchurch earthquakes and most recently Cyclone Gabrielle.
Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland floods highlighted the devastating scale of weather-related disasters, with Gabrielle alone causing $14.5 billion in damage, isolating communities and knocking out essential services. In the aftermath of the storm, the most affected regions suffered large scale power outages, destruction to roads, and mass outages of critical communications such as mobile networks and internet – communities were physically and digitally cut off from the wider world.
During Gabrielle, Kordia’s main sites withstood the main impacts of the storm in the Hawkes Bay and Gisborne regions. Across 23 affected areas, generator power from Kordia’s towers sustained operations for an unprecedented 1,500 hours. A big part of achieving service continuity in these types of situations comes down to our robust infrastructure, people and processes.
Built to endure
Kordia’s major network sites have been built to level 4 importance. This means they are specifically designed to be operational immediately after an event, such as an earthquake or other disaster, to ensure essential services and support are available. Many of these sites are equipped with gensets and battery reserves to ensure they can operate without mains power for a length of time.
During Gabrielle, Kordia’s Digital Microwave Radio infrastructure (aptly nick-named "fibre in the sky") provided internet and data connectivity, which was a crucial backup to the traditional fibre networks that were damaged. Kordia was even able to leverage our DMR network to support other providers, helping bring telco networks back online as efforts to restore communications services into the region were made.
Our Networks Operation Centre also plays a critical role monitoring our network during major events. During Gabrielle, our team of NOC engineers monitored faults and service outages, kept our customers updated, worked with other providers and liaised with our fault resolution team to address issues. Our NOC operates 24/7, 365 days a year – ready to step up in the case of a major incident or outage.
Responsiveness in the field
Preparation is key to maintaining service continuity. Kordia takes proactive steps to ensure readiness ahead of extreme weather events. We have a field team of technicians, engineers and riggers around the country, as well as bases stoked with supplies and equipment. If sites are impacted during a natural disaster, local field technicians can be on site as soon as it is safe to assess the damage.
Safety is at the core of Kordia’s operations, with risk assessments conducted before and during jobs. Staff are empowered to pause work if conditions are unsafe, ensuring that employee welfare always comes first. We’re believe that a strong focus on safety leads to fewer accidents, higher productivity, and better service.
Fuel reserves are prioritised, hazard checks are conducted, and staff availability is secured well before forecasted storms or disasters. Employees receive site-specific training for working in severe conditions, while resources are positioned nationwide for fast response times and access to critical equipment.
Service no matter the weather
Though hard to predict, it’s fair to say that severe weather and natural disasters will continue to impact New Zealand in the future, but Kordia will always be dedicated to keeping our essential services running through all scenarios, as best as we possibly can.
A big part of that is continuing to focus on strengthening and maintaining our infrastructure and assets, to ensure they can deliver these critical services – now and in the future. We are always looking at ways to improve our underlying infrastructure, technology and services – whether that is through maintenance on towers and antennas, leveraging better monitoring platforms or implementing new backup power solutions such as solar power.
Kordia has been building and managing communications infrastructure with resilience at its core for the last 60 years. We’re proud to support the New Zealand public, our customers and other providers year-round, even in the most challenging circumstances.