Starlink

A Tararua District Council application for funding Starlink satellite hubs has been granted by the Lottery Grants Board. Isolated areas of the district were unable to communicate during the February cyclone and that prompted the Tararua District Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery Team to work with the district Emergency Management Officer Peter Sinclair (pictured right with a Starlink) to identify how to build resilience.

“Lessons learned from Cyclone Gabrielle Response efforts and also from other Councils has shown that we can now cost-effectively and easily deploy modern systems to isolated areas in order to enable those communities to access the outside world,” Built Recovery Lead Mike Dunn says.

Lotteries has granted $8,196 to purchase the Starlink systems, which will be housed in the district’s four council service centres in Dannevirke, Eketahuna, Pahiatua and Woodville. Other starlinks would be stored by the emergency management officer for use in the event of an emergency. “Getting these satellite communication hubs out to areas affected by emergency events will ensure there is a central location from which communities can access the internet, which will mean they can call, video and send through updates,” Mr Dunn says.