RAPID stands for Rural Address Property Identification. It’s the numbering system used for rural properties. Your RAPID number helps emergency services locate your entrance: it gives an approximate distance along the road from its starting point. Number 82, for example, means an entrance roughly 820 metres along the road.

The Tamahere Community Response Group (Civil Defence -TCRG) is a community-led volunteer group working alongside Waikato District Council Emergency Management. Its purpose is simple: use local people, knowledge and connections to help Tamahere prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies.

The strong earthquake that shook much of the central North Island last month was a timely reminder that Tamahere and the wider Waikato are certainly not immune from earthquakes. The magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck just south of Taumarunui at 4.51am on Saturday 25 July, at a depth of only 9km. GeoNet received more than 22,000 felt reports, with the shaking felt widely across the North Island, including here in the Waikato.