How well do you know your neighbours?

This weekend communities around the country are celebrating Neighbours' Day and it's also a great time to remind you why neighbours are important during a Civil Defence emergency.

Emergency manager Ian Connon said Civil Defence and neighbourly bonds were tightly linked and needed to be nurtured.

We spend a lot of our time in our homes, which means it's likely that when an emergency happens your neighbours will be nearby, he said.

They can provide support - as you can for them - and make recovering from an emergency a much easier process.

Ian said the Taupo District had pretty good neighbourly relations as we were made up of provincial towns with communities who talked to each other. We need to build on this with our neighbours and through community clubs, sports and schools, he said.

It's easy to get to know your neighbours - pop around for a visit, organise a street get together or make small chat collecting your paper in the morning.

It could make all the difference in an emergency, and it's important to be prepared!

You can start to get to know your neighbours by following these simple steps:

• Introduce yourselves to each other
• Form a simple plan of action to help each other out during an emergency
• Do a practise run to see if it works
• Talk to each other on a regular basis and keep the lines of communication open.