The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) provides strong, national leadership to create an emergency management system that reduces the impact of emergencies.

NEMA works with central and local government, communities, iwi, and business to make sure responses to and recoveries from emergencies are effective and integrated.

Emergencies can have consequences for people, communities, property, infrastructure, the economy and the environment. NEMA support communities to reduce the impact of emergencies across all hazards and risks.

Depending on the emergency, NEMA lead or support the response and recovery. NEMA work to build the capability and capacity of the emergency management system to reduce risk, to be ready for emergencies, and to respond and recover from them.

NEMA is an autonomous departmental agency, hosted by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

NEMA was established on 1 December 2019, replacing the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management.