sentences:  AREC maintain ties to local New Zealand Civil Defence and Emergency Management groups at local government levels and liaises with the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, which is a part of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (New Zealand).A National Communications Plan administered by AREC prescribes callsigns, frequencies and Net Control stations in such a way that the AREC should be able to establish communications with any region of New Zealand required in a case of serious emergency, assuming that local AREC sections are active and able to stand up their equipment.National knowledge of the comms plan also allows for neighbouring less-affected regions to provide overlapping assistance and/or relay over HF, VHF or UHF frequencies as required.