February 16, 2023
Marae hailed for cyclone manaaki
The Emergency Management Minister says marae are playing a critical role as communities deal with the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Kieren McAnulty says marae are now a major element of emergency management.
“What we see as we always see with a natural disaster is marae are the first to open their doors to help out their communities and that’s no different this time. What we find is that the local civil defence units have such good contacts in their rohe to hook in with marae to open up and provide that support,” he says.
Mr McAnulty declared a State of National Emergency yesterday for the areas most affected by Cyclone Gabrielle, givign the Government greater powers to respond..
Tararua District is the latest rohe to declare a state of local emergency, they now join Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke’s Bay.