March 27, 2024
Two week window needed for marae disaster plan
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chair Hinewai Ormsby has welcomed a call for more support to make Māori infrastructure ready for use in emergency management.
A report by former police commissioner Mike Bush on the region’s civil defence response to Cyclone Gabrielle a year ago has highlighted lack of training and a failure to coordinate with Māori iwi and communities.
Ms Ormsby says it also showed her council needs to support marae to look after their communities.
“Our marae are at different spaces in terms of being ready for emergency management situations so we need to be able to provide better training, better resourcing, so that in an event we are self sufficient for at least two weeks before help can come because what we experienced with Cyclone Gabrielle here is that you needed to do that,” she need that.
Hinewai Ormsby says those marae that did stay above water were able to look after the whole community.