Government inquiry into 2023 severe weather responses reaches Northland

Cyclone Gabrielle caused havoc in Whangārei and wider Northland. Photo / Michael Cunningham

New Zealand’s highest-ranked civil defence emergency response leader says systems rather than people are at the heart of major criticisms in the newly-released Government inquiry into 2023 severe weather responses.

National Emergency Management Authority (Nema) national controller Wendy Wright’s comment comes in the wake of the North Island severe weather events report released on April 23.

The inquiry, headed by former Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, looked at the emergency responses to the catastrophic cyclones Gabrielle, Hale and other major weather events in the North Island including the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods.

The report found New Zealand was not ready to respond to large-scale emergencies, the country’s emergency management system had failed in places, and it was not fit for purpose.

Wright spoke to about 300 people at the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Forum, held in Whangārei on Wednesday.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) was now analysing the report and would make recommendations to the Government in July on actions to be taken, she said.

It would then be up to the Government to decide which actions to take and any accompanying funding.

She would not be drawn on what measures the Government should go ahead with.

Wright said Nema welcomed the review, which made it clear the country’s emergency management system was not up to scratch.

Nema national controller Wendy Wright and Northland Civil Defence manager Graeme MacDonald at the 14th annual Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Forum in Whangārei. Photo / Susan Botting

But it was important to remember it found issue with the systems, rather than the thousands of people responding across impacted areas, she said.

“How do we lift and improve the system for those people?”

Wright said New Zealand had one of the highest emergency hazard risks in the world, second only to Bangladesh.

New Zealanders needed to learn their local hazard risks and how to be prepared to deal with these.

Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management group chairperson Kelly Stratford said it was clear from reading the report that Te Tai Tokerau would not have coped if it had been hit as badly by Cyclone Gabrielle as Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.

The impact Cyclone Gabrielle had on Hawke's Bay was immense. Photo / NZME

That was in part because of its multiple isolated communities and many people in those areas not understanding their critical role in an emergency response.

Community expectations of what civil defence could do in an emergency response did not match what could be delivered, she said.

People needed to be prepared for longer than the traditionally recommended three days before help might arrive, she said.

Northland’s community preparedness was specifically highlighted in the inquiry report.

Stratford said much of Northland would not have been able to fare as well during the severe weather events if not for the many marae which stepped up.

Sixty-six communities around Northland have community response plans from Te Hāpua near Cape Reinga in the north to Oruawharo in the south of the region – Far North 34, Whangārei district 17 and Kaipara 15.

Wright said Northland’s community response plans offered an opportunity for other parts of the country to learn how to strengthen people connecting into civil defence emergency readiness and response.

Kaipara’s Paparoa Community Response Group co-ordinator Lynne Warbrooke said there were lots of people who had done the best they could in the extreme weather situations they faced.

Paparoa Community Response Group co-ordinator Lynne Warbrooke (right) with group member Julie Holcroft at the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Forum. Photo / Susan Botting

Warbrooke said civil defence was not a collection of people on white chargers riding in to save the day.

It was communities, which knew their local areas and had strong people networks, that were also civil defence.

She said the overall Cyclone Gabrielle emergency response had been good in Kaipara.

Working more closely with people in communities at the local level was one of the inquiry’s major improvement recommendations.

Northland Civil Defence manager Graeme MacDonald said his group was waiting to see what the Government decided needed doing as a result of the report.

The inquiry’s recommendation that civil defence work closer with its communities was an area Northland could strengthen, he said.

MacDonald said Northland’s community response plans had begun in Kaitāia in 2006.

“That model has become the foundation for the work we do in Northland,” he said.

MacDonald said Northland Civil Defence had significantly boosted its capacity to work with Māori in the past 18 months, including appointing an iwi relations manager.

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.