Civil defence adds dealing with family violence to disaster planning

National civil defence planners are preparing to cope with increased family violence after natural disasters, learning from the experience of floods at Whakatane in 2004.

A study by Victoria University student Rosalind Houghton has confirmed reports by police and Women's Refuge at the time that the floods in July 2004 led to increased domestic violence in Whakatane.

Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management planner Sara Williams said the study showed that Women's Refuge must be involved in regional and district disaster plans.

Two people died and more than 2000 were evacuated from their homes when the Whakatane and Rangitaiki Rivers flooded, which coincided with a swarm of earthquakes.

More than 200 houses were declared temporarily uninhabitable, forcing families to stay with friends and at local marae until their homes were repaired.

Ms Houghton, who worked for the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, said police callouts to domestic violence cases in the district doubled in July and the following three months.

The number of families taking refuge in safe houses increased from 114 in July and August 2003 to 185 in the same period of 2004.

The total number of requests to Women's Refuge for help with protection orders and other problems rose from 2695 to 3893.

"I was talking to them in August 2005 and they felt they were still feeling the effects of it over a year later," Ms Houghton said.

Whakatane's Whanau Awhina refuge was unable to cope with the numbers and had to transfer some families to Hamilton and other places.

Refuge worker Wini Te Are said workers found it hard to cope because many of them needed help themselves.

"We had 36 families that were in our safe houses, and during the flooding we had women in our own homes.

"Our biggest support was our sister refuge in the Waikato, who made a commitment to come down weekly to bring food, to help us distribute that and help with any excess families that we had."

Ms Houghton said families were hit by financial stress, school closures and confusion about where to get help, on top of losing their homes.

"They closed the schools for about a week or a bit longer so the kids were at home, and that was a huge point of stress for them while they were cleaning up," she said.

"Closing the schools was not a good idea, or even if they closed the schools there should have been somewhere for the kids to go so the parents can deal with the things they need to do."

Ms Houghton said counselling was provided straight after the floods but it needed to be available for months afterwards.

Reports at the time said the resulting domestic violence was not just between men and women, but also between fathers and sons and extended family.

Ms Williams, of the ministry, said the study would be of international interest because it was the first time an increase in domestic violence had been linked to a natural disaster in Australasia, although the effect had been noted in other countries.

"Ultimately anything that stresses or distresses a person is a predictor of domestic violence," she said.

"Every year we see huge hikes after things like rugby losses. Women's Refuge says that if we lose an international rugby match they will see more people the next day. It blows your mind when you think about it.

"The first thing that obviously needs to happen is that we need to highlight to the local and regional welfare groups that they need to plan for the involvement of Women's Refuge or other women's welfare groups in their recovery plans."

She said the Education Ministry would need to consider its policy on school closures. But she would hesitate to say that surges in domestic violence could be prevented.

"The real message for our welfare system within civil defence, which we already knew, is the importance of reducing people's stress levels," said Ms Williams.

"There are a lot of things we can do. We can provide more information. We can ensure that people are provided with adequate accommodation when they have to leave their own homes."

Ministries are now funding Ms Houghton to research the effects of other natural disasters on domestic violence.