Katrina and John Harris expect to be living in a caravan for a year after their Esk Valley property was ruined in Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Neil Reid
Katrina and John Harris expect to be living in a caravan for a year after their Esk Valley property was ruined in Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Neil Reid
EDITORIAL
Many of us shook off the incredible weather events in the tail of Cyclone Hale and the headlong blast of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Oh, we moaned about the horrid summer as we tried to make the most of what was left of the warmer months. However, those who bore thefull, devastating impact have had no time to complain.
It’s too easy to forget that one of the fiercest storms to hit New Zealand lashed Auckland on the city’s anniversary weekend, causing a landslide at Muriwai that killed two volunteer firemen. Eleven people died when Cyclone Gabrielle struck. Many more have lost everything.
Habitat for Humanity estimates more than 10,500 were displaced by Cyclone Gabrielle in Northland, Auckland, the Coromandel, Gisborne, and Hawke’s Bay. Three hundred left their homes via helicopters plucking them from their roofs. Most of those rescued returned in the days after the storm subsided to find their homes “red-stickered” and no longer inhabitable. Others who self-evacuated have also discovered their homes received a similar fate.
The dreaded red sticker on a house, declaring it uninhabitable. Photo / Supplied, File
The Government has allocated $250 million into a road rehabilitation fund and about $75m into a support package for businesses, growers, and farmers. Much attention has rightly gone into the huge job of restoring electricity, roading, and rail networks as well as helping the produce bowl of New Zealand to recover. The Government has also contributed to mayoral relief funds, rural support and clean-up costs, and an Auckland-based fund to assist businesses. One measure was a loosening of credit rules to allow loans of up to $10,000 without extensive credit checks for those affected.
The national emergency declared on February 14 over Northland, Auckland, Waikato regions, and the Tararua district has been lifted. A transition period now applies to these areas so that Civil Defence has the powers they need during the early stages of the recovery. Tairāwhiti Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay remain under a state of national emergency.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the disasters would cause “a big shift” in terms of the May Budget. “Obviously, this is a significant impact both economically and fiscally and we are at the sharp end of the Budget process right now.
“But we’ve learned to be nimble over the last few years and ... we will now be taking this into account as we put the Budget together.”
In the meantime, an unknown number of cyclone “refugees” continue to eke out an existence while struggling to rebuild, some from absolutely nothing.
This week the Herald on Sunday spoke to Willem Kupa, who credits his survival last month – and that of his children aged 6, 5, and 3 - to the heroic actions of his father, Mare Kupa, who drove his tractor through the inland swells west of Napier to retrieve them.
Fernhill resident Willem Kupa escaped floods with his three young children on a tractor, but his home and possessions were wrecked. Photo / Neil Reid
While rebuilding his home, Kupa has been a regular visitor to Omahu Marae, the focal point for nearby communities where volunteer work teams are dispatched to help at properties. The marae has also been providing free lunches and dinners and is distributing donated household items, toys, clothes, and other items. Marae throughout Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay, in particular, have been lifelines for those unhoused by the disastrous events.
In speaking with people still put out of house and home this week, a picture of frustration is emerging. People forced from their homes are paying for rentals while also juggling mortgage and rates payments on their damaged properties.
There is growing anxiety over the lack of communication and a sense of the unknown. Many people are starting to feel ignored as the rest of New Zealand moves on.
Kupa is not complaining as he and his wife sort out their damaged house, replace written-off vehicles, and repair farm fences. At this stage, the family house has been cleared to be rebuilt and Kupa says he wouldn’t want to move elsewhere. “That is where I am from,” he said.
Where Kupa and many others like him are from is a place of resilience. It would do us all more credit to keep remembering them.
