Whanganui Red Cross Disaster Welfare Support Team members provided relief to people in Napier affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Pictured is team Leader Krystal Boyes. Photo / Supplied
Whanganui Red Cross Disaster Welfare Support Team members provided relief to people in Napier affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Pictured is team Leader Krystal Boyes. Photo / Supplied
Red Cross Whanganui volunteers who provided relief in Hawke’s Bay following Cyclone Gabrielle described the experience as both rewarding and heartbreaking.
Red Cross Whangaui Disaster Welfare Support Team (DWST) leader Krystal Boyes said she and two other members went over to Hawke’s Bay on February 15 to join other teams from around the country.
The three were stationed mainly in a Civil Defence Centre (CDC) in Napier’s Maclean Park providing aid to those displaced by the disaster.
The CDC had people sleeping and seeking shelter, with their homes destroyed by the storm, and people coming in for food due to power being cut off in the region.
One of the most important things she said they did was set up information boards due to the city not having internet or cellphone coverage.
The board featured information about the state of roads in the region, and the police’s 105 number so people knew how to report those who were missing or uncontactable.
“As well as general things like which radio station to listen to and what petrol stations had petrol and just general information like that,” Boyes said.
The team also brought their welfare truck to the region, which supplied resources like stretchers, blankets, and hygiene products for a CDC of 130 people.
Once the team left the region, they left the supplies with the community for them to use for as long as they need.
As well as this, the team provided Psychosocial First Aid (PFA) to people who had been mentally affected by the disaster.
“Sometimes it was just talking to people who needed some information, some people just needed a hug.
“A majority of them just wanted to share their experiences of what they’d been through the last couple days and just needed someone to listen and someone to talk to,” Boyes said.
Fellow DWST team member Gypsy Chant described the experience of providing aid to the area as both rewarding and heartbreaking because of the stories people told her.
“You’re listening to their stories and you’re feeling their experiences through what they’re sharing with you,” she said.
Red Cross Whanganui DWST team member Gypsy Chant. Photo / Supplied
However, there were still some light moments, such as when an army truck pulled up to the CDC.
“We thought they might have been dropping off some supplies to us so we went over, and as we went around the back we realised it was full of kittens.”
There were around 30 kittens and their breeder in the back, who the army later found a part of the city better suited to the kittens to drop her off, rather than the CDC.
Moments like that provided a reprieve from the stress of giving relief, she said.
On the last day they were in the region, the team travelled into the Esk Valley and Bayview to provide PFA and help those who needed it.
Boyes said it was an emotional experience.
“Up until that point, we’d heard all the people’s stories, but that was the first time we’d actually been out there and seen it for ourselves,” she said.
Chant said seeing the damage in the Esk Valley was particularly affecting.
“Going there brought the reality home for us as volunteers of what they had actually experienced and what it must have been like.”
Through the devastation of the storm, both were also taken aback by the strength of the community looking to help each other out.
“It was just really great how ... even though they’d been through this event, they were all just coming together to just look after each other and just lean on each other,” she said.
Chant said people came to the CDC to give food, donate clothes, or even pick up rubbish.
“They just wanted to help each other to get through,” she said.
The goodness was what she took away from her time in Hawke’s Bay.
“Yes this tragedy happened, yes these experiences happened, but there’s all this goodness and all these people around to support and help.”
She thanked her work, Whanganui East Kindergarten, for supporting her volunteer work and allowing her to help others.
Boyes commended the work of her teammates and the other DWST teams deployed to the area.
“We came home tired in every way ... but knowing what we did to help those who needed it is exactly why we do what we do and why we volunteer with the Red Cross,” Boyes said.
It’s been a busy start to the year for the volunteers, as they also provided relief to those affected by the Auckland floods, as well as having regular jobs to come home to.
They are currently recruiting, and Boyes said they could always do with more volunteers.
People wanting to join the Whanganui Red Cross can send an enquiry to WNG13@redcross.org.nz.
