Relocatable homes arrive for some Tairāwhiti cyclone victims

A self-contained home is shifted onto a section at Te Karaka in Tairāwhiti. Fifteen of the relocatable pods are being delivered to the region this month for people affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Paul Rickard

Whānau displaced by Cyclone Gabrielle received a welcome boost this week as a series of transportable homes arrived in Te Karaka.

Claude Ruru lives on the outskirts of the small East Coast town - a section of the region where the Waipaoa River burst its banks and caused widespread devastation.

But on Thursday, he was all smiles as a self-contained cabin was successfully delivered from the Bay of Plenty and lowered onto his backyard with a small crane.

Ruru has been staying with family in Gisborne following the cyclone, and has vivid memories of the ordeal he endured during the extreme weather.

As the floodwaters rose in the early hours of 14 February, Ruru perched on a ledge of his house and waited for help, which came in the form of a neighbour with a front end loader.

He climbed into the bucket and was carried to safety.

Following the ordeal, his home had been yellow-stickered, meaning it needed significant repairs before he could live in it again.

Claude Ruru (centre) stands in front of his new transportable pod with (from left) Te Karaka Community Lead Pimia Wehi, Alicia Ruru, chief executive Robyn Rauna and Mihi Ruru. Photo / Paul Rickard

Ruru said he was “stoked” to be back on his whenua, albeit in a temporary living arrangement.

“My family want me to stay in town, but you can’t beat the old homestead,” he said.

“The support we’ve had from everybody has been fantastic.”

On Cliff Road in the main township, Paul Rice stared down the barrel of major repairs to his whare, which was yet to be lifted for silt removal.

He said he was “excited” to receive a relocatable, because it meant he could look after his animals while repairs were made to his home.

In the days following the cyclone, Rice and his partner lived out of a van, but were now living out of one room of their house.

The relocatable meant they could stay on site when the house was raised up in the coming weeks.

“I can’t fault the community since we got flooded. First week, they were coming and checking we were all right,” Rice said.

“You had your good days and you had your (bad) days.”

Five homes were delivered to Te Karaka on Thursday evening, and another 10 would be brought into the region next week.

Four of those would be split between Tolaga Bay and Wairoa.

The initiative was spearheaded by Toitu Tairāwhiti, a collective made up of four iwi in Tairāwhiti - Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki.

Toitu Tairāwhiti project manager Willie Te Aho said he had set a “tough” timeframe of six months for getting houses in Te Karaka repaired, because he did not want a replay of what happened in Christchurch following the earthquakes, where some people were displaced for more than two years.

“We want people back in their properties rather than 32km away (in Gisborne), and that’s going to help with the anxiety and the stress levels that they have, and the mental pressure they’ve been under.”

Those who had been given a home could stay in it free of charge until 31 August.

- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.