Civil Defence staff performed “heroic” feats when they climbed in darkness over fallen trees at the peak of a raging cyclone to deliver a piece of paper to the home of the Mayor of Hastings.
Sandra Hazlehurst was then able to sign the paper declaration that would
But Mike Bush has hit out at the process that led to those “epic” and “heroic” feats in his 117-page report on Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence and Emergency Management’s response to Cyclone Gabrielle.
Bush says in his report that it was “farcical and dangerous” that staff had to travel to Hazlehurst’s Havelock North home, and that signed paper declarations are an “oddity” in the 21st century that he would like to be reviewed at higher levels.
Hazlehurst told Hawke’s Bay Today she was up through the night of Monday, February 13, tracking the intensity of the cyclone through updates from Civil Defence.
“It was during those early hours of the morning of February 14, while we still had communications, that I was advised by CDEM to declare a state of emergency.
“I said I would come into the office but I had to ring the team back and say I couldn’t as there were trees down in our driveway.
“The team travelled to my home with Nema [the National Emergency Management Agency] - they had flashlights and climbed over trees to get to our house. We had a situation briefing and I rang Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise and we signed the declaration at the same time.”
Bush, in his review, says the emergency declarations in the region were too late and the practical clunkiness of signing them was one of the issues.
“The key issue here was not so much the timing of the various emergency declarations, but the way in which decision-making around them was considered by the team at the GECC [Group Emergency Co-ordination Centre], the nature of the advice provided to mayors and the practical clunkiness of mayoral approval arrangements.”
Bush said the possibility of a declaration of a state of emergency at territorial authority or regional level was being discussed on the Sunday and Monday.
“CDEM staff were aware on Monday of the wisdom of declaring in daylight if possible, considered the merits of a precautionary declaration, and debated the issue of local and regional declarations.
“At the controllers’ meeting late Monday afternoon... the Group Controller asked regional leads and other experts for their thoughts on the pros and cons of a declaration.
“Most were in favour of a wait-and-see approach, based on the data available to them at that time.”
Bush said that at a subsequent meeting to brief the CDEM Joint Committee and other agencies on Monday evening, the matter was discussed further and probed by the mayors, “all of whom were well aware of their responsibilities in this regard”.
Both meetings concluded that a region-wide declaration was preferable to local ones, that any declaration would remain under advisement and that any ultimate decision needed to be based on good data and intelligence.
Bush said he had formed the view that the decision-making on the possibility of a declaration of a state of emergency was “overly narrow and tactical”, though he noted that the written records of early meetings were brief and some recordings were accidentally erased.
In his review, Bush said the discussion when it came to declaring a state of emergency was framed in terms of:
• The need for supplementary resources;
• A requirement to compel evacuations;
• An enhanced ability to recover costs.
Bush wrote that controllers appeared confident they could manage evacuations if forecasted rainfall and river scenarios came to pass.
“They felt they had sufficient resources on standby to manage an event that they knew would ‘stretch’ the system, as a potential one-in-50-year event, but which should be manageable.
“Some worried that asking for more [resources] could deprive other regions in the path of the cyclone, such as Tairāwhiti.”
Bush said there were several matters that were not considered in the records he had seen, but in hindsight could have been included:
• The fact that other North Island territorial authorities were declaring throughout Monday afternoon;
• The fact (possibly not known to the group) that Fenz and police had been door knocking in Esk Valley and that few residents wanted to move;
• The fact that the change to the red weather warning meant that rain would be more widespread and could thus affect multiple areas and river catchments;
• The need for public information that signalled the potential seriousness of the event;
• The need for public reassurance.
Bush said it was also clear from interviews and from reviewing the tapes that some decision-makers came at the declaration decision from the perspective of the democratic rights of the public.
“They were mindful of the extraordinary powers conferred on local authorities by a declaration and hesitant to, in the words of one, ‘do a Treaty of Waitangi and sign peoples’ rights away’.”
Others saw it from the perspective of a national emergency. “Did Hawke’s Bay have a clear need for resources that might detract from the support to others?” said one participant.
Still others appeared to be thinking about the sufficiency of boots on the ground. “Given current projections, this will be tough but doable,” said one.
Bush said the key decision-makers were human and thus fallible.
“They reflected carefully on the matter and made the best call they could at the time. They asked the right questions. They tried hard to take multiple perspectives into account.
“We have formed the view that the ‘to declare or not to declare’ decision is an overly binary one as the system is currently configured.”
Bush suggested he would like local authorities to have the ability to declare a ‘major incident’, and follow this with the appropriate warnings and mobile alerts.
In a situation where the decision was borderline, much was unknown and the light was fading, this “would have been a good option here”, Bush said.
“Such a decision could, if communicated by national media, have given some families and communities more time to prepare, grab bags or catalysed their decisions in regard to self-evacuation.
“Declaring a ‘major incident’ on a precautionary basis could also have driven a heightened communications tempo which improved public understanding of the potential seriousness of the event.
“In some respects it would only formalise what had already occurred, but it also would likely have ensured additional media attention and mayoral communications that may have tipped the balance for some members of the public.”
Hazlehurst said while they’d had many meetings in the days prior, it was only after the event that the full picture became clear.
“I know how hard our emergency service teams worked to prepare for the cyclone, during the response and the recovery, and the hard and difficult decisions they had to make throughout ...
“Nobody could prepare for the huge volume, the speed and intensity of the rain that hit us.
“We saw some outstanding bravery. I’m incredibly proud of our community members and emergency service teams that worked so hard and at times put their own lives at risk to protect the community and save lives during Cyclone Gabrielle.
“There is so much we learnt through this event, but the most significant lesson was whether you are part of the Emergency Services team, a volunteer, a member of Civil Defence Emergency Management, a mayor or councillor, or a council employee, each and every person has a role in keeping our community safe.”
Chris Hyde is editor of Hawke’s Bay Today. He has 10 years of experience in regional newsrooms across New Zealand.
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