Crisis management starts in our backyard

On Monday, I attended an event held in Christchurch, a symposium on emergency preparedness and responses for people with disabilities. It was a wonderful occasion which brought together disabled people, their whanau, and of course the many organisations and service providers who have a role to play in protecting the wellbeing of our citizens.

We talked about the need to manaaki everyone in our communities, and of course the need to ensure that we have preparations and responses in place to ensure that we leave no one behind, that no one is forgotten when we are faced with crises, disaster or emergency.

This korero, and this event made me think about us here in Whanganui. Are we prepared if disaster strikes?

Of course we have experienced a number of civil emergencies in this region. This year alone we experienced a severe storm which wreaked havoc here and along the Taranaki coastline. In March I went to visit Patea, which was affected by a weather bomb which ruined houses, cut power and access and left many whanau in a state of vulnerability.We have also had flooding here in parts of Whanganui, and of course in Manawatu.

Recalling these events, made me think about how we responded, who provided the assistance we needed, and did we prepare enough to take care of every member of our community.

While the local and national authorities provided critical support during these crises, there were little things which hit us as whanau and communities that caused a lot of stress. Finding accommodation, feeding our families, fixing and cleaning homes, these are all examples of the small things which feed our trauma, and of course hinder our recovery process.

For these small things, I found that our marae, whanau, neighbours and community networks were vital in providing the support that we needed. During the Manawatu floods, the community of Ratana rallied around to provide support to those affected in the region. In Patea, it was Ngati Ruanui who put in place an emergency response plan, and called both myself and Chester Burrows in to advocate for the needs of the community.

The point of this is, that as whanau, hapu, and iwi, have a key role to play in crises management. Our marae, as the hub of our whanau, have been used to support the wider community in times of crises, and perhaps we need to be looking at how we resource our marae to be self-sufficient, so that they are able to continue providing this support to our communities.

I've been really impressed with a toolkit put together by Te Whakaheitanga Marae.

Their intention is to consider the wider needs of our whanau when looking at development planning around our marae and other key buildings. They have a checklist - do we have wider doorways, level pathways, ramps, access to beds that can be raised or lowered? Are hazards such as steps or sharp corners identified? And importantly, have we had disability awareness training so that if one of our whanau or manuhiri has a seizure, for instance, everyone knows what to do.

These sort of questions can help to make our marae purpose-fit for any group, for any situation.

I often think that during times of crises, you see the best of people come out, you see the support and manaakitanga pouring out from every member of our communities, and although we are faced with difficult times, it is wonderful to witness the kindness and spirit of compassion which shines through. My message to you all is that we can start preparing that process today, for preparation is key to resilience.