Mayor's Message: Lessons in Resilience

Our hearts go out to the many North Island communities hammered by Cyclone Gabrielle. We know all too well the devastation caused by such weather events from our storm six months ago. We still have 31 families displaced from their homes and years of recovery work ahead of us. Thankfully, we had no loss of life. Homes and roads can be fixed but lives are lost forever.

There are some important lessons to learn in the wake of these extreme weather events. The Deputy Mayor and I have undertaken specific training at our Civil Defence Emergency Operations Centre to ensure we are well briefed on our role and equipped to handle such an emergency. We need to better understand the vulnerability of our power, communications and other infrastructure and, where possible, reduce the risks of failure. We need people to take Civil Defence warnings seriously. Floods and landslides can be unpredictable, causing loss of life, and we need the public to back Civil Defence and police in their precautionary approach during an emergency. We also need to take action on climate change, reduce our emissions and invest in improved resilience.

I am keen for Nelsonians to do our bit to help our North Island whānau, particularly those in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne who have been hardest hit. I encourage those able to make donations to do so through the Stuff Givealittle page (givealittle.co.nz/cause/cyclone-gabrielle-community-support [Note: now closed.]) which will distribute the funds evenly between the Red Cross and the Mayoral Relief Funds. We have provided some Nelson City Council emergency management support staff, but our engineering and recovery teams are so committed to our own flood recovery that we are not in a position to spare them. I am exploring other ways we can be of assistance, including sharing experiences of our own recovery plan.

Finally, I ask Nelsonians to give their strong support to the 2023 Census on 7 March. The Statistics NZ team has learnt from the mistakes of 2018 when they excessively relied on “digital first” responses and cut neighbourhood Census workers. You should have your Census packs by 1 March. If not, please call the helpline (0800 236 787), go online to census.govt.nz or seek help from our libraries. We need good data for Nelson to get our fair share of Government funding and to help us plan for Nelson’s future.