When disaster strikes, maraes stand up to help, support, feed and accommodate.
And Hakatere Marae is more ready than ever since the delivery of an emergency pod this month.
The shipping container of resources is for supporting the marae to provide for 100 to 150 people for about three days.
It is among 24 pods being rolled out to maraes by Te Puni Kokiri/Ministry of Maori Development, in partnership Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu.
In disasters, maraes often become civil defence centres, as Hakatere did in 2021 when flooding occurred in parts of the Ashburton District.
Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu whanau and emergency response programme manager Jamie Ruwhiu said his colleague, senior advisor Andrea Williams, had come up with the idea of the pods.
She had returned from assisting in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle at the time.
‘‘She was sitting on a digger at Omahu Marae in Hastings, working with David Ormsby from Te Puni Kokiri, and discussed the benefits of the pods and the idea of resourcing communities,’’ Ruwhiu said.
‘‘The thought behind the pods is to bring marae to the forefront of emergency response, to build capacity and capability to respond when an emergency occurs,’’ Ruwhiu said.
‘‘For iwi Maori its a natural fit to respond to an emergency, to open up our maraes for displaced people.’’
Marae co-ordinator Michelle Brett said the marae was a civil defence centre which worked in collaboration with district council emergency management, but having the pod would make it easier.
The marae opens its doors to those who need to evacuate, as well as stranded travellers.
Members offer kai, somewhere to sleep and manaakitanga (care).
‘‘It means we won’t have to rush off and get supplies which can sometimes be limited in availability. The pod will give us the capacity to be more self sufficient,’’ Brett said.
‘We are extremely grateful to Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu especially members of their whanau and emergency response programme, Jamie Ruwhiu and Andrea Williams who helped us get the pod,’’ Brett said.
“District council group manager compliance and development Jane Donaldson said the Hakatere Marae was a key partner in the event of an emergency.
‘‘This is both in terms of community support and outreach and in providing their facility.
‘‘In the May 2021 floods, it served as a welfare centre for people who self-evacuated,’’ Donaldson said.
In a disaster everyone needed to work together, she said.
‘‘The council has been slowly building resilience supplies as budget allows. More pods would be great however there needs to be the resource available to provide them,’’ she said.
