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A meeting to help Matakana area residents become more resilient and self-sufficient when natural disasters strike will be held at the Community Hall next month.
Matakana Community Group (MCG) chair Rachel Demler says recent storms and extreme weather have highlighted the need for a local support network.
“We can’t rely on help coming in to us from outside when all the roads are closed, or council coming to clear rivers and drains when they have the whole of Auckland to worry about,” she says.
“We have to become more resilient and be able to help ourselves and each other, so this meeting is to help get us going on that pathway.”
Demler says while floods and slips are still front of mind, it’s not just storms that make rural communities vulnerable.
“It wasn’t that long ago that we had a drought and we were all running out of water. That will happen again in future and we need to be ready for it, not least because council has said there won’t be any more emergency water tankers after they bailed us out last time.”
Several speakers will attend the meeting to talk on different aspects of emergency response and the lessons they learned from recent flood and storm events. These include former MCG and current Rodney Local Board member Ivan Wagstaff and Warkworth Community Resilience coordinator Sue Robertson, who were instrumental in helping hundreds of people stranded during the Auckland Anniversary floods, Friends of Awa Matakanakana vice-chair Martin Evans and Matakana Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Jeremy Gibbons.
As well as a debrief on recent and less recent events that have affected Matakana and the wider area, the meeting will address lessons that can be learnt and plans made, by individuals and groups, to respond effectively in the future.
“We would love to see as many people as possible come along and share their knowledge and ideas,” Demler says. “There are lots of people with the talents or trades who could help in a crisis, but we need to set up some kind of network or hub so people know how to reach out if necessary – even when communications are down.”
The meeting will be held at the Matakana Hall on Monday, May 8 at 7pm. It will also include the MCG’s annual meeting.
