On the (almost) one year anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle devastating our region in Gisborne, New Zealand, I look back on our experiences from that time and reflect on what did and didn't work well for us in terms of our own emergency preparedness. What were the lessons? 

I often use the Notes feature on my phone and as I was browsing through that a few weeks back, I noticed a full entry I'd written on the Saturday following the cyclone hitting our region on the Monday (5 days later). I'm so glad I took a moment to write it as it is a fairly raw reflection of my thoughts at the time.

I share that full entry below (unedited) so you can have a sense of what was going through our minds. Bare in mind that our property had no real issues, no major flooding, some water damage from leaks but nothing major. The biggest issues were communications going down (that impacts so many things!) and our road networks taken out - we were essentially cut off. I was really worried about the impact on my e-commerce business which relies on both communication and freight providers. 

Have a read of the entry below written 18/02/2023 and then my reflections after it. It is what is and isn't written in the entry that provides quite a good reflection on what was and wasn't working for us. 

I’m writing this on the Saturday following the devastation of my region from CG on Monday.

To say it’s been surreal is an understatement. In fact, nobody in my household really knows how we feel… kind of numb really and we were the lucky ones with nobody injured and no major damage to our home. Even my gardens survived through it and I picked my first butternut squash of the season yesterday.

But the reality of life as we know it changing overnight is hard to comprehend even when you are living it. I can’t even imagine what this must be like for those who have damaged property or have lost loved ones, animals, crops or their homes and/or livelihoods entirely.  Or those who have been suffering for days without power, adequate food or water supply and no idea if help is coming.

We have friends and family with major damage to their land and/or homes. Gutted for them.

There will be many in business wondering how they’ll get through this. For myself, being fully reliant on transport in and out of the region and the internet to earn a living, there have been some days of big stress and worry about the impact on my business fuelled by the huge uncertainly regarding when we can operate again. Right now, at day 6, I’ve only just had some limited cellular connection come back on this morning - it’s weak and unreliable (only really suitable for text messages and phone calls) but I’m still grateful to have at least that. I also received a parcel today and my courier tells me that they had a truck arrive this morning and another will come tomorrow so that’s promising. There’s no real word on when the fibre connection will be operable again. I’m scenario planning different options on how I could operate given that this is our main income… bit stressful to say the least. But I have a roof over my head, food and running water (again) so I have the luxury of worrying about my business I guess.

We have Starlink available at some sites around Gisborne. Most in the community have been great but a few days in and people are using it to watch movies and play games (I kid you not!) whilst others are unable to get on and connect with loved ones or use email to contact their insurance provider. How will businesses like mine operate if limited fibre opens up as I’m sure many will use it for entertainment leaving those of us who need the connection, so we can earn a living, with not enough to function.

It feels like many are getting near their limit - tired, worried…. There have been some armed robberies, break-ins and ram raids… opportunists never let a good opportunity pass them by even in the worst of times.

But the contrast is that we have also seen some of the best in human behaviour too. Our local Indian restaurant was offering free food one day, the next they had big signs up letting people know they had eftpos since most places have only been able to accept cash. Let us never allow a cashless society as, in times like these, digital currency is worthless.

Last night we had a leak from the pipe connected to the toilet cistern. We had closed it due to the water ban yesterday, expecting we’d need to use our pool water to flush with. This somehow caused a leak and today we have drained close to 15L of water from the ceiling in the lounge located just under that connection. So, having come through the cyclone with a couple of leaking windows, we now have a massive repair needed on our ceiling and gib to come off and holes made to allow that cavity to dry out before mold sets in. It could be worse but it really is upsetting. All because we turned off the water due to what ended up being a very temporary water ban. Had to go find Wi-Fi so I could email our insurance broker. Hard.

Anyway, on day 6 I’m left wondering what will happen tomorrow (aside from removing gib and trying to dry out that space). Will we have better cellular connection? What is happening with the fibre connection? Will we be given some timeframes on that so we can plan? Should we put an order in for a Starlink? I hear there’s a two week wait for a unit, could now be at three weeks. What next?

We all feel a little bit nauseous. The summer of 22/23 has actually turned out worse than the summer if 21/22. Seriously, who’d have thought?! 

 

My reflections

In the entry above there are some things that are not mentioned and that's because we had those preparedness areas fully covered. 

What worked well for us was:

• having a fully stocked pantry with a lot of ready to heat and eat meals-in-jars - we had no food issues but definitely felt like more treats during that time
• having a generator which we ran for a short period each day to keep our fridge and upright freezers cold (plus fuel to run them)
• being able to keep our freezers closed because we weren't reliant on food in them
• have cash on hand - this was a major because people were struggling not being able to access their money and therefore couldn't buy food, fuel, sanitary products, bottled water
• having access to tank water (the town supply went really bad really quickly and is still not great)
• having a handheld radio so we could access the local radio station for updates
• walkie talkies which we took with us if we split as a group
• DVDs! No communications mean not a lot of entertainment so having some DVDs and a DVD player ended up being amazing - our neighbours had a great selection of DVDs too
• having raised garden beds as they were able to drain with all of the rain and we didn't lose any plants 
• already having a plan in place and all of our emergency items organised in one place
• good neighbours so we could help each other out as needed
• being stocked up on batteries, toiletries and general emergency supplies
• our gas cooker was still going and operable even when we were without electricity and our bbq had gas

What didn't work well that we need to prepare better for was:

• having no back up for communications - do we get a Starlink or not?
• the day after, we went across town to check on my parents which was really risky as we could have ended up stranded over there and all of our emergency supplies were at home (our bridges were vulnerable with loads of forestry slash and other tree waste build up against them like a beaver's dam)
• not everyone in the household having adequate rain coats which is a problem when the rain is relentless and you need to be out in it on occasion (we've since rectified this)
• not having a TV aerial meaning we could only access limited news - it was a massive shock seeing the devastation around New Zealand when we finally had broadband back up.
• we should have filled up our jerry cans with water when we were aware a cyclone was heading our way
• our car wasn't full with petrol so had to buy some which was fine but petrol was being rationed due to uncertainty of supply due to extensive roading damage
• being summer, we weren't stocked up on firewood at the time which was a risk if we'd needed some heating or an alternative cooking option.

I hope these reflections are helpful for you when considering your own emergency preparedness.

If you have been through a significant weather / natural event, I'd urge you to take a moment to think about what did and didn't work well for you. This is all dependent on what you experienced at the time, where you live and the biggest risks for you.

With Cyclone Gabrielle, we didn't have water rushing through our homes taking our preserves with them which I know many others actually experienced. Likewise, with big earthquakes, food in glass jars can be at risk so this is something to consider when you organise your storage spaces.

There is a lot to consider and we can only ever try to do our best and make improvements as we go.

Inside The Preserver's Kitchen membership, we cover aspects of emergency preparedness particular in the space of food and food storage and it is a topic of conversation within our private members' community.