General Debate : Rahui Katene
Christchurch Earthquake
Wednesday 8 September 2010; 4.05pm

Saturday 4 September was a day all the kura around Otautahi were looking forward to supporting their rangatahi in the Ranga Ihi kapa haka competitions which were to be held at the Aurora Centre – Burnside. Instead Burnside High became transformed into a welfare centre – along with centres at Brooklyn Community Centre, Addington Raceway and Linwood College.

It is a day that will be forever etched in our collective history.

I am talking of a city dismantled – swept under the tide of mass destruction which damaged some 100,000 of the 160,000 homes in the course of the 7.1magnitude shake.

And I want to mihi to my colleague Amy Adams for the loss she has had to bear during this time.

The cordoned off areas of the Central Business District have all the appearances of warzone – soldiers manning the cordons; falling debri; a bustling metropolitan area reduced to rubble.

I have been out on the streets and I have to say it is heartbreaking.

Some homes are still without power and water; mounds of sand and mud cover the front lawns and driveways of the properties.

I listened to the frustration of a business owner when a person buying his business revised the offer, $100,000 less than the agreed price.

I wept at the devastation of Kaiapoi; the roading disrupted, the water tanker in place at the school and other areas; so many chimneys strewn all over the town. One entire street of houses, no more than five years old, now faces demolition; taking in its midst the hopes and pride of families who have worked so hard for their own home.

I sat with a taua, who was gripped in fear, as she contemplates starting again. And I have seen the terror in the eyes of our babies, as they suffer the staggering amount of some 300 aftershocks since early Saturday morning.

I have spent time with the people in Hornby as they empty out their freezers and cupboards to feed their taua and poua; I am told the facebook page that Ngai Tahu has set up has entries from New Zealanders as far away as London asking what they can do.

There is compassion from who have endured the floods; who endured Cyclone Bola; the Napier earthquake, who have endured other natural disasters.

I am so grateful for all the kindness that has been expressed by the Government and the people of New Zealand – to support the people of Otautahi as they struggle through such devastation; coping with the constant aftershocks; the fear; the exhaustion.

This disaster will not be fixed in a week. Some business owners have lost their entire livelihood; some families seen their homes reduced to a pile of bricks. Everyone is on edge; unnerved, waiting for the next tremors to shatter their temporary peace.

There will be many who relive the trauma of their walls literally tumbling down. We think particularly of those with mental illnesses; of some of our more vulnerable members of our community. We think of our elderly, our children; families who have lost the only home they knew, mourning for the memories that cannot be rebuilt.

And we think too, of the local heroes, who left their own damaged properties to set up welfare centres, to assess the safety of buildings; to drain sewerage pumps; to guard the inner city; to restore power and water to residents; to bring the news to the nation.

The Mayor of Christchurch demonstrated his leadership when it was needed most; but so too, there has been an incredible infrastructure of support that has emerged during this crisis. The people of Ngai Tuahuriri opened up Tuahiwi marae, to provide a place of comfort to welcome those who are feeling unsafe.

Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu has set up vital links for the community to access; all of our local MPs have increased staff and have been out on the roads and I have to mihi to Aaron out there on the road, digging holes; and who held a meeting on Sunday meeting, getting two hundred people along, just to see what they could do to help.

We are all out there, doing everything we can to make sure that our people get the information they need.

There’s the staff of the City Councils; of Civil Defence; of the hospital and health centres; the Fire Service; Search and Rescue; Maori women’s welfare league; the Salvation Army; Ministers of the Crown, the media and hundreds of volunteers have kept the city afloat.

We thank them all, for the incredible commitment at a time of such need. I went into Linwood Centre last night and I was followed by people carrying boxes of clothes, boxes of toys, people just coming in off the streets to see what they could do.

And we know, that even though eventually the state of emergency will be scaled down, the state of health for all our whanau throughout Otautahi will take a long time to be restored. That will be when the generosity and strength of the nation will be tested even more, but this week gives me every confidence that we can indeed rely on each other, to get us through.

Hei kupu whakamutunga ki a rātou e noho ana i raro i te taumaha me te pouri, kia ū ki te kaupapa, kia whakahihiwa ki te whānau, kia tau te wairua o manaakitanga ki runga a koutou katoa.

Tēnā tātou katoa.

ENDS

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