Ae Marika! 15 July 2014

Posted on July 15, 2014 by admin in Ae Marika

It ain’t over by a long shot, but I can’t help feel good about Northlanders response to the week from hell. This last week has seen the worst weather over a larger region of the north, for a longer period than I can remember, and yet Northlanders have by and large gotten through with a quiet determination, a lot of support from one another, and a real gutsy bunch of guys working in seriously dangerous conditions to try and get the power back on.

Broken power poles, toppled trees, and untold damage to the electricity network across the region has also hindered people’s ability to fend for themselves and even today, a week after the storm began, there are still many homes without power and most of them are in outlying areas.

I ran into one of the kuia from Kaikohe down in Auckland on Sunday night. Her moko had gone up to get her because she was worried about her. I’ve also spoken to others from up the far north who still got no power and I know that locals are getting round to make sure all the old people got through OK too. Good stuff.

The north also got battered by high winds for days on end, the whenua got flooded, sewage systems got overloaded and water treatment plants got knocked out, meaning the contamination of drinking water will be an issue for some time yet.

I’ve spoken to folks in and around Moerewa and told them to call the Council for drinking water. Alastair Wells of FNDC Civil Defence assures me that if the people put out the call, the Council will provide drinking water immediately. The sun might be out now, but the problem of contamination is still high. Most people don’t carry water testing kits, so to be safe, I’ve simply told Mylie George and Ngahau Davis to be proactive, call up the Council for water and use my name and Alastair’s to get clean water in so their communities are safe.

And talkin’ about the sun comin’ out, those who’ve been through the floods before will know that afterwards when things start drying out, everything stinks, particularly in places where there is already a sewage problem made worse by the floods …

There will be a lot of recriminations about who didn’t do whatever, but that’s for another day. Right now the focus is to get the power back on, get clean drinking water for everyone, make sure our old folks are OK and that our communities get back up to speed.

Not too long ago, all you needed was a light shower and Kaeo got flooded but with all the focus we put on the problem, and the work that went into stop banks and dredging the river, it now looks like Kaeo’s flooding problem is no longer the major issue it used to be. My uncle Nuki tells me there’s a lot more to be done but he’s happy with what’s been done out there.

The area that needs attention now is Moerewa and Kawakawa. I’ve already spoken to some officials about the locals wanting a meeting to get a proper flood management scheme in the area, and they’re keen, so once we get through the current crisis we’ll get stuck into it.

OH YEAH, and for a bit of light relief, come on down to Te Ahu tonight at 6pm for the KIM DOTCOM roadshow. Should be fun!

AE MARIKA is an article written every week by Hone Harawira, leader of the MANA Movement and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau. You are welcome to use any of the comments and to ascribe them to Mr Harawira. The full range of Hone’s articles can be found on the MANA website at www.mana.net.nz.