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Source: Radio New Zealand

The man in charge of the emergency response during Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke’s Bay was worried about putting people in danger if he issued an evacuation alert earlier, a coronial inquiry has heard.

‘The last safe moment to evacuate may have already passed’

The acting group controller for Civil Defence in Hawke’s Bay has explained why he did not issue an emergency evacuation alert to residents earlier in the night.

He said there was a lack of information and it was hard to get a reliable picture of what was happening due to the darkness, so they agreed the best option was for people to “shelter in place”.

Lennan admitted he was “aware that there were significant gaps” in his “situational awareness”. He feared that issuing an EMA “was the more dangerous course of action”.

His reasoning was that an EMA would not be any help to people already experiencing significant flooding or anyone who had climbed onto their roofs, and worried it may lead to people putting themselves into danger by trying to drive when there was a risk of slips, falling trees and being trapped in floodwaters.

“I considered that it was possible that the last safe moment to evacuate may have already passed, without anyone involved in the emergency response realising that was the case,” said Lennan.

Last month the inquest heard from the hydrologist in charge of flood forecasting during the deadly Cyclone, who could not explain why it took two hours for him to tell Civil Defence about a failure with the river level monitoring equipment due to a power outage.

The third week of the Hawke’s Bay phase of the inquest began this morning with Land Search and Rescue capability and development manager Edaan Lennan giving evidence.

When Cyclone Gabrielle struck the region on 13 February 2023, Lennan was employed by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) in Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management (HBCDEM) Group Emergency Management Office.

Because the main group controller for civil defence, Ian Macdonald, was away on leave during the cyclone, he put Edaan Lennan and Iain Maxwell into the top role in his absence.

An EMA (Emergency Mobile Alert), was not issued for Esk Valley until 5:19am on 14 February, by which time two people had already drowned and many more residents were clutching onto their rooftops, desperately hoping to be rescued.

Lennan told the court that at some point between 3am and 3.30am on 14 February, he held an emergency style meeting with local civil defence controllers and the emergency services to decide what to do next.

The decision was made not to issue an EMA at that point. Although the coroner’s lawyer Nick Whittington pointed out that an email at 2.10am from the hydrologist clearly told civil defence the Esk River was at the highest level ever recorded.

“Is that not a clear indication that what ever it looks like out there… the predictions are out the window?

“Was there no consideration of sending an EMA at this point?” asked Whittington.

“Not that I recall”, said Lennan.

Lennan said “you wouldn’t want to send an EMA without understanding what was happening on the ground”, but Whittington disagreed. He queried whether residents could have been sent a message about the record river levels.

“Isn’t this a wake up call? Don’t they need to be alerted to the fact this is going on?” said the lawyer.

Lennan agreed they could have possibly issued the mobile alert earlier to inform residents about the situation, but he also believes evacuating people in the middle of the night could have put people in harm’s way.

A state of emergency was not declared until about 4am on 14 February, and Whittington questioned Lennan about whether there was a link between civil defence waiting for an emergency declaration before issuing an EMA.

Lennan was hesitant to say if that was the case, instead pointing to the risk of issuing too many emergency mobile alerts, saying it can cause anxiety and result in a less responsive public response.

“You can create a lot of harm to society in over-alerting… or create independence on an alerting system,” he said.

Whittington pressed him further, asking if civil defence has a pre-conceived view that a mobile alert should only come after a declaration of emergency.

“It’s something I’ve thought about… I don’t personally think I had that pre-conception,” said Lennan.

‘Skeleton’ Civil Defence crew on overnight

On 13 February there were about 30 people in the Group Emergency Coordination Centre, but by about 10pm most of those staff had gone home or were heading home.

Lennan said they had “skeleton staff” overnight, which included himself and several liaison officers from different emergency services.

Whittington asked Lennan why there were not more staff working overnight, when the cyclone was expected to intensify.

Lennan explained the complications behind using council staff for civil defence jobs.

“There are challenges with staff personal circumstances and the human factors as well, with asking, say a person employed to be a librarian – to then come in and work in an emergency coordination centre,” he said. Lennan said finding people who were willing and able to pick up civil defence shifts could be tough, for example they may have whanau or animals they need to look after, or childcare challenges.

“It’s not only that we couldn’t find people for overnight, but also that we wanted to be a bit strategic with our rest period, send people home so we could get them back early the next day,” said Lennan.

Whittington asked Lennan whether the issue of finding enough civil defence staff was a persistent issue that had never been solved.

“It’s been a continual known challenge in Hawke’s Bay and across the country,” said Lennan.

Lennan was also questioned about a conversation with Hawke’s Bay area commander Inspector Lincoln Sycamore, in which he requested extra army unimogs to be sent from the New Zealand Defence Force’s Linton base.

Whittington said this conversation took place on Sunday, 12 February, but Lennan said he doesn’t recall it.

“I only remember talking to him once on a Friday, nothing on the Sunday.”

Whittington said Sycamore wanted extra unimogs in the region in case the cyclone struck with greater intensity than forecast.

Sycamore’s witness statement said Lennan told him that it was not necessary.

“I would like to think I was not dismissive to the head of police in Hawke’s Bay… doesn’t sound like the type of person I’d like to be,” said Lennan.

In his evidence, Lennan stated that Civil Defence was not authorised to deploy police resources.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

WARNING: This story includes content that may be distressing to some readers.

A helicopter pilot, who was the first civilian to land on Whakaari/White Island after its 2019 eruption, has revealed the chaos of tending to survivors while the volcano threatened to blow again.

Kahu NZ Helicopters director Robert Mark Law is giving evidence this week in Auckland at the ongoing Coroner’s Inquiry into the tragic events of 2019.

The pilot, who has military experience in the SAS, said he saw the eruption happen while he was driving between Tauranga and Whakatāne and immediately organised to fly to the active volcano and help.

He was accompanied by staff who flew other helicopters.

He ensured they carried water, gas masks, helmets and fire proof clothing they typically used when assisting in firefighting.

Once he arrived to the island and assessed the scene from the air, it was immediately apparent a strong eruption had occurred – noticing a damaged helicopter which had been blown off a helipad.

He continued to circle before noticing what looked like people on the ground.

“It was just right beside the column of ash and that’s when I started to see, you know, a lot of people, once my eye tuned into, you know, looking for humans in the ash.

“I then realised very quickly that there was a whole bunch more (people) there. I didn’t miss a beat.

“You just keep looking around and then straight away you’re thinking, okay, you know, these people, they need help.”

Law said he did not see any movement from the bodies and that he realised how challenging conditions were immediately once landing on a helipad nearest to where he could see people.

“As soon as I cracked the door open and started, you know, breathing the local environment, it was brutal. So at that stage, chucked the mask on and proceeded on towards where the folks were.

“Started walking through the ash towards where the people were, there was a lot of noise, hissing, roaring, coming from the volcano vent and obviously there was ash falling.”

Law said it was difficult to see the extent of the injuries on people.

He said the ash was a lot like talcum powder making it difficult to identify blood or wounds.

“From a distance, burn injuries weren’t as obvious because there’s a thick layer of ash on people.

“But when we got close and right down, I could see, for example, people were missing eyebrows or had no skin left on their faces.

“Once we started handling people to get them into the helicopters, it immediately became clear how serious the injuries were. Skin was separating from bodies as we lifted them up.

“Some people had full blisters down their entire limb that slipped off and or hung down when we lifted them up.”

The pilot said while he and staff were on Whakaari, the volcano was constantly making noise and ashing.

“At one point, it made a big enough noise that we were concerned it would erupt again, and we were preparing to throw ourselves over the individuals.

“It was a hell of a noise and so we both just dived down over people and then once it sort of passed and nothing happened, we looked at each other and you both could tell a bit of a sigh of relief,” he said.

Law and his co-workers from Kahu NZ Helicopters, moved through the island trying to identify the deceased and survivors.

He said they provided aid where they could by going person to person.

“Most had ash covering their faces, so I just tried to clear their mouths and noses so they could breathe. It was a very intense situation and a real mix.

“Some I could tell were clearly dead. Others I thought were in the early stages of dying. Others seemed to be in marginally better shape, but everyone was covered in ash and debris.

“When you give someone a really good old shake, get down and have a listen, because you’re down there cleaning the ash out of their mouth and trying to free up their airways, you’re looking for dust moving around their nostrils, their face, trying to feel their chest for rise, things like that.”

Law said he did have first aid experience due to his military background and had assessed people being deceased before the 2019 eruption.

He said while doing his best to triage and provide aid to survivors he was suprised to hear emergency services wouldn’t be coming.

The inquest has been told that all 39 people rescued from the island on the day of the eruption, was done entirely by civilian boats and helicopters.

He said tragically, there were instances when victims died while they were in the process of loading them into the aircraft or during the flight back to the mainland.

“I had my headset on, so things were a bit muffled by way of voice. I was looking around all the time at people and calling them.

“I had an issue with the windscreen, it was caked in ash. So I was sort of, couldn’t really see out the front properly. I was just sort of flying through the little gap and then looking out the side of the aircraft.

“The priority was just to keep talking, you know, and hopefully people responded to that voice going on in the helicopter.”

Law will continue to give evidence at the inquiry on Tuesday 11 November.

The coronial inquest in Auckland aims to re-establish the facts of the case and make findings and recommendations to prevent similar disasters.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• Tourist describes ash falling from the sky before he was helicoptered from hut
• He was then evacuated from Whakapapa
• Residents in affected area can return home, but businesses not sure yet when they can reopen
• Business owners hope for short closure of Tongariro Crossing.

A tourist helicoptered out of the Tongariro National Park to avoid the fire burning through the region has described the dramatic moments he realised there was danger in the air.

Matthias Gerold was taken to Whakapapa village, and was then evacuated from there as the blaze continued.

Wet weather has provided hope today for business owners nearby, who have worried a long-term closure of the Tongariro Crossing could prove catastrophic for the region.

Emergency services delivered good news this afternoon, saying there was a significant improvement in conditions and residents were allowed to return to Whakapapa.

Ash falling from sky

Gerold spoke to RNZ as he waited at the Waimarino railway station for a train to Wellington, after an eventful few days.

“I did the alpine crossing – and arrived at the hut, pitched my tent and saw a lot of smoke in the air.”

Everyone at the Tongariro National Park hut saw the smoke, he said.

“A guy called 111. First they told us we were safe and we could stay there for the night.”

But as the fire tore through the area on Saturday, conditions rapidly changed.

“Twenty minutes before the helicopter arrived there was not only smoke in the air, there was ash falling down. Then we were a bit scared.

“The ash was not glowing and there was nothing burning. It [the fire] always seemed far away,” he said.

“They flew us out to the state highway.”

He was taken to Whakapapa Village, but yesterday evening after going out walking, he realised that was also evacuated.

“I went to the campground six kilometres from [Waimarino] and then I was picked up by the police. They were really friendly and they drove me here.

“They dropped me at the car park here and allowed me to camp at the green spot.”

After packing his tent this morning, Gerold said he would continue his adventures in the South Island.

‘Spectacularly wild and hot’

Sam and Kaz Clarkson, who own the Skotel Alpine Resort in Whakapapa Village, were among the more than 30 people evacuated from there last night.

They were heading back from Waimarino – formerly National Park – this afternoon, saying they had plenty to do.

“What we’re dealing with out there in the park is fundamentally a brush fire rather than a forest fire.

“Although it’s spectacularly wild and hot as it burns, once it’s burned it’s gone. It doesn’t linger. Even a small amount of rain is going to make a difference.”

It did just that, with today’s rain breaking the back of the fire.

Sam Clarkson said an area of beech forest near the village would act as a natural fire break if flames had come that way.

Emergency services were expected to make a decision tomorrow about whether tourists could return to Whakapapa and surrounding, and when roads would open.

The wet weather’s dousing of the flames was good news for business owners, such as Gillian and John Visser at the Adventure Lodge and Motel, who feared long-term closures of the popular track.

“We might as well shut down and walk away. Even though 70 percent of the income’s in summer, it’s still very much hand to mouth living here,” John Visser said of what would happen if there was a long closure.

“Everything can change. Weather can change. The mountain can spit a couple of rocks out.”

Tongariro Crossing Lodge owner Louis van Wyk – a volunteer firefighter who assisted with efforts to battle the blaze yesterday – was also feeling some effects of the crossing’s closure.

Officials said it was too early to know when it could reopen

“We’ve had a couple of cancellations because of the fire, because a lot of people are coming to do the crossing, and that’s closed for the next week because of the rāhui, and it’s not safe at the moment anyway,” van Wyk said.

“Other people have inquired if it’s safe to still come to us and they’ve decided to still come and stay, because they can still do other things.”

The Hillary Outdoors Education Centre, between Waimarino and Tūrangi, is closed too, meaning schools have had to postpone their visits today.

Safety manager Graeme Swift said staff were waiting to see what happened next.

“Staff were evacuated from the centre as a precaution via advice from the Civil Defence yesterday.

“We were outside the area that is directly affected and they were just evacuating just as a precaution, because that fire was still in that state of not being totally under control.”

Fire and Emergency NZ said the visible signs of the fire were out but checks of hot spots were needed. Thermal imaging drones would go up tonight.

Fire investigators were looking into the cause of the blaze.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Some people receiving the pension are being forced to choose between eating dinner and playing off their debt, after taking on student loans later in life.

One Taupō woman says she is still facing a $58,000 student loan from a business degree she took two decades ago.

Her repayments are now being docked from her pension and it is forcing her to sacrifice the basics so she can afford rent and power.

It has prompted calls for better guidelines on student loan eligibility and better communication between Inland Revenue and older students.

Taupō woman Fenella took out a student loan 20 years ago, to cover the fees for a business degree as she embarked on a new chapter in her life.

From 2007, her partner was helping her pay off her loan, but the relationship ended. One day she noticed $40 missing from her pension.

She said the pension and her accommodation supplement barely covered weekly bills and rent.

“I wasn’t eating so I’ve been selling my possessions just to get cat food and food for me.

“Apart from the fact of a 44-year relationship ending like it did, it’s been devastating.”

To save on power, Fenella turned off her hot water during the day and during winter she wrapped up in blankets and only used one small heater.

“We’re having to survive day by day without anything else happening to us.”

Inland Revenue takes 12 percent of every dollar earned over $24,128 a year for student loan repayments.

A single person living alone on the pension, getting $32,604 a year before tax, is caught by this threshold.

Former prosecutor for the IRD and tax barrister Dave Ananth has been helping people with student loans to negotiate repaying their debt.

He has had 10 people receiving the pension in the past month asking him for help.

“Do I pay my student loan or do I deprive myself of groceries? That’s not what the student loan scheme was designed for, at 70 you shouldn’t need a spreadsheet to decide between dinner and debt.”

Ananth said the student loan system needed to be re-looked at.

“Taking a loan is a responsibility, it’s tax-payer funded so it’s got to be paid back.

“I’m not in any way advocating that we write off things, I’m saying look at the system again, do you really need to give out this loan, can you avoid it or is there another way?”

Age Concern chief executive Karen Billings-Jensen said 40 percent of older New Zealanders only have superannuation as their income.

“When we see other fixed costs going up, like rates, electricity and insurance it’s really hard.

“What we’re seeing is people potentially cutting back on food, which is the only discretionary part of their income or budget.”

Billings said she would like to see more consistency on how debt can be repaid without someone falling into financial hardship.

“Interested in knowing that the settings to ensure that for repayments of any debt to the government doesn’t cause that level of financial hardship.

“It’s probably wanting some consistency across IRD, MSD, wherever the debt might sit.”

From the end of June this year, more than 23,000 people aged 65 and older had student loans. Of these, almost 6000 were based overseas.

In a statement to Checkpoint, Minister of Revenue Simon Watts said New Zealand super was taxable income and therefore subject to deductions for outstanding student loans.

He was not currently considering changes to the student loan system that fit within his responsibilities.

He said the government had measures to reduce the burden of student loan debt, such as minimum income repayment thresholds and no interest for most borrowers who stay in New Zealand.

But he said student loans still must be repaid.

The Department of Inland Revenue said they encouraged people who were having difficulty meeting their obligations to contact them.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Christchurch can withdraw from part of a plan change aimed at increasing housing density, because it has met its housing growth target, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop.

Bishop said Christchurch and Auckland councils had argued the Medium Density Residential Standards, which are part of Plan Change 14, were not right for their cities.

In August, Parliament passed a bill allowing the cities to withdraw Plan Change 14, provided the council could prove it had provided for 30 years of sufficient feasible housing capacity, with a 20 percent contingency margin.

Bishop said based on advice from officials, including two peer reviews provided by the council from Urbanomics and Sense Partners, he had decided the Christchurch Council has met this requirement.

“Christchurch City Council has confirmed its housing plan provides for future growth, with modelling showing plan enabled feasible housing capacity for at least 68,200 homes, exceeding the 65,640 homes needed to meet the statutory requirement for 30 years of adjusted demand,” Bishop said.

“Freeing up land for development by removing unnecessary planning barriers is essential to increasing housing supply.

“The evidence is clear that more housing capacity leads to more homes being built, which helps bring down rents and make housing more affordable. The council has delivered on this, and it’s a great result for the city.”

He said ministerial decisions were still pending on two heritage sites, Antonio Hall and Daresbury, and a special character area around Piko Crescent, but these will be considered in the coming months.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The man in charge of the emergency response during Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke’s Bay was worried about putting people in danger if he issued an evacuation alert earlier, a coronial inquiry has heard.

‘The last safe moment to evacuate may have already passed’

The acting group controller for Civil Defence in Hawke’s Bay has explained why he did not issue an emergency evacuation alert to residents earlier in the night.

He said there was a lack of information and it was hard to get a reliable picture of what was happening due to the darkness, so they agreed the best option was for people to “shelter in place”.

Lennan admitted he was “aware that there were significant gaps” in his “situational awareness”. He feared that issuing an EMA “was the more dangerous course of action”.

His reasoning was that an EMA would not be any help to people already experiencing significant flooding or anyone who had climbed onto their roofs, and worried it may lead to people putting themselves into danger by trying to drive when there was a risk of slips, falling trees and being trapped in floodwaters.

“I considered that it was possible that the last safe moment to evacuate may have already passed, without anyone involved in the emergency response realising that was the case,” said Lennan.

Last month the inquest heard from the hydrologist in charge of flood forecasting during the deadly Cyclone, who could not explain why it took two hours for him to tell Civil Defence about a failure with the river level monitoring equipment due to a power outage.

The third week of the Hawke’s Bay phase of the inquest began this morning with Land Search and Rescue capability and development manager Edaan Lennan giving evidence.

When Cyclone Gabrielle struck the region on 13 February 2023, Lennan was employed by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) in Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management (HBCDEM) Group Emergency Management Office.

Because the main group controller for civil defence, Ian Macdonald, was away on leave during the cyclone, he put Edaan Lennan and Iain Maxwell into the top role in his absence.

An EMA (Emergency Mobile Alert), was not issued for Esk Valley until 5:19am on 14 February, by which time two people had already drowned and many more residents were clutching onto their rooftops, desperately hoping to be rescued.

Lennan told the court that at some point between 3am and 3.30am on 14 February, he held an emergency style meeting with local civil defence controllers and the emergency services to decide what to do next.

The decision was made not to issue an EMA at that point. Although the coroner’s lawyer Nick Whittington pointed out that an email at 2.10am from the hydrologist clearly told civil defence the Esk River was at the highest level ever recorded.

“Is that not a clear indication that what ever it looks like out there… the predictions are out the window?

“Was there no consideration of sending an EMA at this point?” asked Whittington.

“Not that I recall”, said Lennan.

Lennan said “you wouldn’t want to send an EMA without understanding what was happening on the ground”, but Whittington disagreed. He queried whether residents could have been sent a message about the record river levels.

“Isn’t this a wake up call? Don’t they need to be alerted to the fact this is going on?” said the lawyer.

Lennan agreed they could have possibly issued the mobile alert earlier to inform residents about the situation, but he also believes evacuating people in the middle of the night could have put people in harm’s way.

A state of emergency was not declared until about 4am on 14 February, and Whittington questioned Lennan about whether there was a link between civil defence waiting for an emergency declaration before issuing an EMA.

Lennan was hesitant to say if that was the case, instead pointing to the risk of issuing too many emergency mobile alerts, saying it can cause anxiety and result in a less responsive public response.

“You can create a lot of harm to society in over-alerting… or create independence on an alerting system,” he said.

Whittington pressed him further, asking if civil defence has a pre-conceived view that a mobile alert should only come after a declaration of emergency.

“It’s something I’ve thought about… I don’t personally think I had that pre-conception,” said Lennan.

‘Skeleton’ Civil Defence crew on overnight

On 13 February there were about 30 people in the Group Emergency Coordination Centre, but by about 10pm most of those staff had gone home or were heading home.

Lennan said they had “skeleton staff” overnight, which included himself and several liaison officers from different emergency services.

Whittington asked Lennan why there were not more staff working overnight, when the cyclone was expected to intensify.

Lennan explained the complications behind using council staff for civil defence jobs.

“There are challenges with staff personal circumstances and the human factors as well, with asking, say a person employed to be a librarian – to then come in and work in an emergency coordination centre,” he said. Lennan said finding people who were willing and able to pick up civil defence shifts could be tough, for example they may have whanau or animals they need to look after, or childcare challenges.

“It’s not only that we couldn’t find people for overnight, but also that we wanted to be a bit strategic with our rest period, send people home so we could get them back early the next day,” said Lennan.

Whittington asked Lennan whether the issue of finding enough civil defence staff was a persistent issue that had never been solved.

“It’s been a continual known challenge in Hawke’s Bay and across the country,” said Lennan.

Lennan was also questioned about a conversation with Hawke’s Bay area commander Inspector Lincoln Sycamore, in which he requested extra army unimogs to be sent from the New Zealand Defence Force’s Linton base.

Whittington said this conversation took place on Sunday, 12 February, but Lennan said he doesn’t recall it.

“I only remember talking to him once on a Friday, nothing on the Sunday.”

Whittington said Sycamore wanted extra unimogs in the region in case the cyclone struck with greater intensity than forecast.

Sycamore’s witness statement said Lennan told him that it was not necessary.

“I would like to think I was not dismissive to the head of police in Hawke’s Bay… doesn’t sound like the type of person I’d like to be,” said Lennan.

In his evidence, Lennan stated that Civil Defence was not authorised to deploy police resources.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A huge wildfire in Tongariro National Park is expected to have significant impacts on biodiversity.

The large fire on the Central Plateau broke out on Saturday afternoon, triggering evacuations of trampers and residents, including Whakapapa Village.

Firefighters have been battling the fire for three days, which has since grown to over 2800 hectares.

Here’s how it unfolded in pictures:

Pictures from Saturday, 8 November

Pictures from Sunday, 9 November

Pictures from Monday, 10 November

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