Auckland Council Steps In. Disaster Recovery and Community Restoration. Ep.17 Precipice Podcast.

Today I speak with Scott De Silva, the current Auckland Council Manager of Regional Parks and an operations controller in Auckland Emergency Management when Cyclone Gabrielle hit. He has worked in Muriwai and been part of the community for many years and lives nearby in Cable Road.

Scott talks about what Auckland Council was expecting and preparations taken before the weather event, his role in the recovery and restoration of Muriwai, the first community meeting in Muriwai, managing communications and some of the frustrations he experienced.

We explore the Muriwai cordons process, opinions of the cordons within the community and beyond, impacts of the cordons on local commercial businesses and the security systems adopted.

Scott shares the challenges at this time, the learnings, the changes and developments in emergency management in Auckland Council and Regional Parks that have been undertaken, and advice he has for other communities facing or impacted by a weather event.

Precipice launched on July 20th 2026. 3 seasons will be released across 4 weeks and then the full series of 26 episodes will be available for you to listen to at your leisure.

Season 1: Cyclone Gabrielle Hits Muriwai 

Season 2: Disaster Recovery and Community Restoration                     

Season 3: Community Initiatives after a Cyclone

Listen on You Tube  https://www.youtube.com/@precipicepodcast

Follow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/precipicepodcast

Hosted and produced by Mandy Jakich. Commissioned and funded by Muriwai Community Association, supported by the Auckland Council Recovery Office.

Transcript

Mandy 0:11

Today I speak with Scott DeSilva, the current Auckland Council Manager of Regional Parks and an operations controller in Auckland Emergency Management when Cyclone Gabrielle Head. Scott has worked in Muduay and has been part of the community for many years and he lives nearby in Cable Road. Scott talks about what Auckland Council was expecting and preparations taken before the weather event.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

And again, yeah, we weren't probably ever prepared for what actually happened on Muduay was the degree of devastation that actually happened in. A lot of people are after answers, and we weren't Council wasn't really prepared for the degree of information that they needed to provide.

Mandy 0:53

He explains his role in the recovery and restoration of Muduay, the first community meeting in Mudwai, managing communications, and some of the frustrations he experienced. We explore the Midwai Cordens process and opinions of the cordons within the community and beyond.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

We had no process for cordons, we had no previous history of establishing cordons in Auckland and I was aware of. But look, I'll be honest, there were some mixed views on this stuff as well.

Mandy 1:22

We talk about the impact of the cordons on local commercial businesses and the security systems adopted. Scott shares the challenges he experienced at this time, the learnings.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

It feels like it's one of those things that's not going to go away. And uh like a more property council could be. So I'm pretty pretty familiar with the operation component of that. In terms of Gabriel, um, I was performing probably two different roles. Um I had already done some work with Auckland Emergency Management prior to Gabriel hitting, and I was actually involved in that through the COVID response. Uh when Cyclone Gabrielle actually hit, um, I was actually on the sort of three-deep list. They have three of us on there. And um I was scheduled to be in the um emergency control centre on the night that Gabrielle was coming through. Um I started my shift at seven o'clock, and so um I left my wife and our little dog at home by themselves, which is in hindsight was a little bit scary given what actually came across. And um, we're only up on Cable Road, so not too far from Muriwe. And um, so went into the went into the ECC, as they call it, and um I was managing the operations function at that time. Um so operations deal with a whole bunch of different things, getting stuff done, kind of component, and really close interaction with fens, New Zealand police, um, emergency services. Um so yeah, yeah, that was my that was my role. I I went for 12 hours. We did 12 hour shifts and um and as you know the the the impacts of the cyclone and what was actually happening on all that west coast was pretty pretty close to my heart and um and it was a really stri real struggle that night to actually um you know to sort of see the night through anyway. I I was pretty pretty emotionally and uh physically sort of waked at the end of that.

Mandy 4:09

Yeah, I bet. Yeah, it's so difficult for you to be kind of trying to work in that role, but being so much a part of it yourself personally.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Oh yeah, yeah, it was it was really, really tricky. Um and you you know, we were you know, we could hear the hear all the events going going um going off. We could hear the communication with the community, um, you know, evacuations from the surf club at the time. Um and so it was it was yeah, it was one of those nights where you'll never really forget. Um and I was still still banging to people in Auckland Council, I didn't even in the community, and you know, you sort of look at each other and you know what you sort of went through. You got this uh this kind of a thing there, whether it's good or bad, it's a thing.

Mandy 4:51

So Yeah, it's a connection and it's a it's a mutual knowing in a way. Yeah. Yeah. What were you actually expecting as a team?

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Um well, it's funny, yeah. Um yeah, I was making my way in as uh as the I guess the wind started to pick up type approach, and so it was it was getting to that point where it's like I had to go and because I know it was gonna get worse. Um the council have been tracking that for a while, that that cyclone, that weather system. So, you know, we and there were notifications out about that. Um no one kind of really understood the impact of the cyclone sort of coming down the coast and their tail flicking around to the west coast. And uh it was a real surprise that I don't think anyone who really anticipated the way it actually the way it actually hit us. So it was a real learning for for everyone. And uh and like I said, once it started, um Muriwai went down first and then PHA, then Cutty Cutty and and its way down. So it was uh sort of almost a domino effect with the the impacts that were sort of moving down that West Coast an area.

Mandy 5:54

And after the events two weeks before, with all that rain and and lots of flooding in in the area, was Auckland Council starting to think about that and about the sort of extra water and and the potential landslides, was that ever a a thing that people had in their minds?

SPEAKER_02 6:15

Uh well, I don't look you know, I I I was aware of the the previous landslides that had happened in the 60s, and um although that never came into my mind at the time, given the previous rainfall and the way it hit us, so and I guess it was probably probably just a number of factors that really sort of just added on top of each other that actually contributed to what Muriwai experienced, you know. So, you know, wind direction, the power of the wind, the rain, the everything else that went with it. And um look, I don't think anyone probably anticipated what was what was going to happen in that area and the impacts on on those uh on that community. So yeah, we kind of went and thinking, okay, we we knew we'd had the previous weather event, we knew there was a lot of people out there concerned about more rain. Um we did have a program there, and it and actually going through this exercise makes me think about all that stuff now. Um we did have an exercise around sandbagging. Um I know areas in South Auckland were really preparing up for sandbagging, and there's probably other areas as well. So there was deliveries of sand and bags and that sort of thing leading up to the event, and pretty much into that into that evening before it really hit us. So um, but again, yeah, we weren't probably ever prepared for what actually happened out at Muriwai with um the degree of devastation that actually happened earlier.

Mandy 7:34

And so as your your role as sort of managing the regional parks and and this regional park in Muriwai, uh did that just kind of fall under your job description that, you know, if there's an event coming to this area where there is a park, then you become part of the operations?

SPEAKER_02 7:53

No, no, not at all. Um I kind of I know after after the event had happened, and we actually had a had a meeting at the surf uh golf club. Um we had a big community meeting there, and it was a couple of days afterwards. Um might even be the next day, I can't remember. Um, and I know I got a phone call from one of our colleagues in the comms team and says, we want someone to I guess present something to the community. Um although we had a number of other people there, people there that they asked, they said, look, you're a local, you're probably your face is probably more familiar than others, so would you mind doing it? I said, no, no, that's that's fine. And it was pretty nerve-wracking, it's 800 odd people or something, which was kind of nuts. Um, so I did that from you know, been sort of asked to move into that and and did that piece. Following that, they actually had a number of staff go into Muriwai to assist with the recovery and sort of community engagement roles. But I think what happened is there was a bit of a turnover of staff and they never really got the momentum going. So I kind of got wind of it through other staff, and I was I was sort of keeping a close eye on it because I was interested because I knew the impacts. And um at one point I just spoke to my manager and said, Look, I think I need to, I think I'd be the right person to go in there and try to assist with some of the recovery work. So I kind of put my hand up and it was agreed, yeah, it would be good to get get you in there. So I was really fortunate. I came out of my home role for I think I was out of it for about eight months, eight or nine months. Um went back into it just slowly before Christmas. So um, but I think having that having that connection with the place and what I wanted to do is to really enable people to get the answers that they wanted, because I think at the time a lot of people were after answers, and we weren't council wasn't really prepared for the degree of information that they needed to provide. Um, I wasn't able to answer everything. I'm not trying to admit I'm some sort of martyr because I'm not, but I thought, well, at least I can try to manage some of those questions. And um yeah, it was a nice piece of work that I did with another colleague, Ruth Bunny, who actually came on. She was um she really worked worked really tiresome on that that work as well. So it was really great to have her alongside me and we uh I think we made a difference.

unknown 10:09

Yeah.

Mandy 10:09

Yeah. Um and it definitely I think was very helpful for the community to to know you and you know, as as the sort of what we saw you as like the local ranger who we'd kind of see around the place, and you know, that I think that was very important because everyone was feeling so sort of fragile and to have someone that they actually knew to be speaking to them about these things. So so what you know from the beginning, from that night, what what did you end up doing? You know, what what became your job?

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Um so what I was I guess where I saw the whole in terms of what we could do was one communications. So I was really focused. When I remember getting Ruth on for the first day, and I said, okay, the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna we're gonna respond to everyone who approaches us. So we're gonna capture the information and we're gonna make sure we go back to them. And I think we did that most of the time. So that was our goal. Um there was some there were some key pieces of work that we had to implement. Um, the cordons were um pretty much established with guards on the road, stopping anyone going down there. We had no process for cordons, we had no um previous history of establishing cordons in Auckland that I was aware of. Um I was working closely with the AEM team and we did approach Christchurch around the earthquakes to say, what did you guys do? How did you manage this stuff? So we got a bit of information from them, but we kind of developed our own process. And I think for you, if you recall back, you know, it was um we ended up putting barriers up there, we ended up having guards up there. We ended up with a process of saying, who should we let in? Do we just let residents in? Um and what about their families, you know, so families who live outside the area. So there's all these decisions that we had to make to try to make this thing work. Um we ended up putting those horrible A4 placardy things on people's screens, um, because we had nothing else. But then I also recall um the community, there's a community group who were established who were passing out stickers at one stage. It's like, okay, you can use a sticker, and the guards were getting like, is it a placard, is it a sticker, what are we doing? They're not letting people in. So I've said, okay, we need to tidy this stuff up. So we developed a bit of a process around that. And um, and I think like it took us a little bit of time, but we got a swing of things, and we are issuing um passes out to people with multiple vehicles and that sort of thing. So it became a little bit loose, but it actually kind of worked. And I think the concerns from the community around looting, around damage to their properties and their security aspects, I think the the cordons I think were really well received. Um but look, I'll be honest, there were some mixed views on that stuff as well. We were we were getting challenges from people. I want my family to come in, they're in West Auckland, they should be able to come in here, and we're like, hold on a minute, you know, where do we start and stop with this? And we need to. So there were some hard decisions, and people, some people weren't happy with that, but I think we uh we got support from the majority, which is which is good.

Mandy 13:14

And for people who don't know Murdawai, you know, basically there's two two roads that you can come down to get into the community of Murdawai mostly. So it was an area geographically that could be kind of cordoned, but I guess not every community would be like that.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

No, no. No, I'd hate to think how they managed Christchurch. That sounded it would just be horrible. Um and that look, we put a lot of resources and and money into that, those cordons. They were there for a long, long time.

Mandy 13:42

So how long were they there for, Scott?

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Oh jeez. I can't even remember that. I can't, yeah, it would have been I think the last one was um the last one on YT here was six months, wasn't it? So so we had those in, and just thinking at the top of Motatata Road by the top shop there, that that road was closed, we had material right across it, you couldn't actually go through that road. So part of the work we were trying to do was everything had to come through YT here, um, which created a bit of bit of bottleneck and there's a lot of traffic and congestion and and whatever else on there. Um, and we had heavy vehicles on there as well, obviously, because they were doing work in the in the park, so there were some concerns around that. So stability-wise. Um But then trying to get the Mototato Road section open as well was was tricky. And so part of my job was to actually work my way through that with contractors. We obviously had a number of houses impacted there, and we obviously had the site where the um we lost our friends. So that was that was sort of had the emotional tie to it. But we worked through that, and that was that that was that was reasonably good. And I think by the time we got to opening up the cordons, there was a little, there was it was sort of getting to the point where we had to actually open things up a little bit more. And then again, there was there was parts of the community that were saying, hey, we need to move on and let's get stuff going. And there was other parts who were saying, hey, we've still got work to do. Um Domain Crescent was still heavily impacted, as we know, and they had issues, quite a number of issues up there we still had to address. And the other factor which I when we put the cordons in, which I never really thought about, was the the impact on those commercial businesses. So the golf club, horse riders, campground, surf school, cafe. Um, all of them had demands and they're all trying to manage things as best they can by supporting the community, but also saying, hey, if we don't actually start to get some revenue, we're gonna go under. So how do we actually do that? So we had to establish a bit of a process for that as well, which was um took a little bit of time, but we we got there, and I think most people at the end of it were pretty comfortable with where we got to.

Mandy 15:44

So can you tell us about some of those systems that you implemented?

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Well, some of it was just really looking at how so how do we actually enable people to come through a cordon, which is closed for only residents, and the security around that, you know, so the golf club was saying, oh, we're gonna we could do a package deal for people, or they could come in and say, okay, we knew they were gonna get there. We needed the names of all the people who were coming through there. The the golf club had to physically go up there and and either transport them in or show them down to the golf club. They were specified not to go anywhere by the golf club. So, and very similar to the horse riders as well, they had to they had to do that. But it was only as much as um it wasn't a I guess there was no opportunity for walk-ins as such, so everything had to be planned out and approved by it wasn't so much approved by us, but we were keeping a fairly close eye on the process and making sure that anyone who came in had a we had a uh sort of a registration for them. Um so look at it it was it was tricky, but it actually it actually worked out and we were managed to keep those businesses going too as much as we could. Um Cafe was probably the probably the more tricky one because uh they were really reliant on that summer summer numbers coming through and supporting them. So um and we weren't able to support that. There was only community support that could actually do that. So they really struggled in that space, and I know that they went through their own struggles and uh through the the people who were there at the time. Um and I I'm trying to recall my memory fades me on the campground, um, but I think that was very similar because we just didn't want people coming in with camper vans who were just gonna hang out and do what, you know, while everyone else is able to stay out of the park. So um so I'm pretty sure we really heavily restricted those access points.

Mandy 17:37

Were you actually doing the cordons purely to stop looting, or were there some other reasons why you felt that was necessary?

SPEAKER_02 17:44

I think there was a safety aspect to it. From what we got from the community was one security property, um, especially houses that have been significantly damaged and when no one was occupying them. And we had a lot of um red-stickered properties, as you know. Um there was also still still safety concerns around some of that. So people going and and sort of going for a drive up to Main Crescent just to have a dander and have a look. Um so it was I I think it was a it was a pretty big call to stop everyone coming in there, and we got a lot of pressure from outside of the park. Um people QMU, going, hey, we're residents, we're we're locals, you know, why can't we go there?

Mandy 18:21

Um it's our beach.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

It's our beach, yeah. And we're like, well, no, you can't. So um we stuck to our guns on it, but we were we were pretty pretty focused on what do we actually need to do to lift these once they were in place. So at what point can we actually allow access? Um and just um yeah, just making sure that things were safe and and secure for people to see.

Mandy 18:46

What challenges and frustrations did you experience over that time?

SPEAKER_02 18:50

I always I always took the approach that that people down in Moodyway and some of those other areas impacted were you know, were really, really struggling with a whole bunch of stuff that I wasn't having to experience. So, you know, either um, you know, a loss of life or loss of property, you know, house has been stickered, you can't go back in there. And so I always put that lens over things when I was dealing with people because I knew that they were in a pretty hard place. Um saying that there was there was there was people who were gave us a bit of a hard time at times, and we just had to either just shrug that off and move on. But I think look, I think most people were pretty respectful of the work we were trying to do at the time. Um they could sort of see that I hope, and we were working for the best, you know, best for everyone. So um Yeah, it was there was there was other things just around some of that. It was I had a degree of frustration at times when I could sort of see work that needed to be done, and whether it's on the drains or the main crescent, they were filling up with silt and um and then they were causing issues to other properties that weren't impacted, and you know, there was trying to work with you know other parts of council. They were dealing with a whole range of different things, so you know, maybe it wasn't a full priority for them. Um I probably didn't understand at the time the degree of the impacts right across Auckland. Um, what do you wide being only just one site, and we had a huge amount of other properties right across the country or across Auckland that were that were impacted as well. So, you know, the the team who were working in the recovery office at the time were really, very stretched. They were they were they were having to try to manage as much as they can and trying to do the best job they could. So tricky time.

Mandy 20:38

It was a tricky time, and as you said earlier, it's you know unprecedented. So it wasn't as if Auckland Council had systems in place for this kind of massive weather event. What what do you think Auckland Council has learned and and what things are being done to kind of you know prepare them better for another weather event?

SPEAKER_02 20:59

I've seen a huge change in in emergency management in Auckland. They've really I guess the Bush report, for those who read the Bush report on the on the um on the review, I think it was pretty hard-hitting and I didn't typically agree with it, but that's just that's just me. Um they put a huge amount of resources and training into their teams up there, including myself. I'm still part of the the team there, so um we catch her up regularly, we run scenarios. Um some of the learnings I've I've um had at Buddy Way around cordons, I've read up a a bit of a cordon review plan, so and also a bit of that to the guys at AEM to say, look, this is something that probably needs to be probably worked on a little bit more, but as a has a bit of a blueprint for something if it ever happened again. Um you know, looking at even just the number of events we've had since Gabriel have been huge, you know, even just um a week or so ago we had those impacts down the East Coast. So It feels like it's one of those things that's not going to go away. And uh I think the more prepared Ork and Council can be, the better. So the team up there is um yeah, they're pretty much they pretty much change their their structure. The general manager, I think, is a great guy who's really prepared to put invest in the in his team, which is um it's gonna be great for everyone. Good to know that a lot of people a lot more people are aware of these things as well. So there's shifting, I'm sure there's no one holding under a rock who's not aware of this stuff.

Mandy 22:27

So yeah. And I feel like, you know, with these these other weather events, we are becoming more educated, you know, looking slightly differently at things like water rushing out of a bank. You know, in the past we would have just thought flooding. But yeah, we're we are all getting a bit of a different lens on all of that, I think. Is there something that you wish the decision makers and the wider public understood better?

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Having good people who can go into some of those communities at that time to try to work through that is I think is a really good lesson. I think it really I think it really paid off. Um So I think that's one of the one of the things. If we were gonna have another event, I think it would be good to have a look at how we're gonna resource this. And look, if you don't understand Auckland Emergency Management and Auckland Council works, um most of the team, they've got a reasonably sp I'm gonna guess in, let's say it's 20 people, right? Um I don't know how much more or less they may be of that. But um when an when an incident happens, they actually bring in a whole bunch of council staff to do stuff. Um so we have we used to have three deep lists, would be the operations manager plus myself plus Rich Phillips was in there. And um now they've got 10 deep lists. So they bring in staff from all over the place to actually manage these things. So I think you know, you've got you've got some really experienced people and then you've got some other people who it's not their day job, and they're gonna try to work around as much as they can with the training that they get. So I think that's something just for people to be conscious of. Um saying that, I think um, you know, when a community goes through those impacts like they have, it's really hard to think about that stuff, and council should be there to support us, and you should be just doing your job. And yep, I kind of get that to a degree as well. I guess from the community perspective, I I don't want to pick sticks at the community because I think they did an amazing job. I think the way that the team came together at Moody Why, they I can't recall the name of the group that the committee they established for the life of me, but Mike Hibbard was in there leading it when I sort of stepped in and I think he'd taken over from someone else. The Red Sticker Group. The Red Stickered Group, that's it. They were actually amazing. They were absolutely amazing and a really great bunch of people who were so committed to what actually the recovery at Murdi Wai. And I don't think, despite everything Council did, I don't think you would ever get that traction if you didn't have those great people leading that. They were really good to bounce things off. I work with them, you know, numerous meetings that we actually had around cordons and road closures and sticker groups and that sort of thing. So uh it was actually quite incredible, I think, the way they come together. They were so well organized. And I think probably more so than some of the other communities that have been impacted. And I do feel for the the poor people in Henderson and Swanson and you know Ranui and stuff like that, who probably didn't have the the mechanisms or the connections there to do a similar thing because um yeah, they just they just they just didn't. But I think that that group were were absolutely amazing. And um, you know, they they made my job a lot easier as well, trying to get stuff through because I could explain from a council's perspective, hey, we actually need to do this. And then they would they would send it out through their channels and WhatsApp groups and this and that, and uh yeah, and it was that was that was pretty cool. So everyone kind of knew that was the that was the part to okay, you guys deal with the community communication, we don't have to. And here's the messaging we want to send out, and you guys distribute it. So uh a few little things through the cracks at times, but most of it was pretty good.

Mandy 26:08

That's so good, isn't it? And it's almost like a conduit between the council and the and the rest of the community. Yeah and yeah, probably some things would be better received coming from those guys than you know, people that the community doesn't know from council. Yeah. So do you feel like, you know, communities in them sort of thinking about what they can do to prepare for this kind of thing? Is it something that they can actually plan ahead of time and and sort of figure out before an event? I mean, or is it it's it's really just the kind of stuff that that's quickly gets formed, you know, in the heat of the moment. But then that depends on who's actually in the community, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Yeah, yeah, it does. Like I've I've often thought about, you know, could you establish those those groups, those communication groups. But if you've got nothing to you've got nothing to send out or provide updates on, then does that kind of work and would people take notice of it? But I guess I still think there's a role there for the community. I don't think you can rely on councils or government to do everything. So um I think if we if you're ever in that situation again, I would definitely encourage any community groups to have a think about uh a working group that you can work with the agencies on and at least be the the voice of the community because otherwise you you're hearing a lot of stuff and and and I think you can definitely streamline um some of the processes or some of the communication and just make things easy for everyone.

Mandy 27:41

So you you've been through this stuff and you've, you know, flying by the seat of your pants at the time, probably a little bit. And do you feel like now if it happened again, say in Murrui, we had a similar weather event, do you feel like you're prepared, or do you feel like Auckland Council is more prepared?

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yeah, I I I'm I'm definitely more prepared. Um I haven't written the plan, but I know that, and that just comes with probably experience of being involved in it. But you know, the stuff that we've talked about when you rang me, Mandy, to do this this thing, it kind of I started to think about things, and it's like I put them in the back of my head, and they all came flowing forward. And I'm like, geez, okay, that's right. Um, but I think we've got some we've got some process now set up around some of those things, um, whether it be cordons or road clearances or removal of homes, that sort of thing, which I think um we could probably do better on. And um personally myself, I think if I was in that situation again, I'd probably have things going a lot quicker. I mean, I'll do it better, but definitely a lot quicker and move things along rather than sort of this hesitance of, oh shit, is this the right thing to do, we haven't done this before, and we've got no guidebook going. Look, I think councils continually, as I said before, they're continually preparing themselves for what the future holds. And I think the more scenario playing they can do, the more processes they set up, the more training they can give staff, then I think that's all good stuff. And some of it is gonna be, oh shit, this is coming our way, and what we don't quite know what's gonna happen and where it's gonna impact. Um one of the cool things that's actually just recently happened is I've got in my team, I've got about 110 staff. So ranges scattered across wherever, across the region pretty much. And we've just done some recent training. Um, I've wanted to put all of them through a basic, what they call a foundation course for emergency management. So they're actually, I've got three quarters, uh two-thirds of them done, and I've got another third to go through. The plan is the next level up will actually do an intermediate level, and then the next level up, which is my level and my lead team and my direct reports, who will actually do a Sims four and get involved in emergency management. So I think from a regional parks perspective, that's what I can do for my team. Um I've just taken the initiative. My guys are great eyes and ears out on there in the communities because they're scattered far and wide. And that's a lot of the information we actually um require through a response or an event. Like what happened in Body Way was actually getting good intel. What the hell is actually going on out there? And I know that in the ECC that night, you know, we were getting people calling in and we were getting police police communication, we're getting fiend communication, and then the army was doing some stuff, and Surf Club was actually in there. And it was just a lot of like all all information overloaded. It's like, okay, what are we actually what are we actually working with here? So there's some I think communication at that stage is is really important. And like I said, I've got my team sort of on that. They're not going to go and respond to stuff like we would in those incidents, but eyes and ears feeding intel back into the emergency um centre is actually really, really important stuff to actually build a case to understand what the issue is so we can deploy resources.

Mandy 31:03

And I feel like, like I said before, that the connection that rangers or people working in the regional parks have with their communities is something to be used, you know, in a positive way. I think it's they're they're a great they're great people to be actually, you know, on the ground talking and and working with people.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Oh, they're totally invested in their communities. Like um, Phil at Modi Wai. Um, you know, I've met some guys up north today. I went for a meeting at the Northern team, and just guys who have been living and working in those communities just have a real they just have a real connection to it and they want to look after the community. So you're right, um, those guys are key.

Mandy 31:41

In your role as, you know, with the regional parks, is there a way of communicating your learning within the Auckland Council to other councils and across New Zealand?

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Yeah, that's a good point. Um I haven't I haven't initiated that and I probably should do I probably should do that. Um and I'd probably need to speak to my AEM, you know, family on the other side there and just have a chat to them about how we would do that. I know that there is within that team, there is a lot of cross sort of pollination and sharing of information, but in terms of what I went through and the learnings that I had, like I said, I passed on information to them. Um I probably haven't been as proactive as I could have with making sure that they've followed up and picked that up and there's a process that's really tidy now that follows that. But um, yeah, that's that's maybe that's something for me to make sure I do.

Mandy 32:34

Yeah, I feel like it would be a good thing to do, just you know, so that what we've learned can sort of help other communities to prepare or to sort of manage a really difficult event.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Yeah, there's other systems that are coming through which seem really regular, you know. It's kind of like, well, she's you're going back into this again. Uh, what is that going to bring to us? So I know that that that sort of long-term impacts can really can really affect and hurt people.

Mandy 32:58

And how did this event and the work that you did, how did that actually affect you personally?

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Well, I sort of talked earlier about me being in the um control centre on that night. Like I said, I got to a I got down to the car park. I was in the civic car park, got down there around I finished my shift at around seven, I think it was, and I left the office about seven thirty and I I couldn't drive home straight away. I had to sit there and um just take a bit of time. I just found it so hugely draining, you know. It was it was really, really tricky. You know, I got a lot of I got a lot of joy from really helping people and I do that and I like that. Um I think the work that I went into Moody Wal, I was really quite blessed that I was actually able to do that, and I had support from council to enable that because I knew I could do something really good. And that was always the intention, is just try to keep things ticking along and and help people where we can because I think sometimes, you know, sometimes you get into this big machine and you you kind of just you're moving so quickly that you kind of just don't have the time to do that. But I think by the time I probably left, I was probably I probably had done my dash. I was um I was pretty tired at the end of it, and it was it'd been a really long road. Um but look, I'm I met some amazing people down there that I hadn't actually met prior to the event. And some people I still see knocking around and um you know I get a hug occasionally and uh you know, and it's and it's really nice. And you know, like I said, I think it's one of those things where you've been through that, then it'll always be there.

Mandy 34:31

And is there something hopeful or meaningful that you'd like to leave us with?

SPEAKER_02 34:36

I think it's just an amazing place. Um it's an amazing community. You know, I look at it now, I've I've I've probably changed my views. I always looked at it as a regional park, as another regional park, you know, it's the it's the wider community that really makes that place. And I just I just top my head off to all the residents down there who managed to work their way through that and uh and thank them all for it. Oh, one final thing I remember saying to someone, uh I wasn't a local or something, and they said, you're a local. It really made me feel good. I don't live in the community itself. I live up on, like I said, on cable road, so I'm a um a wee-won-wee, but um, it was really nice, and I think that might have been clear actually, since you always always try to make me feel good, but um hearing those words were just like, yeah, I am a win.

Mandy 35:31

Precipice was commissioned and funded by Middleware Community Association, supported by the Auckland Council Recovery Office, artwork by Tyler Williams, soundtrack by local Midwai Band Tin People, written in response to Sightland Gabrielle. Number He, thank you to the Midwai community for the input in bravery infoing these tools.