The local community-led research team present their findings to the Tairāwhiti Resilience Research Symposium. From left: Holly Thorpe, Ralph Walker, Hiria Philip-Barbara, Haley Maxwell, Dayna Chaffey and Josie McClutchie. Photo: Local Democracy Reporting
By Zita Campbell, Local Democracy Reporting
The elderly and disabled people are often forgotten during extreme weather events, a research project study has found.
Many Cyclone Gabrielle stories emerged from the community-led project, which looked at the impacts of extreme weather events on health and wellbeing.
The research revealed crucial findings spanning a range of areas that affect health and wellness.
This included reports of a woman stuck in her wheelchair as floodwaters rose to her neck, and local rangatahi having to rescue elderly residents.
Te Weu Tairāwhiti presented its report titled Research into health and wellbeing impacts of adverse weather conditions at a Resilience Research Symposium at Midway Surf Rescue Community Hub last week.
"Our most vulnerable members of our community, our pakeke (elderly) weren't prioritised when it came to evacuation," researcher Hiria Philip-Barbara said.
The research showed that when disaster struck, older people who live alone can be forgotten.
"A lot of them weren't evacuated by officials but were evacuated by locals. It was our rangatahi, our young people, that went in and saved their pakeke," Philip-Barbara said.
Haley Maxwell, a researcher and projects manager of Tautua Village which works with rangatahi, said: "We don't really acknowledge or allow our rangatahi to speak."
Some youth felt helpless and unsure how to help their communities, while others were integral to recovery initiatives and played key roles in supporting their community's recovery.
"Our kids really want to be able to help, and it's up to us (adults) to allow them to have that space," Maxwell said.
The disabled communities also felt vulnerable, the research found.
"There was a lady who was stuck in her wheelchair and by the time people found her, the water was at her neck," Philip-Barbara read from an anonymous participant statement.
Philip-Barbara, who is in a wheelchair herself, added that disabled people often had compromised immunity and felt anxiety when they could not clean due to water restrictions.
This made the situation of being isolated from the hospitals even more stressful.
"Then once the adrenaline dies down that's when we get flares. That gets exacerbated by the stress and the anxiety from the weather event itself."
The stress continued long after the event when dealing with issues such as insurance.
"Our pakeke don't want to be a hōhā (annoyance), so they fall through the cracks."
Study participants also offered recommendations based on their experience.
One recommended a database of disabled people Civil Defence staff could access.
The research came from 45 interviews and focus groups, with a total of 77 participants, each representing the diverse demographics of the Tai Rāwhiti area.
Professor Holly Thorpe, of the University of Waikato, was the academic leader of the community project alongside project lead Josie McClutchie (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Rongomaiwahine).
"I do feel confident that while we can't represent the full diversity of our community, the voices and stories that we've captured do speak to the varied health and wellbeing impacts of repeated extreme weather events of the past two years," Professor Thorpe said.
The research revealed three core themes - community voices, health systems, and non-related health systems. All were "connected to health and wellbeing".
The project's findings will be included in an integrated analysis combining data sets from Tai Rāwhiti and Hawke's Bay, which will go with a report to the Ministry of Health in March.
"Research is just one part of the story," Thorpe said.
The research team led by Thorpe and McClutchie included Gisborne locals, who had the opportunity to learn how to research on the job.
"We have a local group of researchers now, and we're building that research capacity in Tai Rāwhiti," Thorpe said.
When asked what they expected to achieve from the research, Philip-Barbara said it was just one step of the process.
"We hope that this research helps our local organisations who work tirelessly all the time," she said.
"Now is the time for local and national governments to step up and support those local organisations to do the work that they do, so we don't keep burning out our people."
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
