Raising the profile of preparedness

PICTURED: Nigel Kynoch, of the Rotary Club of Ahuriri Sunrise, NZ, packs Emergency Grab Bags for families in need following natural disasters.

By delivering practical emergency kits while raising awareness of personal preparedness, Hawke’s Bay Rotary clubs are strengthening community resilience and reinforcing Rotary’s public image as a trusted, proactive force in times of crisis.

On the east coast region of New Zealand’s North Island, Hawke’s Bay Rotary clubs have combined to provide Emergency Grab Bags for households.

Emergency Grab Bags is a project initially established by Rotary clubs following Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, to pack and distribute emergency supply kits to families in the Esk Valley in Hawkes Bay, an area that suffered enormous damage.

The Rotary South Pacific First Light Community Group developed the concept as their Growth Plan project to expand the distribution of Grab Bags to all areas of Hawkes Bay and Tairawhiti on the North Island’s east coast, an area prone to natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes.

“The project is an opportunity for Rotary to increase our impact and hopefully membership for the 10 clubs in the Rotary Community Group, through greater recognition of what Rotary does to support the community,” said First Light’s Rotary Community Leader PDG Grant Spackman.

The clubs, supported by a Rotary Foundation district grant, contributed funding of $14,000 for the first phase of the project with 150 bags. This aims to provide Emergency Grab Bags to households that don’t already have one and aren’t able to purchase one themselves.

The first assembly day in early February, held in Hastings, was attended by 25 volunteers from six local Rotary clubs, along with friends of Rotary and council staff. The event was featured on TVNZ News on Saturday 14 February as part of the third anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“It was a good news story and great coverage for Rotary,” Grant said.

“The distribution of the Grab Bags is still ahead of us, but the assembly day was a wonderful opportunity for Rotarians to connect with those from other clubs, which is a big plus for Rotary Community Groups.

“The project provides practical support while getting people thinking about their own emergency preparedness. They think about how they survive, whether they are at home or somewhere else, how they connect with loved ones in an emergency. It can be anything from a single house fire to a major earthquake and tsunami.”

The project team engaged with Napier City and Hastings District Councils and community groups, including the disability sector. They helped identify households that will benefit from the Grab Bag roll out.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support of The Rotary Foundation along with local government and community groups who know the communities in need and are able to connect us to those people who would benefit most from this project,” said project lead John Macintosh, of the Rotary Club of Greenmeadows.

The bags provide essential items like toilet paper, head torches, food utensils and room for people to put in clothing, medications, long-life food and other personal items.

Included is a booklet developed by the Rotary Club of Ahuriri Sunrise, which had previously rolled out a pilot project providing 300 Grab Bags to the Esk Valley community.

The booklet gives practical advice to help households prepare if they need to evacuate, if they can’t get home or if they are isolated. The aim is to empower people to increase their own resilience.

John said the pilot project highlighted three previously held beliefs:

• It won’t happen to me.
• if it does happen to me, it won’t be that bad.
• If it is that bad – someone will come and rescue me.

“Cyclone Gabrielle taught us that we need to be prepared to look after ourselves,” John said.

“You never know when the day before is the day before. Prepare for tomorrow.”

What’s in a Grab Bag? Head torches; Long-life food; Food utensils; Medications; Documents; Toilet paper.