Katene Rahui: General Debate 
Katene Rahui: General Debate 
[Volume:666;Page:13781] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 Saturday 4 September was a day all the kura around Otautahi were looking forward to in order to support their rangatahi in the Ranga Ihi kapa haka competitions which were to be held at the Aurora Centre at Burnside High School. Instead Burnside High School became transformed into a welfare centre along with centres at Brooklyn Community Centre Addington Raceway and Linwood College. 
Saturday 4 September was a day that will be forever etched in our collective history. I am talking of a city dismantled swept under the tide of mass destruction that damaged some 100000 of the 160000 homes in the course of the 7.1 magnitude shake. I want to mihi to my colleague Amy Adams for the loss she has had to bear during that time. 
The cordoned off areas of the central business district have all the appearance of a war zone: soldiers manning cordons falling debris and a bustling metropolitan area reduced to rubble. I have been out on the streets and I have to say it is heartbreaking. Some homes are still without power and water; mounds of sand and mud cover the front lawns and pathways of properties. I listened to the frustration of a business owner after a person buying his business revised the offer to $100000 less than the agreed price. 
I wept at the devastation in Kaiapoi: the roading disrupted the water tanker in place at the school and other areas and so many chimneys strewn all over the town. One entire street of homes—no more than 5 years old—now faces demolition taking in its midst the hopes and pride of families who had worked so hard for their own home. I sat with a taua who was gripped by fear as she contemplated starting over again. I have seen the terror in the eyes of our babies as they suffered the staggering amount of 300 aftershocks since early Saturday morning. I have spent time with people in Hornby as they emptied out their freezers and cupboards to feed their taua and poua. 
I am told that the Facebook page that Ngai Tahu set up has entries from New Zealanders as far as away as London asking what they can do. There is compassion from those who have endured floods Cyclone Bola the Napier earthquake and other natural disasters. I am so grateful for all the kindness that has been expressed by the Government and the people of New Zealand to support the people of Otautahi as they struggle through such devastation coping with the constant aftershocks the fear and the exhaustion. 
This disaster will not be fixed in a week. Some business owners have lost their entire livelihood; some families have seen their homes reduced to a pile of bricks. Everyone is on edge unnerved and waiting for the next tremors to shatter their temporary peace. There will be many who relive the trauma of their walls literally tumbling down. We think particularly of those with mental illnesses and some of the more vulnerable members of our community. We think of our elderly our children and families who have lost the only home they knew and who are mourning for the memories that cannot be rebuilt. We think too of the local heroes who left their own damaged properties to set up welfare centres to assess the safety of buildings to drain sewerage pumps to guard the inner city to restore power and water to residents and to bring news to the nation. 
The Mayor of Christchurch demonstrated his leadership when it was needed most; but so too an incredible infrastructure of support has emerged during this crisis. The people of Ngai Tuahuriri opened up Tuahiwi Marae to provide a place of comfort to welcome those who are feeling unsafe. Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu has set up vital links for the community to access. All of our local MPs have increased staff and have been out on the roads. 
I have to mihi also to Aaron who on Saturday was out digging holes to help his constituents and who held a meeting on Sunday morning—he managed to get 200 people along to a meeting on a Sunday morning to tell them what was happening and to get from them what their needs were. We are all out there. We are all doing everything that we can to make sure that our people are receiving the information they need and that their needs are passed on to those in authority. 
There is the staff of the city councils civil defence hospital and health centres the Fire Service search and rescue the Maori Women’s Welfare League the Salvation Army Ministers of the Crown the media and the hundreds of volunteers who have kept the city afloat. We thank them all for the incredible commitment at a time of such need. 
I went into the Linwood centre last night. I was followed in by people with boxes of toys and boxes of clothes; people were just coming in off the street to see what they could do to help—they were amazing. We know that even though eventually the state of emergency will be scaled down the state of health for all our whanau throughout Otautahi will take a long time to be restored. That will be when the generosity and strength of the nation will be tested even more.