Disaster preparedness spans 23 languages in Tairāwhiti Multicultural Council initiative

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The Tairawhiti Multicultural Council (TMC) this week launched a video playlist to aid English as a second language speakers in disaster preparedness.

The project was inspired by a pandemic video encouraging vaccination among migrant communities.

The video’s main message is disaster readiness for all, including Tairāwhiti-specific content, especially relevant after this year’s weather events.

TMC president Arish Naresh hopes it inspires others nationally.

The launch coincided with Te Tiriti-based Multicultural Day, celebrated by Multicultural New Zealand. President Pancha Narayanan praised TMC’s work as a model for emergency management for other multicultural councils and regions to emulate.

The video, viewable on their YouTube channel, features locals of various ethnicities sharing emergency guidance in their languages for scenarios like fire, floods, and earthquakes.

The video is available in 23 languages, exceeding the initial goal of 10, due to time donations from ethnic leaders.

It includes a sticker with emergency contacts and outlines essential items for a grab bag. TMC plans to provide grab bags and assistance for emergency plans to ethnic families.

The languages included are Te Reo Māori, English, Hindi, Tamil, Mandarin, Portuguese, Arabic, Samoan, Cook Island Māori, Fijian, Bengali, Sinhalese, Fiji Hindi, Gujrati, Afrikaans, Bahasa, Tagalog, Tongan, Dutch, Spanish, French, Punjabi and German.

TMC president Arish Naresh said the video begins with introductory messages from Mayor Rehette Stoltz and Gisborne District Council welfare lead Dallas Haynes.

Ethnic communities can register interest for free emergency kits through TMC. The council appreciates support from multiple organisations since Cyclone Gabrielle for disaster response projects. For more details, contact Arish Naresh at acnaresh@hotmail.com

• Link to the channel for the video is https://tinyurl.com/3bcbwxm5