A question at the front of the minds of thousands shovelling silt and cleaning up their communities in Hawke’s Bay after Cyclone Gabrielle was simple.
Where had the millions in relief funding from Red Cross NZ Disaster Relief Fund gone?
It was, at times, a contentious subject, with unverified rumours and accusations floating around as people grew frustrated seeing the funds remain in the bank.
The fund received about $28.5 million in donations and earned nearly $600,000 in interest which was added to the Fund and also used to support affected communities. The bulk of the allocated funds, understandably, eventually went to Hawke’s Bay.
As the donations for the Red Cross NZ Disaster Fund Appeal increased, so did the need. People needed support and needed it fast.
Red Cross NZ admitted in April it has faced “a lot” of criticism from Hawke’s Bay residents and those who donated to the NZ Disaster Fund after Cyclone Gabrielle.
Two of the key criticisms were the lack of visible support (silt shovelling) and the speed of the spending.
An interview with Red Cross secretary general Sarah Stuart-Black revealed the organisation faced a quandary around speed, with criticism following the 2011 earthquakes centred around the funding being rolled out too fast.
“We’re trying to balance the need for speed, and being able to support people affected, whilst equally providing enough assurance to the public that we’ve spent that money sensibly,” she said.
“There’s got to be accountability around it, so that people feel confident giving their money to us, without us making it look like it’s hugely bureaucratic and slow.”
In November came a promise: to have all the money allocated by the first anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle.
On February 9, 2024, Red Cross confirmed it had kept its promise.
The entire New Zealand Disaster Fund, including interest earned – a total of $28.5m had been allocated to cyclone-related causes across New Zealand.
$1m was spent during the early emergency response, $15mdistributed in grants to community organisations, $6m was committed to supporting households through a special Home Bundles programme, and $6.5m put towards building community resilience.
Upon reflection, Stuart-Black said she was “incredibly proud” of the work that’s been undertaken and the fact the fund has been able to have a huge impact, particularly considering the scale of the disaster in Hawke’s Bay.
She said she’s confident the money was distributed fairly and effectively as Red Cross could, while also acknowledging that lessons had been learned along the way.
“We know these disasters were complex with tens of thousands of people affected. We’ve really learned that it’s important to take that time to work with communities to establish how the fund could be best used and make sure we avoid both duplicating and complicating existing services.
“When we’ve seen things emerge, we’ve made adjustments.”
She confirmed that Red Cross was looking at how it could increase the number of people who were trained and ready to help in an emergency, as well as look at communicating what the organisation was doing more clearly.
“The scale of the emergency showed we really needed more people to provide that support.
“We’re continuing to work with community groups to get ready for the next disaster and will be communicating more clearly about our role so people can understand how we can help in an emergency.”
She said Cyclone Gabrielle saw the biggest output of Red Cross resources since the Christchurch earthquakes and people spent more than 10,000 hours helping from day one.
Many of them, however, were not visibly identifiable as Red Cross volunteers.
“We’re still there today with dedicated resources in recovery. There were also many volunteers who were there with us who didn’t wear a uniform and haven’t been seen as Red Cross people by the community. We’re thinking to the future about how we can make all our people visible.”
When the funding applications started coming in, and the first response phase started to die down, Crystal Kavana and Paea Wilson were allocating the funds to those in need at a ground level.
Both came from affected communities in Hawke’s Bay, with Kavana previously working for the Ministry of Social Development and Wilson as a first responder in her community through the initial stages of the cyclone.
“Our main role initially was to find the spaces that Red Cross may not have already communicated with and to either start or continue relationships from a recovery perspective,” Kavana said.
They knew it was a big responsibility and came with a significant burden and many preconceived views from the public.
“Before stepping into these roles, we saw the money coming in, and to take on a role like this, many would say that would be a big thing to step into,” Kavana said.
“We knew what emotions were there; we knew the devastation from being involved directly in the community because it was happening around us - either at work or personally.”
Emotions were very much “up and down”, she said.
“We never knew what we were going to be walking into or to what level of emotion was going to be there.
“It didn’t matter whether it was a high-impact community or one well along on their recovery journey; the response would always vary.”
Reflecting on their journey, they now believe the positive relationships they had formed for the Red Cross had significantly helped aid recovery. However, they were aware many may not agree.
“The progress in our community is huge. Some may not feel that way, and that’s totally understandable.
“We started relationships where we never knew where they were going to go, and now we can’t imagine being in this role without them.”
Stuart-Black said Red Cross will remain active in the Hawke’s Bay community, continuing to oversee its Home Bundles Programme and Resilience Programme while continuing to review the experience.
“We’re well through the review and action has already been implemented. We’re keeping it as an open process so we are able to identify lessons and implement them,” she said.
“We’re working closely with community groups, local councils and the National Emergency Management Agency to make sure we use this limited funding where it can be optimised.”
While the Red Cross donations have all been allocated, many communities are still waiting for news on the government Cyclone Gabrielle Appeal Fund, which received $11.7m from the special Lotto draw.
More information on this is expected in the next week.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Hawke’s Bay Today on a visit to the region on Sunday that he has been frustrated with the speed of the recovery and distribution of some of the funding.
“On all of these appeals, the point is people gave money with the view it gets to the community where it is needed desperately and quickly, and it probably has been way too slow, and that’s something we have to work on.
“I don’t understand how it’s taken as long as it has.”
Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in January 2023. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community. He has a particular love for stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Police say a witness was approached and allegedly threatened on May 12.