Floods and landslides caused by the rains have caused thousands of evacuees
The government of New Zealand has declared a state of emergency at the national level due to the passage of cyclone ‘Gabrielle’ across the country, which is causing flooding and landslides. New Zealand’s Minister for Emergency Management, Kieran McAnulty, announced the measure, signed early this morning, “to assist in the response to the cyclone.”
McAnulty has indicated that this is the third time in history of New Zealand that a state of emergency is declared in the country, in this case because “it is an unprecedented meteorological phenomenon that is having significant repercussions”. The last time a national emergency was declared was during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, while the previous case was during the Canterbury earthquakes.
The head of the portfolio has indicated that the Emergency Management agency has been “in close contact” with the local teams in the affected areas, after which the declaration “would be beneficial” because “the criteria (to implement it) have already been compliment”. “This declaration gives us the ability to coordinate more resources for the affected regions. I want to emphasize that the Government has been raising support and resources for the regions for a few days now,” explained McAnulty, adding that this measure grants the central executive “legal authority to apply resources” under “support of a national-level response”.
The measure affects six regions where a local state of emergency had already been declared: Northland, Auckland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke’s Bay.
Thousands of people were evacuated this Monday in various locations on the Coromandel peninsula, in the North Island of New Zealand, due to the floods caused by the arrival of cyclone ‘Gabrielle’, with no information on fatalities for the moment.