Taranaki’s Disaster Welfare and Support Team leader reflects on responding to Cyclone Gabrielle, recruiting new team members, and making a home in Aotearoa.

Many of the homes in the small Hawke’s Bay community of Waiohiki have stayed in the same family for generations. Kiriana Laison is the fourth generation of her family to live in her home – her children are the fifth. The night flooding from Cyclone Gabrielle arrived, Kiriana was worried she had not only lost her home but her entire community – and her family. 

Update 15: A year after Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events in early 2023 we’ve committed the entire New Zealand Disaster Fund to helping people and communities affected.

Update 14: In this update we focus on our work supporting mental health in recovering communities and check in on three community grant recipients.

Update 13: We’re still working with communities as they move through their longer-term recovery. Read about our support for individual grant programmes, grants for mental health initiatives and how we’re helping people move home with the Red Cross Home Bundles programme.