Takapūwāhia Marae in Porirua is home to 1500 people, mostly from Ngāti Toa Rangatira, and the land is vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunami, landslides and other natural hazards.
But, thanks to an iwi and government project, those risks have been identified so the community knows where trouble might strike.
Ngāti Toa wanted the community to be prepared, knowing it was only a matter of time before an event struck.
“As climate disasters increase in frequency and intensity, Māori face growing threats to their lands, homes, taonga, people, and culture,” Takapūwāhia Marae’s chair, Callum Kātene, said.
GNS Science provided technical expertise, funded through It‘s Our Fault, a collaborative research programme studying Wellington’s earthquake risk.
The community partnered with It’s Our Fault scientists to map its exposure to natural hazards and use the information to protect people and homes from future events.
Kātene said emergency management frameworks often failed to incorporate Māori perspectives, limiting disaster response efforts in the community.
The project has helped the community make decisions on where to place emergency supplies and how to protect significant resources such as homes, marae, kura and medical centres.
Dr Andrea Wolter, a GNS landslide hazard scientist on the project, said it demonstrated how science could support communities to become better prepared and resilient.
Wolter said they worked with community members to understand their needs, found buried river channels, planned sites for community gardens and identified those most vulnerable.
“We started by meeting tangata whenua to determine how we could help – this included protecting their people, buildings and infrastructure from the natural hazards they are exposed to,” Wolter said.
“We followed this meeting with data collection, hazard mapping, impact assessment, a street survey and a rapid assessment of potential sites to host emergency supplies.”
The result was a report and maps which showed where natural hazards were likely to affect the community and recommended potential sites to host emergency response containers.
“Research has provided many case studies of how indigenous knowledge complements and contributes to disaster management. By blending mātauranga with advanced disaster management practices, we will identify when, where and how tikanga can provide for the unique needs of Māori and wider non-Māori communities,” Kātene said.
Following the success of the pilot, It’s Our Fault scientists are looking to support two further Wellington region communities because of their risk exposure as well as their interest in a project.