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https://theconversation.com/one-year-on-from-cyclone-gabrielle-nz-still-needs-a-plan-to-fix-its-failing-infrastructure-221864>
"Cyclone Gabrielle caused chaos one year ago. Repairs due to that storm and the
Auckland floods have required substantial time and resources. Hawkes Bay, parts
of Auckland and the Coromandel all still bear the scars of the worst storm to
hit New Zealand this century.
The good news is that most initial repairs are complete. The bad news is that
the restored infrastructure is just as vulnerable as it was prior to Gabrielle.
Restoring infrastructure to the way it was before a natural disaster is not
necessarily the best approach for a resilient future.
Cyclone Gabrielle simultaneously exposed New Zealand’s dependence on
“horizontal” infrastructure (electricity and roading networks, for example),
and how tenuous and potentially prone to damage it is.
The cyclone also revealed the flaws in the country’s planning and consenting
processes. There is a history of developing new housing in flood-prone areas –
particularly in Auckland. A year after Gabrielle, New Zealand needs to look to
the future of climate risk, policy creation and infrastructural investment.
Both the previous and current governments have expressed concerns over future
climate impacts. Yet climate risk and related infrastructure investment were
comparatively minor themes in the various election debates of 2023.
New Zealand now needs to ask some serious long-term questions:
* How frequently will it be exposed to the costs and chaos of weather events?
* How should it respond to those risks?
* What are the infrastructural investment priorities?
* How should it sequence its responses?
* And how will we pay for these measures?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
