Abstract
Cyclone Gabrielle caused significant damage across northern and eastern regions of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) in February 2023. It joined the list of NZ’s mass fatality events with 11 people losing their lives. The cost to the country is estimated to be up to $14.5 billion.
The large scale of this disaster would have justified an official national inquiry into the impact and response. But given this has not occurred, this Briefing summarises ‘by the numbers’ what is known about this disaster after six months. Our impression remains that NZ has a low level of resilience to this type of hazard event.
While we welcome the current government consultation on enhancing the resilience of NZ’s critical infrastructure, much more work is needed. In particular, both central and local government need to invest far more into making all infrastructure resilient to the impact of intensifying climate disruption.