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21-02-2023
WELLINGTON: New Zealand has said rebuilding after Cyclone Gabrielle will cost billions of dollars, on par with the Christchurch earthquake from 12 years ago.
Gabrielle brought widespread flooding to the North Island in mid-February, damaging roads and bridges.
At least 11 people have died so far and thousands are still uncontactable.
“It’s going to be the biggest weather event this century, with a billion dollar price tag,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said.
Robertson told TVNZ over the weekend that the government would first attend to survivors’ most urgent needs – food, shelter, electricity and communications.
“We have a long journey ahead of us to rebuild after this disaster, but we have the resources to do it, and we have the will to do it,” Robertson said.
Farmers lost entire harvests and herds to the floods and authorities are still determining how much of it will be covered by insurance, said the minister, who is in charge of rebuilding efforts.
On Monday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced an additional NZ$250m (£129.6m) to fix damaged roads and a NZ$50m (£25.9m)-support package to give immediate relief for businesses.
New Zealand spent NZ$13bn ($8.1bn; £6.7bn) to rebuild from the powerful earthquake in the South Island in 2011 that levelled much of the Christchurch city centre and left 185 people dead and thousands homeless.
Robertson blamed the extent of the damage inflicted by Gabrielle on New Zealand’s failure to build infrastructure that’s resilient to climate change, adding that the current approach to adapt “has not been sufficiently robust”.
Not even tens of billions of dollars in additional infrastructure spending over the next five years can fill in the gaps, he added. “The deficit is so large, we will not be able to make up for it in the long term,” he said.
Hipkins also said the state of national emergency due to Gabrielle will be extended for seven days. It applies to Northland, Auckland, Tai Rawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Tararua. (Int’l News Desk)
