We welcomed our new Ipu Ohotata emergency container to Tuamātene Marae in July.  Through our iwi collaboration of Te Kotahi o Te Tauihu Charitable Trust, Te Tauihu marae are now better equipped to respond should disaster strike. 

For Rangitāne o Wairau, General Manager Corey Hebberd said the Ipu Ohotata supplements a wider programme of restoration and rebuild work at Tuamātene Marae in recent years to ensure it is a safe, accessible, warm and dry place for whānau. That programme has seen the building exterior upgraded, new roofs for the wharemoe and wharekai, a new ablutions block as well as an extended maara kai, which is already helping feed whānau. 

“Tuamātene is a place of sustenance for Rangitāne, and this new level of preparedness builds on that,” says Hebberd. “It means that in the event of an emergency, we can have some certainty and be in a better position to manaaki our wider community.”

Since it was established by iwi in February last year, Te Kotahi o Te Tauihu Trust has been working on a consistent emergency response across the Te Tauihu rohe (Marlborough, Nelson, Tasman), resulting in the Te Tauihu Emergency Management Strategy.

As part of this, last year, Te Kotahi applied for National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) funding to help realise some of the aspirations iwi held in relation to Emergency Management; this included the production of eight Ipu Ohotata or emergency containers, geographically spread across Te Tauihu. Rātā Foundation supported the project also, contributing 50 per cent of the costs.