Natural disaster preparedness for marae · Aotearoa
The power is out. The roads are cut. Your marae still has the lights on.
What ready looks like
Three days in, at a marae that's ready
The power is out across the rohe.
Your lights are on and your chillers are still running.
The phone network is down.
You have internet and radio contact with Civil Defence and with whānau up the valley.
The roads in and out are blocked.
You have water, kai and fuel to carry your people for days, not hours.
Nobody knows who is in charge.
Your response team does, because they trained for this before it happened.
The nearest welfare centre is an hour away, on a road that no longer exists.
Yours is on the marae.
None of that is hypothetical. It is what marae have been dealing with around the motu over the last few years. We cannot stop any of it happening. We can make sure your marae is not waiting on someone else to arrive.
Start a kōreroWhat a Kaitiaki E Tu project includes.
Everything your people need to keep going
Every Kaitiaki E Tu project is scoped to your marae. These are the systems we integrate, not all of them every time, the right combination for your situation.
Power and energy
Solar, battery storage and generator backup. Lights, comms and refrigeration through extended outages.
Water and sanitation
Harvesting, potable water, filtration and storage. Safe drinking water when the network fails.
Communications
Starlink, VHF and UHF radio, satellite phones and Meshcore. Stay connected to Civil Defence, neighbours and whānau.
Kai and welfare
Shelf-stable provisions, cooking gear and welfare supplies to support kai and wellbeing until supply returns.
Planning and training
An emergency plan written for your marae, your response team formed, and in person training and simulation.
WASP welfare activation
The Welfare Activation System Pod. Rapid welfare coordination for the critical first hours.
First aid and health, temporary living and hazard assessment also sit in the mix — we scope those with you.
The capability programme
Equipment gets you halfway. Capability gets you the rest.
A response team that knows who is in charge did not work that out on the day. They worked it out months earlier, by building the plan themselves and then running it once under pressure.
Planning and training is the only one of those systems that is not equipment. It is called Kaitiaki E Tu: four facilitated hui at your marae, delivered in person over three to four months. It can be scoped alongside a hub, or delivered on its own.
- 01Whakawhanaungatanga and stocktakeAn honest picture of your hazards, your resources and your people. Days of water, days of kai, where the coverage dies.
- 02Building the plan and the teamYour activation triggers, your own people matched to the nine functions a response needs, and the hard questions answered.
- 03Plan back and team trainingThe marae adopts the plan. The hub gets opened for real and the team is trained on every function, not just their own.
- 04Simulation and assessmentA full scenario day built from your own hazards, scored against set criteria, with a written findings report and an action list.
Delivered in person. There is no online module and no video substitute.
Funding
Most marae do this through funding, not reserves.
Community resilience and emergency preparedness is a stated priority across Lotteries, philanthropic trusts and council funds, and the Lottery Community Fund now runs four rounds a year. For most marae the barrier is not the money. It is the work of turning a known need into a scoped, costed, documented project.
- We scope the project with you and cost it properly, so the figures in your application are real.
- We provide the technical documentation funders ask for: specifications, quotes, delivery timelines and installation detail.
- We can point you to which funds cover this kaupapa and when the rounds open
- The application is yours. It goes in your name, it reflects your priorities, and you make the calls.
- We have worked alongside dozens of marae through this process, so you are not figuring it out alone.
Every hub we have delivered has been paid for through external funding rather than out of a marae's own reserves.
No one can promise a funder will say yes. What we can do is make sure your application has real numbers and a clearly defined project behind it.
Our approach
Not a container of gear. A system built for your marae.
We sit alongside your people, understand the risks specific to your rohe, and co-design the response. Then we do the heavy lifting.
We call it Kaitiaki E Tu.
- We start with the marae, not the container. Your hazards, your people and your tikanga shape every decision.
- We co-design with your whānau. The people who will use it help shape it.
- We build capability in your team, not dependency on ours. By handover, your people know every system.
- We stay alongside you for five years with maintenance, replenishment and ongoing support.
How it works
From kōrero to capability
We do the heavy lifting. Every project starts with listening, not selling.
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01
Informal kōrero
No pitch, no agenda. We come to understand your people, your place and what's on your mind.
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02
Vulnerability hui
A workshop to surface real risks together — your awa, access, population needs and hazards.
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03
Co-design
We scope the right systems together and handle funding pathways, documentation and applications.
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04
Build and handover
We deliver, install and train your team. By handover your people are ready to lead the response.
Then we stay alongside you. Maintenance, replenishment and support for five years.
Our impact
50 hubs. Real communities. Real readiness.
From the first kōrero to the day a hub is handed over and a team is trained, this is what the mahi looks like across Aotearoa.
Start the kōrero
Ready to start the kōrero?
Most marae start with a conversation. No commitment, no product pitch. Just getting to know your place, your people, and what being ready looks like for your rohe.
- No sales pitch, just a kōrero about your marae
- We come to you, in person or online, whatever suits
- You'll hear back from a real person within two working days
