Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

For the last couple of weeks I have been privileged to be working inside the Incident Command Centre for the Rena.

I say privileged because it really is amazing to see so many people, from so many different walks of life (and counties) working in a focused, yet collaborative way to try to restore and minimise the damage that this grounding is causing to our environment.
The salvors really are the heros. They are working aboard this stricken ship risking their lives every minute as she continually bellows out her death groans, as she slowly, but surely tears her self apart. This ship will break in half. It is just a question of when and not if and as I write this we are all now on high alert as the weather turns bad and the swell rises.

My role is coordinating the business and group offers as part of the volunteer engagement team, I am in awe of our community for their generosity. This country has faced more than its fair share of tragedy this last year and yet the offers of assistance continue to come from both our local community (both business and personal) as well as from across this nation. From the kind elderly lady in Greerton – who is on an oxygen tank, yet produces endless litres of soup and stews for our volunteers – to the businesses that donate or loan hugely expensive supplies and vehicles, this tragedy shows that our community really has a huge heart.

This response has been first class and the ill informed criticism of a few must have been so disappointing to the experts who are heading up this operation. It is a mammoth task coordinating this operation and I can assure you that it is meticulously planned and executed with regimental precision. No one is sitting on their hands in this recovery – it might seem painfully slow from the outside, but from inside the Command Centre I can just see professionalism.

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me andrew@vond.co.nz