The findings and recommendations from an independent review of Hawke's Bay's Civil Defence response to Cyclone Gabrielle, headed up by former police commissioner Mike Bush, were made public today.
The review investigated how well prepared Civil Defence was prior to the cyclone, as well as its immediate emergency response.
It found it was not well prepared for Cyclone Gabrielle, and the "worst-case scenario" was not planned for.
Presenting the report to the Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Joint Committee - made up of the region's four mayors, the regional council chief executive, and mana whenua representatives - Mike Bush said the intent of those involved in the response was positive.
"It was absolutely clear that the severity, speed and scale of this disaster quite simply overwhelmed the officials involved in that response," he said.
Those involved did not have "situational awareness", which meant they did not plan for the worst case scenario, Bush said.
The report added: "Plans were as sound as any we have seen but lacked the operational detail needed to address an event of this scale and magnitude."
While the lack of power and communications made that harder, there should have been mitigations in place to get around that, he said.
There was a lack of capability within the response, said Bush - but he added that was not just a regional issue, coming down hard on the national system.
"We did find that the national emergency management system is not currently fit for purpose," he said.
"It actually sets up good people to fail."
But he pointed out there were some things that went well.
"Governance across the region's emergency management was strong, and expectations were clearly set to officials.
"Their plans were robust."
The review panel gave 75 recommendations - nine 'Tier 1' priority recommendations, and 66 in 'Tier 2'.
The Tier 1 recommendations include developing regional disaster reduction and readiness plans, building capability, and advocating to central government for an overhaul of the current CDEM system in New Zealand - including changed legislation, and systems and structures that better reflect and respond to the "current threatscape".
The committee agreed it would enlist the help of independent emergency management experts to develop an approach to carrying out the recommendations.
The review panel interviewed a range of individuals and organisations, bolstered by a public survey which attracted more than 1000 responses.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency still has not released its review into last year's North Island weather events.
It was due to be published in December, and RNZ has asked NEMA when it will be made public.
