The Gisborne Herald newspaper

This copy of The Gisborne Herald newspaper was published on Wednesday 15 February 2023 during the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle which struck Aotearoa New Zealand between 12 and 16 February 2023.

Cyclone Gabrielle was a severe tropical cyclone felt over a wide area, including Taitokerau / Northland, Auckland, the Coromandel, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti / Gisborne and Hawke's Bay. The cyclone came close on the heels of Ex-Cyclone Hale (10-11 January) and the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods (27 January). A national state of emergency was announced for only the third time in New Zealand’s history.

Gabrielle was the deadliest cyclone since Cyclone Giselle in 1968 and Cyclone Bola in 1988. It caused 11 deaths, major infrastructural damage, loss of homes, possessions and livelihoods. At the height of the cyclone’s impact, around 225,000 homes were without power, thousands of people were displaced as flood waters rose, and many communities were disconnected by damaged roads and bridges. There was extensive damage to key infrastructure in the east coast of the North Island, including roading, electricity, telecommunications, and water infrastructure. Damaging rainfall, winds and flooding hit the regions of Tairāwhiti and Hawke's Bay the hardest. Forestry slash was swept down rivers, destroying roads and bridges, and filling beaches.

Communication services were heavily impacted by power cuts and breaks to some of the fibre-optic lines carrying mobile phone calls, text and data. Phone companies flew in satellite equipment to Gisborne to restore some basic mobile phone services. The locally-owned Gisborne Herald managed to print an edition on Monday 13 February, but couldn't publish on the Tuesday as power was out, but was able to resume publishing on Wednesday 15 February. Keeping communications going was a great achievement in the circumstances, and this newspaper was delivered when internet services were still down.

Gavin Ellis, a former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald, noted in his blog: ‘All I can say is thank God for news media. They carry out a vital task in emergencies like Cyclone Gabrielle. They bring together a mass of information which can be readily – and quickly – accessed by the public…. Crucially, news media are available in forms that do not require digital competence or digital access. Newspapers, television, and radio are readily available and each has its own strengths – print provides in-depth information and advice, television brings home the reality of the storm, and radio has immediacy’ (14 Feb 2023).

Gisborne District Council delivered free copies of this newspaper to residents to keep them informed of what was happening in the region, particularly focussing on the critical situation of the water supply. The editor of the Gisborne Herald wrote: ‘The residents of Gisborne are being urged as our No. 1 priority to conserve water – otherwise the taps will run dry…. Cyclone Gabrielle has smashed and inundated the east coast of the North Island, causing untold damage. Tairawhiti and Hawke’s Bay have been particularly hard hit’ (15 Feb 2023, p. 6).

Often social media and online outlets trump traditional news media in being able to quickly convey information on disasters, but with the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle on digital technology, print-based media and radio were better able to provide a clearer picture of the impacts and convey vital information and advice.

References:

Editor (15 Feb 2023). The Gisborne Herald.

Ellis, G. (14 Feb 2023). Thank God for news media in a storm. The Knightly Views.