The appointment of Keriana Brooking as interim recovery manager for Hawke’s Bay marks a new phase after Cyclone Gabrielle as the transition from the immediate response into long-term recovery begins.

Hawke’s Bay Ministerial Lead for Recovery, Stuart Nash, mayors, chairs and iwi leaders announced the appointment of Brooking, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and former CEO of Hawke’s Bay DHB, and a Regional Recovery Framework for Hawke’s Bay on Monday.

Brooking said the role was appointed under the Civil Defence Emergency Act and the interim role was designed to get the transition from the immediate response to short-term and long-term recovery started.

Part of Brooking’s responsibilities is to establish a regional recovery office to coordinate resources and planning regionally and explore regional delivery mechanisms while working with local and regional agencies to do so efficiently.

What the regional recovery office might look like exactly is yet to be decided.

“Certainly there will be the need to have some sort of local physical space, appreciating that it fits within a quite strong infrastructure of organisations spread out across Hawke’s Bay,” Brooking said.

“We’ll have what I would describe as an ecosystem of organisations that all work together and there will be a recovery agency that will be a part of that.”

She said the appointed recovery manager was usually for 28 days before there was the option to reappoint them.

 “This role is to get the ball rolling, but certainly there is an expectation across all the areas that have been impacted by the cyclone, not just Hawke’s Bay, that there is an agency or a unit that is set up in a more long term way to support what needs to happen here.”

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Keriana Brooking, former Hawke's Bay District Health Board CEO, has been appointed interim recovery manager for Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland

Nash said priority was given to agreeing on a structure for recovery and the appointment of an interim recovery manager.

“The scale and consequences of Cyclone Gabrielle, and the complexities of the recovery ahead require the immediate appointment of a trusted and highly capable leader to establish the recovery approach and functions,” Nash said.

“Ms Brooking has the support of Government, iwi and local government leaders to lead our region through the immediate transition period from response to recovery.”

Co-chairman of Te Matau a Māui Hawke’s Bay Matariki Governance Group, Leon Symes, said the regional recovery would be built from a local level, with councils and mana whenua working in partnership with communities to understand and plan their short and long-term needs and to reimagine what it means to be resilient in their homes and businesses.

An oversight board for Hawke’s Bay will also be established, with six locally appointed directors and an independent chair appointed by the Government.

Regional leaders will work with Nash to appoint the directors and chair.

The oversight board will be responsible for building the Regional Recovery Plan, prioritising and sequencing the delivery of the recovery activities that are needed at scale and negotiating with the Government on issues of funding, legislation and other regulatory powers that may be needed.