Kia Manawaroa: Resilience & Emergencies (Hono)

Tū o te Ao Hurihuri | First Defenders

Defending what is most vulnerable now

The Challenge We Face

When crisis comes knocking, we’re already on the marae.

Aotearoa New Zealand is experiencing more frequent and intense disasters, from floods and fires, to cyclones, earthquakes, pandemics, and climate shocks. For Māori, these events don’t just damage infrastructure, they threaten whānau, whenua, whakapapa and ways of life.

And yet, time and again, Māori have responded, not as victims, but as First Defenders. Marae become emergency shelters, kaumātua lead communications, hapū coordinate aid, and iwi deploy their people. Often long before government support arrives.

The Canterbury earthquakes, COVID-19, Cyclone Gabrielle, and recent flooding didn’t just expose system failures. They revealed a truth we’ve always known. Māori are essential to disaster response. But Māori leadership remains informal, under-resourced, and excluded from formal decision-making.

Our Approach

For Te Tira Whakamātaki, emergency management is more than operational. It is cultural, spiritual, and political.

It’s about local capability and place-based preparedness, tikanga-led recovery and repatriation, cultural continuity and trauma healing, intergenerational resilience building, and systems transformation through Indigenous leadership.

Hono: The Māori Emergency Management Network was created to lead that transformation.

Delivered under our emergency pou, Tū o te Ao Hurihuri, Hono strengthens whānau, hapū, and iwi readiness, supports Māori-led response and recovery, and embeds tikanga and whakapapa into the heart of Aotearoa’s disaster resilience.

Because when crisis strikes, the first people to respond aren’t the state. They’re the people already there. They are us.

Hono: The Māori Emergency Management Network

Hono is a national Māori emergency response network. It connects Māori responders, leaders, researchers, and communities across Aotearoa and the Pacific to build a nationally coordinated, culturally grounded emergency management movement.

Hono means to connect, to unite.

It is a platform for connection, mobilisation, and storytelling. Acting as both the response and the resistance to systems that exclude those working hard at place when support is needed the most.

Hono is the link between preparedness, protection, and people. Connecting Māori voices in the Emergency Operating Centre and at the decision-making table, at the policy tables, in the healing spaces, and at the marae

Why Now & Why Hono?

Hono was not born from a memo. It was born from the floods, the fires, and the systems that forgot us. And like our tūpuna who stood strong in the face of raupatu (confiscation) and riri (battle), we’re not waiting for permission. We’re getting organised, resourced and ready because climate change isn’t slowing down, and because disasters are becoming more frequent, more severe, and more complicated. And because Māori are always on the front lines, are often the first affected, and the first to act.

What Makes Us Unique

We’re Indigenous-Led: This isn’t a Māori name slapped on a mainstream model. Hono is built from the ground up by Māori, for Māori.

We Lead with Tikanga: Our plans don’t just include culture; they begin with it. We uphold whakapapa, manaakitanga, and rangatiratanga in everything we do.

We’re Community-Driven: Our network is powered by communities, marae, hapū, iwi, who are at place and who know how to respond with care, courage, and capability.

We Think Intergenerationally: We’re not just planning for the next event. We’re planning for the safety, sovereignty, and future of the next generations.

Our Strategic Pou

Tū o te Ao Hurihuri (standing strong in a changing world) focuses on emergency management and climate adaptation. It equips Māori communities to anticipate, respond to, and recover from crises using culturally grounded, locally led solutions.

Key Objectives: