Motiti Island: big mess

Residents on Motiti Island are keeping a positive attitude despite the grim task ahead of cleaning up their island.

Graham Hoete has joined his family in the clean-up and says there are parts of the island which are worse than others.

The Rena has created a lot of mess on parts of Motiti Island.

Cargo on which has fallen from the Rena is washing up on Motiti Island.

'The beach I was at today is just sprinkled with debris.

'It was just one beach that I was at. We still have the whole shore line to deal with.”

He says the place he was at had two containers, one open and one that was just a mangled mess.

'We collected the wood off the beach and moved it higher up and put in a better place in the interim, until they confirm how they are going to transport the timber away.”

Graham says they're doing what they can at the moment to clean everything up but a lot of things are still in the planning stages.

'I'm not sure who it is but I think there's some scientist coming over to make an assessment on where everything is at with the beaches and the water levels. They're just going to take tests and all that.”

Graham says they decided on a rotation system to help clean-up the area.

The system will consist of a mix of locals and volunteers that are coming from the mainland.

People work around the clock to clean debris off the beach.

Bags of debris collected on Motiti Island.

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