Our hearts go out to the people of Samoa, both in the islands, and to those that have made NZ their home; and to the grieving people of Tonga. The devastating loss of life, homes and villages is a grim reminder of the vulnerability of our Pacific neighbours to the elements: earthquake, tsunami, hurricane. I traveled to the Cook Is twice this year and plan to visit again over New Year. I have an elderly uncle there who has lived in the Cooks and Fiji since the 1950s. I find it impossible to visualise that idyllic environment being smashed-over and destroyed: it is such a contradiction.
New Zealand was placed on tsunami alert. The Bay of Plenty is exposed to the north and east with much of the coastline being low-lying. The much-celebrated beaches of the region become death-zones under this kind of threat. Tauranga's burgeoning suburbs that stretch long the coast from Mount Maunganui to Papamoa sit barely above sea-level protected only by coastal dunes. Authorities have wrestled with the thorny issue of how to manage the risks. The response to this recent alert was mixed, with some people responding appropriately, while others headed to the beach and other vantage points to watch. Many more remained blithely unaware and probably heard about it on the evening news. Indications are that the local Civil
Defence/Emergency Management systems were functioning well, but there are monumental challenges should they be faced with a catastrophic event here.
I tried to follow proceedings on TV, switching through all the news and local channels. I was appalled by the behaviour of Paul Henry on TVOne breakfast, and the rude treatment he dished out to a Civil Defence spokesperson - accusing them at one point of sitting around "eating croissants". The spokesperson remained calm in the face of this torrent of abuse and clearly articulated the messages he was relaying. Paul Henry - SHAME ON YOU.
A couple of years ago there was a tsunami warning in Cairns, QLD. I am told the one road out of town up to the 'table lands' was clogged with cars as a large number of people tried to get out of town. Like most places Cairns, thought built largley on cane field plains, allows for easy access to higher ground.
ReplyDeleteAny education about tsunami's should inlcude reminding people the only goal in a tsunami warning (apart from staying calm) is to get to higher ground, as opposed to getting out of town. Sometimes we think of a tsunami like something out of Hollywood movie - swamping the tallest building in New York. I would imagine if we can get two or three stories high up the side of a hill, that should be the immediate goal. In a tsunami 'nothing else matters' (there's a song in there somwhere).