The Weather

 One thing about the media these days is the incredible options available to us all to communicate especially at times of extraordinary events.

I have been able to peruse many sites and posts to ascertain the response to the current situation with the latest weather event.

Given all the expertise out their in the land of authority it remains impossible to precisely predict how a cyclone or depression will act once it turns up on our backdoor.

NZ is in a situation now where the authorities are running scared. They do not want to be accused of getting it wrong. Following Gabrielle and the BOP event with a landslide everyone is nervous.

I understand that. However the situation now needs careful thought.

I absolutely object to receiving these outrageous alerts via cellphone  issuing a state of emergency.

Reading posts on social media exposes how there have been alerts issued in many areas. My alert was about the coastal area miles away .Why? 

The problem is once these  alerts are issued it appears there is an immense shift in power to faceless people who then have the ability to force actions on the people.

This is unacceptable.

The alerts create major anxiety amongst many and as has become apparent today , create panic buying of goods from supermarkets which is totally unnecessary.

This is insanity.

I noted the result of this transfer in power following Gabrielle and could never find out who was responsible for life changing decisions.

Not good enough.

Terrifying people at this time is not the answer.

What is needed is information.

Information that is provided in a careful way to communities that can deal with situations relative to their particular circumstances.

Information that allows people to make decisions given their local knowledge and conditions.

The weather is constantly challenging us but we have to learn from history , learn from our mistakes and make our own decisions.

Sometimes people make mistakes.