Cyclone Gabrielle

[SueDonim]

Down to 23 uncontactable now.  11 dead.

[1.] Yet im reading on social media from the likes of helicopter pilots who have seen "hundreds" of bodies from the air.
[2.] Some of these sources claim they have links to the police or defense force, port, etc.
[3.] There are reports from forestry workers who are finding bodies among the slash debris.
[4.] Im also reading that there is about 50 orchard workers from Vanuatu who are unaccounted for. Someone is claiming they are dead too. There are so many sources coming forward from eyewitnesses, that I doubt its all made up.
[5.] I believe Sean Plunket is wanting to do an anonymous interview with one of the sources.
[6.] I know its way more than 11 dead, they are just wanting to identify the bodies first.

The easiest way to avoid getting sucked into social media buillshit is to not go there. This is as close as I get - and a few other serious forums where I'm fully transparent. It's annoying that the laziness of the media means that they so often copy social media posts into their mainstream articles, but at least that content is curated.

Overall:
1. Most helicopter pilots would be too busy to waste time on social media, and any who are there, from the air would likely be unable to differentiate a cow or pig carcass from a person. A 10 day old body is going to be pretty bad.
2. Anyone can make that claim. Do they really seem credible? On social media?
3. "There are reports....". There are always "reports". They can be misguided fools, believing other people's reports. Or can be deliberately dishonest trying to have the "best" story. Ever heard of Chinese whispers?
4. RSE workers could be unaccounted for, if they were alone at the time of the flood. But by now the rest of the team would be saying "hmmm, I haven't seen or heard from xxx yet". It would be very bad luck that a whole group just vanished without a trace. Not impossible, but unlikely. Especially considered that they are the ones likely to have experienced this kind of devastation at home.
5. Forget about Sean Plunket.
6. There may be more than 11 dead and to be honest I'm surprised that there aren't more, but the idea of bodies being hidden and data being falsified is ridiculous.

We have competency issues with our police and community leaders, but accusations of wholesale dishonesty about people being dead is far too an extreme version of CT to even be a joke.