Those wild rumours during/after cyclone Gabrielle

[Kenj]

There were rumours of 'hundreds of deaths' having occurred during the cyclone from various sources; quite a bit has been traced to this chap, Tim Baker.

That he runs a mental health charity is slightly alarming.


https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3008195...aths-began

“Eleven dead?” the man says to the camera, shaking his head in disbelief.

“My [source] reckons more like a thousand, maybe more.”

In online videos, Baker – who runs a mental health charity and achieved brief online notoriety for selling Donald Trump-themed toilet paper – became an on-the-ground witness to the carnage. He posted daily reports on his Facebook page, and was interviewed by Counterspin Media and Liz Gunn, videos that have been viewed tens of thousands of times combined.

His reports included an intriguing claim, attributed to two unnamed people he said had “very high roles in emergency services”: The death toll was much higher than what was officially reported.

It started with his first video on February 21, around a week after the cyclone had passed.

“From the stories I’ve heard so far, the death toll is a lot higher... the 11 we’re being told is not accurate,” Baker said.

“They’re not rumours, guys. The morgue is full at Hastings hospital… the makeshift morgue at Napier port is full. They’ve run out of body bags, okay?” he said in one video.

“This is the truth, and it’s not my intention to scare anyone or hurt anyone.”

While the rumours started soon after the cyclone passed, they kicked into gear around February 20.

The Daily Telegraph - a New Zealand news aggregating website - published a story based on what it said was an interview with a helicopter pilot.

“I’ve seen hundreds of dead bodies,” the pilot, who is not identified, reportedly said.

The Brian Tamaki-associated Freedoms & Rights Coalition shared the story on Facebook. Its page has 55,000 followers.

That same day, another Facebook post – titled DEAD BODIES MOUNT UP – claimed a death toll of more than 2000: “This is NZ’s worst disaster by a factor of 10,” it said. 

On February 25, Ickonic – a website associated with the British conspiracy theorist David Icke – broadcast an interview with New Zealand content creator Lingo Lewi.

“We can’t even fathom how many bodies there are,” Lingo Lewi said.

A common charge against the mainstream media in these communities is that it’s sensationalistic and obsessed with climate change. The ‘unreported death toll’ theory supposes the same media has done the opposite: Downplayed a natural disaster that can plausibly be linked to climate change."

 He's in the finance sector. I think he is a merchant banker?