Cyclone Gabrielle

[SueDonim]

My point was the so called news media are little more than social these days when it comes down to reliability. And worse, accountability. At least social media doesn't pretend to be anything other than social...

Yes. Fully agree with that. They should keep the distinction between the quality they can and should provide against the garbage that so many people embrace.

[Lilith7]

Yet im reading on social media from the likes of helicopter pilots who have seen "hundreds" of bodies from the air.
Some of these sources claim they have links to the police or defense force, port, etc.
There are reports from forestry workers who are finding bodies among the slash debris.
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.
I believe Sean Plunket is wanting to do an anonymous interview with one of the sources.
I know its way more than 11 dead, they are just wanting to identify the bodies first.

I'm just wondering Why CT  - What possible motivation would the Government have to deliberately hide the true number of casualties?  It's not like where asking everyone to take a vaccine for climate change...

The only (somewhat lame) answer I can come up with is that it might lend credence to the big bad government theory of a certain fringe minority, by showing a pattern of behaviour following on from covid to further 'validate' their beliefs - or some ridiculous notion like that

Oh surely not! 

Surely the 'gullible r us' lot wouldn't be so very, very - well, gullible, really...??!

[Olive]

Surely the 'gullible r us' lot wouldn't be so very, very - well, gullible, really...??!
[/quote]

The Credulous Brigade?

[Lilith7]

Surely the 'gullible r us' lot wouldn't be so very, very - well, gullible, really...??!

The Credulous Brigade?
[/quote]

Well - who knows; there seems no limit at all to what we daft humans can get ourselves to believe. You only need to see those poor women from Gloriavale, meekly spouting their lines about being 'submissive to their husbands' & their glorious leader.

[zqwerty]

"The number of people reported as uncontactable following Cyclone Gabrielle has dropped to eight, down from 13 on Friday night.

Some of those were people who, "for a variety of reasons, do not engage with authorities", police said in a statement.

However, getting in touch with them remained a priority and all avenues were being explored to try and locate them."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/4848...le-figures

So doomsayers were almost completely wrong as far as casualties go, only 11 probably.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

We were lucky. Miraculously so, perhaps.

[Lilith7]

Perhaps its a useful lesson for possible future weather events of various sorts.

[nzoomed]

Hopefully this new low in the pacific doesn't turn into another cyclone. Metservice are monitoring it.

[zqwerty]

"Cyclone Gabrielle: Number of people yet to be contacted reduced to four"

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/4849...ed-to-four

[Lilith7]

That's good news though - just four to be contacted is far better than it might have been.

[zqwerty]

"Cyclone Gabrielle – Further detail on uncontactable people"

https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/...cmin=&cmax=

Just as we might have guessed. LOL.

[C_T_Russell]

It isn't just social media though. Stuff had a headline mid week claiming the uncontactable numbers were down to single figures, only to rewrite that to 56 later that afternoon.

And yes, if they were setting up multiple morgues the authorities certainly had different expectations.

Thats what I dont get, the news was painting all doom and gloom about these mourges being bought in.

Apparently the number dead is now 15 from what I read yesterday.
Hopefully that is the case, but I still dont understand where these reports are coming from about eyewitnesses finding mangled bodies in the streams amongst all the wood.
Its amazing so many survived when they could have been swept away, there is a story about a family watching their neighbours being taken down in the current and having to swim to safety, hopefully they are OK.

[harm_less]

It isn't just social media though. Stuff had a headline mid week claiming the uncontactable numbers were down to single figures, only to rewrite that to 56 later that afternoon.

And yes, if they were setting up multiple morgues the authorities certainly had different expectations.

Thats what I dont get, the news was painting all doom and gloom about these mourges being bought in.

Apparently the number dead is now 15 from what I read yesterday.
Hopefully that is the case, but I still dont understand where these reports are coming from about eyewitnesses finding mangled bodies in the streams amongst all the wood.
Its amazing so many survived when they could have been swept away, there is a story about a family watching their neighbours being taken down in the current and having to swim to safety, hopefully they are OK.

This interview includes some very astute observations of the rumour mill in play over the Hawkes Bay flooding https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018880287

Also be aware that social media is not 'news' that can be relied on.

[zqwerty]

Update - uncontactable people now accounted for

https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/...cmin=&cmax=

So the message seems to be to beware of anything seemingly like a conspiracy theory because these people running the sites are going for page hits by posting eye-catching headlines, and truth be damned.

Quite a few of my 'friends' and acquaintances seem to be caught up in repeat posting of these crazy stories and it's really made me think again about staying in contact with them as they are proving themselves to be idiots on quite an important level of comprehension, they almost seem to thirst for controversial info to pass on and gain kudos.