White Island tragedy exposed a growing institutional cowardice

Red Sky in the morning

On the 1st December 2019 New Zealand’s Civil Emergency department was transformed into the National Emergency Management Response – NEMA for short. A week later, White Island erupted on December 9th.

Some Australians are praising New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her classy response to the White Island volcano disaster. Oh, it’s a class act all right.

I wonder what they’d think if they learned that after the volcano erupted, the emergency services were told not to respond. The first responders were ordinary New Zealanders – real heroes. They’re the ones who acted. The NZ Government had nothing to do with it – although they’ve taken the credit.