The government of New Zealand declared a state of emergency after Cyclone Gabrielle hit the oceanic nation hard. This is not the first natural disaster faced by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who in just under a month in power already had to deal with a serious flood that left some dead at the end of January.
Source: (Euronews)
According to the president, this cyclone is “the most important climatic event that attacked New Zealand during this century”, and indicated that “the severity and damage caused by the winds was not experienced in more than a generation”. “We are still trying to get a picture of the effects it has as it crosses the islands, but for now we only know that the impact is significant and widespread,” said the Kiwi premier.
Ocean nation officials reported that at least 2.500 people had to be displaced, but the number can grow exponentially because there are several areas throughout the islands that are cut off. This is the third time in the entire history of New Zealand that a state of emergency should have been declared, which allows the government to send resources to help with civilian reconstruction efforts.
In dialogue with the press on Monday, the president indicated that a lot of work will have to be done to understand the extent of the damage and to be able to begin to solve it. “This is not something that is going to be able to be fixed overnight,” said the politician after pointing out that “this is what climate change means.”
Previous “national states of emergency”
Yes ok the southern country It has existed as such since the late 1940s, the reality is that it only had to declare a state of emergency at the national level on only two occasions, and both times during the last 12 years.
The first time was after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, when a tremor measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale hit the country’s southern island hard, killing 185 people and injuring 2,000 people. The last time was in 2020, with the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when the country was one of the nations with restricted travel for the longest time.