<
https://theconversation.com/landslides-are-nzs-deadliest-natural-hazard-why-does-it-still-tolerate-the-risk-275206>
"The recent deaths of eight people in two New Zealand landslides has left the
public searching for answers. Some questions will be technical, about what
failed and why.
But one should surely sit above the rest: why do we keep accepting the human
and financial cost of this risk?
While it might be assumed that earthquakes or volcanic eruptions are Aotearoa’s
deadliest natural hazards, landslides have claimed more than twice as many
lives – approximately 1,800 – as both combined over the past 200 years.
They remain such an insidious and under-appreciated hazard because they cause
deaths relatively frequently, but typically only in small numbers. Being one of
the most fatal New Zealand landslides since 1846, last month’s tragedy at Mount
Maunganui was a stark exception.
A useful analogy is our tolerance for car crashes versus aeroplane crashes.
Road deaths in New Zealand kill hundreds of people each year, one by one, with
little national reckoning. The 1979 Mount Erebus air disaster, in which 257
people were killed in one afternoon, forever changed aviation policy and
remains part of the country’s collective memory.
In natural hazard terms, landslides are car crashes; earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions are aeroplane crashes. Yet, with climate change driving heavier
rainfall, it’s worth asking whether this is a danger we should be comfortable
to continue living with – and paying for.
Since 2010, central government has incurred about NZ$19 billion in costs
associated with natural hazards, but 97% of that has gone on response and
recovery, with just 3% on reducing risk and building resilience. In practice,
New Zealand keeps paying for disasters after they happen, rather than spending
to stop them happening in the first place."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
