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Category: Disasters

  • ‘Only one meal per day’ – 20 die in PNG Highlands flooding

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding.

    More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province.

    In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been swept away in flooding.

    Wapenamanda community leader Aquila Kunzie told RNZ Pacific his village alone was housing almost 100 displaced women and children from the tribal warfare.

    As bad weather hampers food production, the need for aid is critical, Kunzie said.

    “The massacre has claimed any lives. As the days go by . . . the government is taking the initiative to call for peace negotiations that are ongoing at the moment,” he said.

    “The situation is [that] we are feeling the impact of short supply and food rations in the village.

    “We are being neglected due to probably bad politics,” Kunzie said.

    Kunzie spoke to RNZ Pacific from Mambisanda village mission station where he said the mighty Timin River was only 15m walking distance.

    “Constant continuous rainfall in Wapenamanda district has caused rivers to flood,” Kunzie said, adding “food gardens have been washed away”.

    A grade eight student has was reportedly washed away, Kunzie said.

    “We couldn’t find him due to the heavy flood. The boy is about 15-years-old,” he said.

    Woman mutilated
    On top of flooding, The National is reporting a woman has been found dead in Wapenamanda despite a ceasefire being agreed to by warring factions.

    “It has also been reported maybe the rascals people must have raped her and wounded her and threw her helpless on the road and she was found in the morning,” Kunzie said.

    While the woman was found on the road in another village to where Kunzie is, his village is housing “almost 100” victims of tribal warfare.

    But with so many mouths to feed and food crops damaged by heavy rains food rationing is in place.

    “Only one meal per day, we can’t afford breakfast and lunch with all of them.”

    “We say drink only water and stay and have one meal and go to bed and wait for the next day.”

    The bad weather has hampered the growth of food and that is becoming a “very critical issue”, Kunzie said.

    He said calls for help have fallen on deaf ears.

    “We have no way to call out for help,” he said.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PNG begins wild weather relief operations – 21 killed in mud slides

    PNG Post-Courier

    Prime Minister James Marape has announced comprehensive relief operations in Papua New Guinea’s devastating weather that has killed at least 21 people and impacted on 16 provinces.

    The 21 who died were buried under tonnes of mud in three separate mudslides in Chimbu province.

    Sixteen provinces in three regions were being monitored by the PNG National Weather Service for flooding following erratic changes in weather patterns, reports Claudia Tally.

    From king tides, solar flares and rising temperatures since December 2023, the weather in the country has taken a swift turn to heavy downpours and reported flash flooding in Central, Northern, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Madang and Morobe provinces over the last seven days.

    The changes in the weather pattern, especially the flooding, has left many provincial highways eroded, bridges broken and people stranded.

    The government’s relief operations, spearheaded by the Department of Works and Highways, National Disaster Office, and the PNG Defence Force, aims to mitigate the challenges faced by communities across the nation.

    “King tides, landslips, and other unfortunate natural incidents as a result of the continuous rain and wet weather conditions around the country at present and in recent weeks is of concern to government,” Marape said.

    Works directives
    “We have already taken steps to provide relief and address the specific situations through the responsible government agencies.”

    He said directives had been issued to the Works and Highways Department, National Disaster Office, and Defence Force to dispatch specialist teams.

    A man tries to clear the debris blocked under the Waghi bridge
    A man tries to clear the debris blocked under the Waghi bridge at Panga bordering Jiwaka and Western Highlands provinces on Wednesday morning. Image: PNG Post-Courier

    “These teams are tasked with assessing and addressing road slippages and blockages, ensuring expedient restoration of access and support to the affected locales,” he said.

    “Certain places around the country like Gumine in Chimbu Province have been cut off and require urgent attention to restore and relieve.

    “Other places in low-lying areas of the country like Gulf Province are also being affected by the continuous rain.

    “We’ve mobilised the necessary government resources to clear and relieve those areas affected by the heavy rains over the past month or more.”

    He lauded the Department of Works and Highways for their prompt action in Porgera, Enga Province, following a landslip that severed connections to surrounding areas.

    “The department’s efforts have successfully reopened the critical access road, demonstrating the government’s commitment to swift and effective crisis management,” he said.

    Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Stuck in a Hollywood Disaster Film

    The post Stuck in a Hollywood Disaster Film first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Ukraine war disasters grow as profits pour in


    This content originally appeared on The Grayzone and was authored by The Grayzone.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Too Much Heat, Past and Present

    The ultimate consequences of global warming are difficult to truly understand by the public, policymakers and by pretty much everybody. In their hearts, they do not want to believe it’ll cause an extinction event. That’s simply too hard to believe, going too far. People cannot wrap their minds around the idea that civilization, poof, is gone. After all, extinctions are not features of human civilization. Or are they?

    Archeologists tell us otherwise. Climate change and natural disasters have led advanced civilizations into utter ruin, extinction events. The Mayan Civilization, population 7-10 million, skilled as advanced astronomers that built elaborate cities without the use of modern-day machinery around 1500 BC went extinct. Archeologists believe the causes were: (1) environmental degradation (2) deforestation (3) soil erosion and (4) climate change altered rain patterns to bring devastating drought and famine.

    And one of the greatest civilizations of all time, the Indus Valley Civilization (2500-to-1700 BC) more than five million people with some of the world’s best architecture and amazing technology, cities of 50,000 with roads and advanced sewage systems, homes with private bathrooms, 3,500 years ago went extinct. Researchers studied isotopic concentrations of stalagmites, and other archeological evidence, analyzing 5,700 years of rainfall patterns for the region, discovering evidence of severe drought at the time the civilization ended.

    A fascinating historical study of collapsed civilizations was published by the BBC: Are We on the Road to Civilization Collapse: February 18, 2019. Excerpts to follow:

    The great historian Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975, London School of Economics and King’s College London) in his 12-volume magnum opus A Study of History analyzed the rise and fall of 28 different civilizations. He concluded: “Great civilizations are not murdered. Instead, they take their own lives.”

    Our deep past is marked by recurring failure: “Collapse can be defined as a rapid and enduring loss of population, identity, and socio-economic complexity. Public services crumble and disorder ensues as government loses control of its monopoly on violence. Virtually all past civilizations have faced this fate.”

    “Collapse may be a normal phenomenon for civilizations, regardless of their size and technological stage. We may be more technologically advanced now. But this gives little ground to believe that we are immune to the threats that undid our ancestors. Our newfound technological abilities even bring new, unprecedented challenges to the mix. And while our scale may now be global, collapse appears to happen to both sprawling empires (the Roman Empire for example) and fledgling kingdoms alike. There is no reason to believe that greater size is armour against societal dissolution. Our tightly coupled, globalized economic system is, if anything, more likely to make crisis spread.”

    Archeologists claim the following categories mostly influence collapse: (1) climatic change (2) environmental degradation (3) inequality and oligarchy (4) complexity, meaning how society functions; e.g., too heavy of a bureaucracy (5) external shocks like famine and plagues. Hmm.

    As of today, whether an extinction event is in the cards or not, and science has clearly shown us that extinctions do happen with well-developed civilizations, the most pressing concern is rapidly rising fossil fuel emissions and global temperature that disrupts, dislodges, and upends life. Alas, many signals indicate it’ll get worse.

    James Hansen, Earth Institute/Columbia University, predicts much higher global temperatures much sooner than the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the UN body politic of climate change.

    For decades now, Hansen’s prescience has effectively been global warming’s equivalence of Yoda-speak. As the lead NASA scientist in 1988 Hansen testified to the US Senate that the greenhouse effect had been detected, indicating that the climate was changing. Human activity, specifically burning fossil fuels, was changing the chemistry of the atmosphere and not for the better.

    Thirty-five years later, November 2023, Hansen has issued yet another warning but with much greater gravity and resonance than his 1988 warning. His landmark 1988 speech about changing the atmosphere’s chemistry has now become reality: it’s immediately before us. That warning has turned real through imagery, in real time, of massive wildfires, massive atmospheric rivers, massive droughts, extraordinarily floods, as unprecedented climate events regularly appear on nightly TV news programs.

    Now Hansen is warning that scientists are underestimating how fast the planet is warming. In fact, he’s concerned enough that he believes the impending crisis necessitates geoengineering the planet’s atmosphere. For many scientists this is not acceptable, unproven, and unnecessary.

    A recent Time magazine article “We Need Geoengineering to Stop Out of Control Warming Warns Climate Scientist James Hansen”, Time, November 2, 2023, claims few scientists share his belief that geoengineering will be necessary. Researchers challenge its efficacy and safety profile, expecting deleterious unintended consequences.

    But, as Hansen readily states, we’ve been inadvertently geoengineering the atmosphere for as long as we’ve spewed greenhouse gases, like CO2. As a society, we’re effective at changing the atmosphere’s chemistry, even though it’s not intentional. Therefore, why not re-geoengineer in the opposite direction?

    Seriously, cars, trains, planes, and industry have been geoengineering the atmosphere with CO2 for over 100 years.

    According to Hansen, something must be done soon. He believes we’ll surpass 1.5C next decade and 2C by mid-century. These are global temperature markers above pre-industrial levels that manifest big challenging issues, and far ahead of what mainstream science expects.

    For example, warming in-excess of 2C could unleash collapse of West Antarctica ice sheets, which are already compromised. The Antarctic continent is a standout feature of the planet containing 95% of the planet’s fresh water trapped in ice melted equal to 200 feet higher sea levels. Nothing more needs to be said about that.

    In fact, forget the 200 feet, which would take centuries, just the first several feet will turn the world upside down, flooding the world’s major coastal cities. High tide will become high water flood levels in the streets of America’s coastal cities. Some of this is already starting to happen; e.g., Portland’s high tide broke all-time records, reaching 14 feet at the same time as record-breaking floods hit the US East Coast, January 14th, 2024. NOAA expects sea levels along US coasts to rise as much over the next 10 years as they did over past 100 years.

    Recent flooding events are setting new all-time records. These are not run of the mill normal flooding events, not normal at all. An extreme example of the climate system’s new rambunctiousness is Pakistan’s 2022 massive flood covering one-third of the country with water, 33 million people impacted, 8 million displaced, 2 million homes destroyed, 1,700 killed, 12,867 injured, and a year later 1.5 million still displaced.

    What would be the aftermath if 2 million US homes were destroyed by flooding?

    In a recent webinar, Hansen cautioned: “The 2°C warming limit is dead, unless we take purposeful actions to alter the earth’s energy imbalance.” It’s a strong statement that few, if any, climate scientists have the guts to make.

    However, breathing the word “geoengineering” raises the hackles of many climate scientists. Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University calls Hansen’s arguments for the necessity of solar geoengineering “a misguided policy advocacy.” (Time, November 2, 2023.) According to Mann, the climate situation is extremely dire. But it can be handled by concerted efforts to decarbonize our economy, without resorting to geoengineering.

    Whereas Hansen claims: “Emissions cuts alone will not be enough to ensure a safe climate in future years, according to Hansen and his collaborators. governments will have to impose carbon fees to help rapidly draw down emissions, they argue, adding it will also be necessary to research and deploy techniques to reduce incoming solar radiation, also known as solar geoengineering.” (Time, November 2, 2023.)

    Looking ahead, how should society approach a very spooky climate system that blindsides humanity with surprise after surprise? For example, according to The Weather Network: “Atmospheric rivers are becoming so intense that we need to rank them like hurricanes.” That’s a first as atmospheric rivers are a normal feature of the climate system but like all normal features these days, human activity, goosing up global warming, has intensified normal features by a factor of 10-to-100 times. Multiply 10 times anything… it’s a lot, or how about 100 times?

    There’s paleoclimate evidence that today’s rate of CO2 emissions at over 2.0 ppm/year with resultant global warming “matching the results” of 1,000 years at 0.02 ppm/year occurring millions of years ago when only nature was involved. 2.0 ppm is 100 times faster than 0.02 ppm. That’s 100 times faster than nature, which  is the crux of the global warming problem.

    Nowadays, massive atmospheric rivers are competing with melting glaciers with flooding that can spur serious damage that major insurance companies never anticipated, as rates go up and up with some insurance coverage dropped in select states. And it’ll get worse unless and until human activity works to mitigate the interrelationship between fossil fuel emissions and global warming. James Hansen is saying we must enhance the planet’s albedo to reflect solar radiation back to outer space. There are ways to do this, maybe successful, maybe not.

    According to Hansen, Earth’s energy imbalance is completely out of whack with more energy than ever before coming into the planet as absorbed sunlight rather than going out as heat radiated to outer space. This imbalance has doubled within only one decade, according to a study by NASA and the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.  Doubling over only 14 years is downright alarming: “A positive energy imbalance – which is what we have – means the earth system is gaining energy, causing the planet to heat up.” This is no small problem; it’s big; it’s new; it threatens life-supporting ecosystems.

    Going forward, a very big question is whether a world consensus will be reached about whether, or not, geoengineering will be officially endorsed. Meanwhile, several tenuous ecosystems; e.g., Greenland’s northern-most glaciers recently discovered as “surprisingly tipsy,” implies an outlook of hesitatingly “keeping one’s fingers crossed.” According to climate scientists, there are multitudes of ecosystems bordering on dangerous tipping points.

    Yet, fortunately for all concerned, at least the planet is good at snapping back from adversity, surviving five extinction events, but what of human civilization in the face of similar adversity? According to Toynbee, the track record is lousy.

    The post Too Much Heat, Past and Present first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Christopher Bosso on Food Assistance, Barbara Briggs on Workplace Disasters

     

          CounterSpin231020.mp3

     

    Orange and Blue Food Stamps Redeemed Here; We Are Helping the Farmers of America Move Surplus Foods

    (USDA, 1939)

    This week on CounterSpin: Government-supplied food assistance has been around in various forms since at least the Great Depression, but never with the straightforward goal of easing hunger. 1930s posters about food stamps declare, “We are helping the farmers of America move surplus foods”; that link between agriculture industry support and nutrition assistance continues to this day—which partly explains why the primary food aid program, SNAP, while the constant target of the anti-poor, racist, drown-government-in-the-bathtub crowd, keeps on keeping on. We talk with Christopher Bosso, professor of public policy and politics at Northeastern University, the author of a new book on that history, called Why SNAP Works: A Political History—and Defense—of the Food Stamp Program.

          CounterSpin231020Bosso.mp3

     

    Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911

    Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 1911

    Also on the show: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911, in which 146 mainly immigrant women and girls died, many leaping from windows to escape the flames, horrified New Yorkers and galvanized the workers’ rights movement. The October 11 unveiling of a monument to those who didn’t just die, but were killed that day, put many in mind of how much still needs to change before we can think of things like Triangle Shirtwaist as relics of a crueler past.

    In 2015, CounterSpin spoke with Barbara Briggs of the Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights about Rana Plaza, the 2013 catastrophe that killed more than a thousand workers in Bangladesh, in circumstances that in some ways echoed those of 102 years earlier. We’ll hear that interview again today.

    Transcript: ‘Workers Are the Best Guarantors of Their Own Safety When They’re Organized’

          CounterSpin231020Briggs.mp3

     

    Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at some recent press coverage of Net Neutrality.

          CounterSpin231020Banter.mp3

     

    The post Christopher Bosso on Food Assistance, Barbara Briggs on Workplace Disasters appeared first on FAIR.

    This post was originally published on CounterSpin.

  • Fukushima up Close, 13 Years Later

    The world is turning to nuclear power as a solution to global warming, but it is postulated herein that it is a huge mistake that endangers society. One nuclear meltdown causes as much damage over the long-term as a major war. Moreover, according to Dr. Paul Dorfman, chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, former secretary to the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Internal Radiation: “It’s important to understand that nuclear is very likely to be a significant climate casualty.”

    Also, of interest, Google: “France’s Global Warming Predicament,” which discusses nuclear energy’s vulnerability in a global warming world.

    Beyond Nuclear International recently published an article about the status of Fukushima as well as an exposé of how the nuclear industry gets away with responsibility for radiation-caused (1) deaths (2) chronic conditions like cancer (3) genetic deformities: A Strategy of Concealment, September 24, 2023, by Kolin Kobayashi, who is a Tokyo-born France-based anti-nuclear activist journalist also serving as president of Echo-Exchange. “How Agencies That Promote Nuclear Power Are Quietly Managing Its Disaster Narrative.”

    The following synopsis, including editorial license that adds important death details which defy the nuclear industry’s bogus claims about nuclear safety, opens closed pathways to what’s really going on.

    After thirteen years, the declaration of a State of Emergency for Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant still cannot be lifted because of many unknowns, as well as ubiquitous deadly radiation levels. The destroyed reactors are tinderboxes of highly radioactive spent fuel rods that contain more cesium-137 than eighty-five (85) Chernobyls. Cesium-137 in or near a human body erupts into a series of maladies, one after another in short order, depending upon level of exposure: (1) nausea (2) vomiting (3) diarrhea (4) bleeding (5) coma leading to death.

    The spent fuel rods at the Fukushima nuclear reactor site are stored in pools of water on the top floor of compromised reactor buildings 100 feet above ground level, except for Unit 3 which completed removal of its spent fuel rods in 2019, an extremely slow, laborious process that’s highly dangerous.

    Stored spent fuel rods in open pools of water are the epitome of high-risk. “If the 440 tonne vessel collapses, it could hit the storage pool next to it. If this pool is damaged, even partially, another major disaster could occur.” (Kobayashi) In that regard, there’s significant risk of collapse in the event of a strong earthquake. And Japan is one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world. “The city (Tokyo) government’s experts reckon there is a 70% chance of a magnitude 7, or higher, quake hitting the capital within the next 30 years.” (“Japan is Preparing for a Massive Earthquake,” The Economist, August 31, 2023)

    If exposed to open air, spent fuel rods erupt into a sizzling zirconium fire followed by massive radiation bursts of the most toxic material on the planet. It can upend an entire countryside and force evacuation of major cities. According to the widely recognized nuclear expert Paul Blanch: “Continual storage in spent fuel pools is the most unsafe thing you could do.” Paul Blanch, registered professional engineer, US Navy Reactor Operator & Instructor with 55 years of experience with nuclear engineering and regulatory agencies, is widely recognized as one of America’s leading experts on nuclear power.

    Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant will remain a high-risk explosive scenario for decades ahead. After all, a program for future decommissioning is unclear and overall radiation guesstimates are formidable. All the structures where decommissioning will take place are highly radioactive and as such nearly impossible for the dangers to worker exposure.

    TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) does not yet know the true extent of damage nor the complete dispersion of corium (molten magma from melted nuclear fuel rods in the core of the reactors). Although engineers believe they’ve located the corium in all three crippled units.  For example, when unit 1 was surveyed by a robot, images showed many parts of the concrete foundation supporting the pressure vessel severely damaged by intense heat from corium. Corium, which is the product of the meltdown of fuel rods in the core of the reactor, is so hot that “corium lava can melt upwards of 30cm (12 inches) of concrete in 1 hour.” (Source: “The Most Dangerous (Man-Made) Lava Flow,” Wired, April 10, 2013)

    Furthermore, on specific point: Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory created corium at 2000°C in an experiment. The experiment demonstrated that “cooling with water may not be sufficient” to halt damaging aspects of corium to concrete. According to the Argonne experiment: “One thing to remember — much of the melting of concrete during a meltdown occurs within minutes to hours, so keeping the core cool is vital for stopping the corium from breaching that containment vessel.”

    In the case of Fukushima, TEPCO claims the corium did not breach the outer wall of the containment vessels, “although there is a healthy debate about this,” Ibid.  Still, an open question remains. The crippled reactors are so hot with radiation that it’s nearly impossible to fully know what’s happening. Dangers of corium: “Long after the meltdown, the lava constituting the corium will remain highly dangerously radioactive for decades-to-centuries.” (Wired)

    Regarding the decision to start releasing radioactive water from storage tanks at Fukushima, which water accumulates daily for purposes of keeping the hot stuff from igniting into an indeterminate fireball, the decision to release was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency: “The IAEA does not have the scientific authority to make reference to the ecological impact of this water discharge, nor has it carried out such a long-term assessment. It is more of a political decision than a scientific one.” (Kobayashi)

    Radiation Risks to Society

    According to the World Nuclear Association, there were no fatalities due to radiation exposure at Fukushima. And as recently as 2021, Forbes magazine reported “No one Died From Radiation At Fukushima: IAEA Boss.” It is believed this is a lie and part of a massive coverup.

    According to Green Cross (founded in 1993 by Mikhail Gorbachev, who repeatedly spoke out about interrelated threats humanity and our Earth confront from nuclear arms, chemical weapons, unsustainable development, and the human-induced decimation of the planet’s ecology): “Approximately 32 million people in Japan are affected by the radioactive fallout from the nuclear disaster in Fukushima… This includes people who were exposed to radiation and other stress factors resulting from the accident and who are consequently at potential risk from both long and short-term consequences… As with the Chernobyl nuclear accident, which impacted 10 million people, Japan is expected to see increased cancer risk and neuropsychological long-term health consequences.”

    With nuclear radiation, the damage to humans shows up years later as cancer and/or deformity of newborns second/third generation. For example, only recently, the truth has come to surface about Chernobyl-related deaths, child deformities, and cancer 30+ years after the event. For example:

    * A BBC Future Planet article on July 25, 2019, “The True Toll of the Chernobyl Disaster”:

    According to the official, internationally recognized death toll, just 31 people died as an immediate result of Chernobyl while the UN estimates that only 50 deaths can be directly attributed to the disaster. In 2005, it predicted a further 4,000 might eventually die as a result of the radiation exposure… Brown’s research, however, suggests Chernobyl has cast a far longer shadow.

    * “The number of deaths in subsequent decades remains in dispute. The lowest estimates are 4,000; others 90,000 and up to 200,000.” (Janata Weekly: “Cuba and the Children of Chernobyl,” May 7, 2023)

    * According to an article in USA Today February 24, 2022, “What Happened at Chernobyl? What to Know About Nuclear Disaster“: “At least 28 people were killed by the disaster, but thousands more have died from cancer as a result of radiation that spread after the explosion and fire. The effects of radiation on the environment and humans is still being studied.”

    According to Chernobyl Children International, 6,000 newborns are born every year in Ukraine with congenital heart defects called “Chernobyl Heart.”

    Fukushima Report: The stress-related effects of Fukushima evacuation and subsequent relocation are also a concern. The evacuation involved a total of over 400,000 individuals, 160,000 of them from within 20km of Fukushima. The number of deaths from the nuclear disaster attributed to stress, fatigue and the hardship of living as evacuees is estimated to be around 1,700 so far. (“Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant Disaster: How Many People Were Affected? 2015 Report,” Reliefweb, March 9, 2015.

    The Fukushima Report was prepared under the direction of Prof. Jonathan M. Samet, Director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Southern California (USC), as a Green Cross initiative. Green Cross International: GCI is an independent non-profit and nongovernmental organization founded in 1993 by Nobel Peace Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev.

    Over time, Japan is expected to see increased cancer risks and neuropsychological long-term health consequences. “The lives of approximately 42 million people have been permanently affected by radioactive contamination caused by the accidents in the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants. Continued exposure to low-level radiation, entering the human body on a daily basis through food intake, is of particular consequence,” Ibid.

    Fukushima Deaths

    The cocksure pro-nuclear crowd has trumpeted Fukushima as an example of Mother Nature taking lives because of an earthquake and tsunami; whereas the power plant accident proves nuclear power can withstand the worst without unnecessary death and illness. According to nuclear industry reports, all the deaths (16,000) were the fault of Mother Nature, not radiation.

    But people in the streets and on the ground in Japan tell a different story about the risks of radiation. They talk about illnesses and death. TEPCO itself has reported few radiation illnesses and no radiation-caused deaths but what if it’s not their responsibility in the first instance, as layers of contractors and subcontractors employ workers to cleanup the toxic mess. If “subcontractor workers die” from radiation exposure, so what? It’s not TEPCO’s responsibility to report worker deaths of subcontractors, and the subcontractors are not motivated to report deaths, which are not reported.

    According to credible sources in Japan, death is in the air, to wit: “The ashes of half a dozen unidentified laborers ended up at a Buddhist temple in this town just north of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Some of the dead men had no papers, others left no emergency contacts. Their names could not be confirmed, and no family members had been tracked down to claim their remains. They were simply labeled ‘decontamination troops’ — unknown soldiers in Japan’s massive cleanup campaign to make Fukushima livable again five years after radiation poisoned the fertile countryside… Hideaki Kinoshita, a Buddhist monk… keeps the unidentified laborers’ ashes at his temple, in wooden boxes and wrapped in white cloth.” (Mari Yamaguchi, Fukushima, “‘Decontamination Troops’ Often Exploited, Shunned,” AP & ABC News, Minamisoma, Japan, Mar 10, 2016)

    “The men were among the 26,000 workers — many in their 50s and 60s from the margins of society with no special skills or close family ties — tasked with removing the contaminated topsoil and stuffing it into tens of thousands of black bags lining the fields and roads. They wipe off roofs, clean out gutters and chop down trees in a seemingly endless routine… Coming from across Japan to do a dirty, risky and undesirable job, the workers make up the very bottom of the nation’s murky, caste-like subcontractor system long criticized for labor violations,” Ibid.

    The following is part of an interview with Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture. (“Fukushima Disaster: Tokyo Hides Truth as Children Die, Become Ill from Radiation” – Ex-Mayor, RT, April 21, 2014):

    SS (question): The United Nations report on the radiation fallout from Fukushima says no radiation-related deaths or acute diseases have been observed among the workers and general public exposed – so it’s not that dangerous after all? Or is there not enough information available to make proper assessments? What do you think?

    Katslutaka Idogawa’s response: “This report is completely false. The report was made by a representative of Japan – Professor Hayano. Representing Japan, he lied to the whole world. When I was mayor, I knew many people who died from a heart attack, and then there were many people in Fukushima who died suddenly, even among young people. It’s a real shame that the authorities hide the truth from the whole world, from the UN. We need to admit that actually many people are dying. We are not allowed to say that, but TEPCO employees also are dying. But they keep mum about it.”

    Mako Oshidori, interviewed in Germany, director of Free Press Corporation/Japan, investigated several unreported worker deaths, and interviewed a former nurse who quit TEPCO: “I would like to talk about my interview of a nurse who used to work at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) after the accident… He quit his job with TEPCO in 2013, and that’s when I interviewed him… As of now, there are multiple NPP workers that have died, but only the ones who died on the job are reported publicly. Some of them have died suddenly while off work, for instance, during the weekend or in their sleep, but none of their deaths are reported.” (Oshidori)

    “Not only that, but they are also not included in the worker death count. For example, there are some workers who quit the job after a lot of radiation exposure… and end up dying a month later, but none of these deaths are either reported, or included in the death toll. This is the reality of the NPP workers.” (Oshidori)

    During her interview, Ms. Oshidori commented, “There is one thing that really surprised me here in Europe. It’s the fact that people here think Japan is a very democratic and free country.”

    Mako’s full interview “The Hidden Truth about Fukushima”

    Alas, two hundred U.S. sailors of the USS Ronald Reagan filed a lawsuit against TEPCO, claiming that they experienced leukemia, ulcers, gall bladder removals, brain cancer, brain tumors, testicular cancer, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, thyroid illness, stomach ailments and other complaints extremely unusual in such young adults. One sailor died from radiation complications. Among the plaintiffs was a sailor who was pregnant during the mission. Her baby was born with multiple genetic mutations.

    The sailors that filed the suit participated in “Operation Tomodachi,” providing humanitarian relief after the March 11th, 2011 Fukushima disaster based upon assurances that radiation levels were okay. But that was a lie.

    Ultimately, and unsurprisingly, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the sailors’ appeal.

    In summation, the final word is left to Kolin Kobaryashi: “The international nuclear lobby, which represents only a minority, has the influence and money to dominate the world’s population with immense power and has now united the world’s minority nuclear community into one big galaxy. Many of the citizens who have experienced the world’s three most serious civil nuclear accidents have clearly realized that nuclear energy is too dangerous. These citizens are so divided and conflicted that they feel like a helpless minority.”

    “Former prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Naoto Kan called on the European Union on Thursday to pursue a path toward zero nuclear power, with the bloc planning to designate it as a form of “green” energy in achieving net-zero emissions by midcentury.” (“Ex-Prime Ministers Koizumi and Kan Demand EU Choose Zero Nuclear Power Path,” Japan Times, Jan. 27, 2022)

    Five former Japanese prime ministers issued declarations that Japan should break with nuclear power generation on March 11, the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture… Former prime ministers Morihiro Hosokawa, Tomiichi Murayama, Junichiro Koizumi, Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan signed and released their declarations during the conference. Among them, Koizumi, Hatoyama and Kan took to the podium and shook hands… In his declaration titled ‘Don’t hold back on reversing a mistake: A zero-carbon emission society can be achieved without nuclear power plants,’ Koizumi said, ‘When it comes to the nuclear power plant issue, there is no ruling party or opposition party. Nuclear power plants expose many people’s lives to danger, bring financial ruin, and cause impossible-to-solve nuclear waste problems. We have no choice but to abolish them. (“5 ex-Japan PMs Call for Country to End Nuclear Power Use on Fukushima 10th Anniversary,” Mainichi, March 12, 2021)

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • NZ election 2023: ‘Too cavalier’ – scientists call out Peters over climate change claims

    By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter

    New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has been spreading misleading climate information at public meetings during the Aotearoa general election campaign.

    Climate change has been topical during the campaign, with extreme weather events like the Hawke’s Bay floods still fresh in people’s minds.

    Both major parties have made clear commitments to New Zealand’s climate targets, while Peters has been questioning the science and sharing incorrect climate information at public meetings.

    At a gathering in Remuera last month Peters told voters, “Carbon dioxide is 0.04 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere and of that 0.04 percent, human effect is 3 percent.”

    Three climate analysts, including NIWA’s principal climate scientist Dr Sam Dean, have told RNZ this figure is incorrect.

    “It is not 3 percent. Humans are responsible for 33 percent of the carbon dioxide that is in the atmosphere now,” Dr Dean said.

    Peters also told voters New Zealand was a low-emitting country and tried to link tsunamis to climate change.

    “We are 0.17 percent of the emissions in this world and China and India and the United States and Russia are not listening . . .  The biggest tsunami the world ever had was 1968 in recent times.

    “We’ve only been keeping stats for the last 100 years, but you’ve got all these people out there saying these are unique circumstances and they haven’t got the scientific evidence to prove that.”

    New Zealand First leader Winston Peters speaks at a public meeting at Napier Sailing Club in Napier on 29 September 2023.
    Winston Peters is also trying to link tsunamis to climate change . . . “We’ve only been keeping stats for the last 100 years.” Image: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone

    Dr Dean said New Zealand might have low net emissions compared to other countries but there was no doubt Aotearoa was a “dirty polluter” — and tsunamis had nothing to do with climate change.

    “Proportionately on a per person basis, our emissions are very high and we produce more than our fair share of the pollution that is currently in the planet,” he said.

    “As far as we know, tsunamis have nothing to do with climate change whatsoever.”

    RNZ put some of Peters’ claims to him, asking him where he got the 3 percent figure he cited about the human impact on CO2.

    “Oh, we’ve got somebody now that’s arguing about the basic science . . .  I get it from experts internationally and if you want me to do all your homework, put me on a payroll,” Peters replied.

    Dr Dean who is an international expert is not the only scientist to debunk Peters’ climate claims.

    University of Waikato environmental science senior lecturer Dr Luke Harrington
    University of Waikato environmental science senior lecturer Dr Luke Harrington . . . “Events of such intensity will become more common and events of such rarity will become more intense as the world continues to warm.” Image: University of Waikato/RNZ News

    Waikato University’s Dr Luke Harrington and Canterbury University’s Dr David Frame have both looked at Peters’ comments.

    They describe his questions about the link between climate change and extreme weather events as “too cavalier” and “disingenuous”.

    “Climate change doesn’t cause extreme flooding events in a vacuum — a whole range of natural ingredients need to come together in just the right way for an individual event to occur,” Dr Harrington said.

    “What climate change does is intensify the wind and rain which results when these natural factors combine and an ex-tropical cyclone passes nearby. Events of such intensity will become more common and events of such rarity will become more intense as the world continues to warm.”

    Dr Harrington suggested Peters “peruse” the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report if he needed any evidence.

    Dr Frame also referred to this report, saying there are strong links between (cumulative) anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and extreme rainfall events.

    Dr Dean said inaccuracies aside, Peters’ figures ignore methane emissions, making the problem seem much smaller than it really is.

    “That sort of story comes from the climate sceptic community and it’s a common tactic to phrase things in terms of very small numbers and then mix them up to trivialise the subject.”

    Other political parties may have vastly different approaches to emissions reduction but they all accept the climate science.

    National Party leader Chris Luxon — who may well have to work with Peters — had been clear there was no room for climate scepticism in this election.

    “Give it up, I mean we’re in 2023. There’s no doubt about it. You can’t be climate denier or a climate minimalist,” Luxon said.

    This may be a big ask if Winston Peters is not on board with the science.

    Early voting began yesterday in the general election and polling day is on October 14.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Maui Fire Coverage Ignored Fossil Fuel Responsibility

     

    When wildfires tore across Maui on August 9, devastating the Hawaiian island gem, media covered the disaster extensively. Broadcast news featured dramatic photographs that showed the horrors of the island’s destruction, with online videos shared everywhere from the Weather Channel to Inside Edition. Reporting carried testimonial descriptions like “war zone” and “apocalyptic.” On Twitter, before-and-after pictures of Lahaina confirmed that the town, home to Indigenous communities and historic sites, no longer existed.

    Most of the corporate press focused on the island’s sensational visual destruction, official responses, body counts and destroyed structures. Meanwhile, news reports largely confused or denied the climate crisis’s contribution to the fire, and ignored the connections between fossil fuel use, increased CO2 levels and planetary heating.

    Crisis reporting’s lack of context 

    WaPo: Six killed in wildfires burning in Hawaii, authorities urge tourists to stay away

    The Washington Post (8/9/23) quoted Hawaii’s governor, ““We never anticipated in this state that a hurricane that did not make impact on our islands would cause these kind of wildfires”—but the word “climate” doesn’t appear in the article.

    A long Washington Post piece (8/9/23) described Maui’s power outages, cell phone blackout, clogged roads and evacuations. It made no mention of the climate crisis.

    The following day, the Post (8/10/23) reported that “the fires left 89 people dead and damaged or destroyed more than 2,200 structures and buildings.” Headlining the article, “What We Know About the Cause of the Maui Wildfires,” the paper didn’t include “climate change” or its synonyms in the text. Instead, the Post identified three “risk” factors: “months of drought, low humidity and high winds.” What caused the months of drought on a tropical island not previously prone to wildfires? The Post didn’t seem interested in pursuing the question.

    The piece also offered no information for understanding the similarities to the fires that had raged across Canada and turned the skies of the Northeast an eerie color of orange only two months earlier (FAIR.org, 7/18/23). The only reference point the Post gave for comparison was Hurricane Lane, which hit the Hawaiian Islands in 2018, causing heavy rains and later burning 3,000 acres of land—yet the reporters made no connection between climate instability and stronger, more intense storms.

    The San Francisco Chronicle (8/10/23) published a stand-alone photo essay with captions, many taken with drones or aerial photography, that included a series of before-and-after images of Lahaina and the loss of historic sites, including the scorching of the banyan tree planted in 1870 to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of missionaries on the island. Though under the heading of “Climate,” no mention was made of the changing climate.

    ‘A symptom of human-caused climate change’

    NYT: How Climate Change Turned Lush Hawaii Into a Tinderbox

    Even when specifically addressing the impact of climate disruption, the New York Times (8/10/23) fails to mention the role of oil and other fossil fuels.

    Some in the press did draw connections to the climate crisis. For instance, Axios (8/10/23), in a piece headlined, “The Climate Link to Maui’s Wildfire Tragedy,” framed the disaster within a climate discourse: “Researchers say climate change has likely been a contributing factor to the deadly wildfires in Hawaii.” Axios also drew correlations to the “summer of blistering, record-breaking heat, that puts climate in focus,” referencing the wildfires destroying Canadian forests and creating a health hazard across the US.

    Importantly, Axios went further, admitting that climate change is a consequence of human activity: “Increased wildfire risk is also a symptom of human-caused climate change, scientists say.” A link took readers to previous Axios reporting (5/16/22) on research that tracks wildfire risks to the built environment, writing, “Climate change will cause a steep increase in the exposure of US properties to wildfire risks during the next 30 years.” Yet even while making these connections, Axios failed to include fossil fuels and CO2 in the text.

    A New York Times piece headlined “How Climate Change Turned Lush Hawaii into a Tinder Box” (8/10/23) seemed focused on climate disruption: “As the planet heats up, no place is protected from disasters.” It documented the “long-term decline” in annual rainfall,” matter-of-factly citing multiple causes such as El Niño fluctuations, storms moving north and less cloud cover. But like Axios, the Times remained silent on what’s at the root of all this: fossil fuel combustion, and the gas and oil industries.

    More, the Times asserted “It’s difficult to directly attribute any single hurricane to climate change”—as though there are some weather events that are affected by the climate, and others that are not. This is the discredited language of climate denial and doubt, pushed for decades by Exxon and other mega-fossil fuel corporations. Why include it, when the next sentence acknowledges that bigger storms result from increasing temperatures?

    The report released by the IPCC in 2021 (8/9/21) did not mince words:

    The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.

    The UN Secretary-General called it “code red for humanity.” Bill McKibben’s 2021 review of the report in the New Yorker (8/11/21) charged humans with “wreaking havoc” on the planet: We are “setting it on fire.”

    Much is now understood about climate change and how best to convey information about it clearly. It’s important to lead with the main point that the planet is warming, and that fossil fuel combustion is the greatest contributor. In Communicating the Science of Climate Change (2011), Richard Summerville and Susan Joy Hassol of Climate Communication write that a common mistake in climate messaging is overdoing “the level of detail, and people can have difficulty sorting out what is important. In short, the more you say, the less they hear.”

    ‘Climate change can’t be blamed’

    WaPo: Maui fires not just due to climate change but a ‘compound disaster’

    The Washington Post (8/12/23) saying that the fires were also caused by “weather patterns that happen naturally” is like reporting that a house didn’t burn down just because of arson, but also because it was made of wood.

    Two days later, the Washington Post (8/12/23) had solidified what can be described as a “discourse of confusion” with the headline, “Maui Fires Not Just Due to Climate Change but a ‘Compound Disaster.’”

    There is not just one “standout factor,” it asserted, but different “agents acting together.” The article explained that rising temperatures contributed to the severity of the blaze, but “global warming could not have driven the fires by itself.” Other “human influences” on “climate and environment” are causing these disasters to escalate. Making a distinction between planetary warming and other “human influences” on “environment” muddies the connections between a warming planet and extreme weather events, and confuses the realities of climate disruption. It obscures who is responsible and what must change.

    For climate scientist David Ho (Twitter, 8/10/23), a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the cause of the Maui fires was straightforward and stated clearly:

    People associate Hawaii with tropical conditions, but rainfall has been decreasing for decades because of climate change, drying out the lush landscape and making it increasingly susceptible to wildfire damage.

    Another climate scientist and energy policy expert, Leah Stokes at UC Santa Barbara, was also clear about climate change and the Maui fires. Over a image of Lahaina, she posted (Twitter, 8/9/23): “This is climate change. Every day we delay cutting fossil fuels, more tragedies like this happen.”

    When ABC News (8/15/23) went even further and published the headline: “Why Climate Change Can’t Be Blamed for the Maui Wildfires,” climate reporter Emily Atkin, of the newsletter Heated (8/17/23), went to the article’s sources to ask if the headline phrasing accurately reflected their comments. They all said their words had been taken out of context. The headline was later edited to add “entirely” after “blamed.”

    The incident was picked by the Poynter Institute (8/18/23), which quoted Atkin saying, “Climate change absolutely can be partially blamed for the severity of the Maui disaster because climate change worsens wildfires, and climate change plays a role in literally all weather events.”

    Discouraging action

    Democracy Now!: “We’re Living the Climate Emergency”: Native Hawaiian Kaniela Ing on Fires, Colonialism & Banyan Tree

    Kaniela Ing (Democracy Now!, 8/11/23): “Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Joe Manchin, oil companies and anyone in power who denies climate change, to me, are the arsonists here.”

    That sort of reporting done by the Post and ABC discourages much-needed action—as does reporting like NPR’s “The Role Climate Change Played in Hawaii’s Devastating Wildfires” (All Things Considered, 8/10/23). That piece led with standard crisis reporting and a resident of Lahaina who said everything he had is gone, then moved to details of an island in ruins. Testimonial descriptions included one woman’s story of jumping into the water and witnessing her pet and friend dying. A mobile doctor says, “It just seems unfair.” We are left with feelings of despair.

    Reporting on our environmental crisis, heavy on description and ratings-driven horror, and mostly devoid of clear explanations and solutions, most establishment media offer only despair and inevitability. It has long been understood that the presentation of images and discussions of the horrors of environmental and human suffering, presented without direct actions to be taken, are experienced as an anguishing emotional blow.

    As Erin Hawley and Gabi Mocatta wrote in Popular Communication (4/22),  addressing planetary suffering should be told with new stories where audiences can “write themselves into the story of building a better future.” Solution-focused storytelling offers accurate documentation of the crisis, but follows with policies able to address our current climate emergency, and even details of available technologies and transformative climate solutions (FAIR.org, 7/18/23).

    There are solutions in place, which are rarely mentioned in corporate media. For example, Stanford University published research (One Earth, 12/20/19) that compared alternative energy to the existing model in 143 countries, accounting for 99.7% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Researchers found that transitioning to 100% wind, water and solar (WWS) reduces global energy needs by 57%, energy costs by 61%, and social costs by 91%, while avoiding blackouts and creating millions more jobs than lost.

    As Native Hawaiian Kaniela Ing told Democracy Now! (8/11/23): “We need to end and phase out, deny all new fossil fuel permits, and really empower the communities that build back ourselves democratically. That’s the solution for it.”

    Corporate journalism is currently failing to tell, accurately and compellingly, the most important story of our time: what the causes of the climate crisis are, and what can be done to stop the destruction of people and the planet as we know it.

    Featured Image: Weather Channel (8/16/23)

    The post Maui Fire Coverage Ignored Fossil Fuel Responsibility appeared first on FAIR.

    This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Robin Andersen.

  • Struggling Maui residents now ‘pleading’ for tourists to return

    By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Locals are asking tourists to return to Maui after asking for space in the initial aftermath of the deadly fire that swept through the town of Lāhainā about a fortnight ago.

    Many people on the island were upset at the sight of tourists snorkelling as bodies were being recovered in waters close by.

    The Hawai’i Tourism Authority asked visitors to go to other islands and Honolulu-born actor Jason Momoa took to Instagram on August 11 to say: “Maui is not the place to have your vacation right now”.

    The tourism industry generates about 80 percent of Maui’s wealth bringing in about US$5.7 billion each year, and attitudes towards visitors returning are changing.

    Speaking “to the world”, Hawai’i Governor Josh Green made it clear tourists were welcome to visit Maui, excluding the west side.

    “All the other areas of Maui, and the rest of Hawai’i, they’re safe, they’re open and they’re available,” Green said on Monday during a visit from US President Joe Biden.

    “The mystique and love here, the aloha, is here for you, and the reason I say that is because when you come you will support our local economy and help speed the recovery of the people that are suffering right now.”

    115 dead, 1000 missing
    At least 115 people have died and around 1000 people are still missing, with search efforts continuing. Officials are urging family members with relatives unaccounted for to offer DNA samples to help identify the victims.

    US President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, and wife Jaime Green walk along Front Street to inspect wildfire damage in Lahaina.
    US President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Hawai’i Governor Josh Green, and wife Jaime Green walk along Front Street to inspect wildfire damage in Lāhainā. Image: RNZ/Mandel Ngan/AFP

    Griff Dempsey, owner of Aloha Kayaks Maui, said visitors returning to the island was “a touchy subject”.

    “Keep in mind people lost everything so the sentiment of having visitors come on the island when our community has not had a time to grieve, I think [giving space] is a viable request by the community,” Dempsey said.

    However, he said tourism was the business model for the state.

    “I think there’s such a thing as conscious tourism where people visit here but maybe give part of their time while they’re here volunteering.

    “I would also encourage people that are booking trips to Maui to really seek out locally owned and operated businesses.”

    Marcus Perry who owns Hoaloha Jeep Adventures, said immediately after the disaster it did not seem right for people to come to the island and have fun but he said people were now “pleading for them to come back”.

    ‘Still in shock’
    “We are all still going through the shock and grieving process, but it does help to have people come to bring in the dollars so that we can all still to pay to feed our families and to make a living,” Perry said.

    Perry said he was re-negotiating bills because of the lack of customers.

    “We’ve had dozens of cancellations totalling about $100,000, we have very few new bookings, and it’s a struggle right now to stay afloat.”

    Perry said as time has gone on, concern has extended to those suffering from the residual impacts of the fire, as well as the immediate victims.

    Hawai’ian Native Kanani Higbee said hours are being cut, to the extent some full-time workers are down to one day a week.

    “A lot of people tell me how much they’re hurting,” Higbee said.

    “I can see it in the stores too because one of my jobs is I’m the grocery store cashier, I can tell that there’s hardly any customers and it’s because they don’t have the money to buy food because their hours are being cut at work.

    “The community showed a lot of support for Lāhainā by volunteering instead of working… now they really need to go to work because they need to pay their rent, they need to make sure their business doesn’t go bankrupt.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • Anger in Hawai’i over threat of land grabs after wildfire disaster

    By Finau Fonua, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Fears are rife in Hawai’i of predatory land buying after the recent wildfires have left many locals homeless and in dire financial straits.

    The wildfires incinerated the town of Lāhainā, destroying 2200 homes and businesses and leaving hundreds unaccounted for. At least 114 people are confirmed dead.

    The disaster has shed light on Hawai’i’s housing crisis which has prompted many to leave the state for the US mainland.

    According to Hawai’i’s Senate Housing Committee, an average of 14,000 Hawai’ians leave the state every year. The state also has one of the highest homeless rates in the country — in 2022, close to 6000 people experienced homelessness.

    Hawai’i — a state notorious for high mortgage rates and rent — was already in a housing crisis before the disaster occurred. In fact, it was only last month that Hawai’i’s Governor Josh Green declared a housing emergency — announcing plans to build 50,000 homes before 2025.

    Listen to feature on Pacific Waves duration 4:03

    “Homeowners have been reached out to by developers and realtors offering to buy their land…and this is disgusting and we just want to let people around the world to know that Lahaina is not for sale,” Maui community leader Tiare Lawrence told US media.

    Lawrence accused out-of-state developers of taking advantage of the disaster, by buying up multi-generational lands from residents forced into financial desperation by the wildfires.

    Honolulu, Hawaii, 2023
    Hawai’i’s numerous luxury Hotels have been blamed for pushing up property costs. Image: RNZ Pacific/Finau Fonua

    Lāhainā evacuee John Crewe told RNZ Pacific local inter-generational property owners were already struggling to keep up with costs before the wildfires destroyed their homes.

    “People feel that they will be forced to sell out because they’re desperate, and then that will mean there is no place for them to return to,” said Crewe.

    “Certain people may try to take advantage of the disaster to gain more real estate because it’s a vacation destination, people like to buy properties for vacation and that drives up the cost of everything.

    “This is something that should have been addressed long ago.”

    In response to the public concerns, Hawai’i’s Governor Josh Green announced he had organised attorneys to assist local landowners.

    “I’ve asked my attorney to watch out for predatory practices,” Green said last week.

    “We’ll also be raising incredible amount of resources to protect us financially so that none of that land falls into anyone else’s hands,” he added.

    The governor even suggested the state government would look to acquire the land in devastated parts of Maui.

    That comment caused a social media backlash from critics who accuse the administration of protecting the interests of lucrative hotels and tourism developers — blamed by many for making the Hawai’i’s property markets so expensive.

    “Some people have taken out of context a comment I made about purchasing land — that is to protect it, to protect if for local people so that it is not stolen by people on the mainland,” said Green.

    “This is not about the government getting land, this is the people’s land and the people will decide what to do with Lāhainā.”

    Hawaii Governor Josh Green poses after signing Housing Emergency Proclamation, July 19, 2023
    Hawai’i Governor Josh Green poses after signing the Housing Emergency Proclamation last month. Image: Office of Hawaii Governor Josh Green

    But many remain doubtful. In the days following the disaster, thousands of Lāhainā evacuees were forced to live in gymnasiums, churches, community shelters and their cars while Maui’s many hotels and resorts remained open to tourists.

    Governor Green did announce that he had arranged with hotels for more than 500 rooms to be made available for evacuees to use.

    Lāhainā evacuee and Native Hawai’ian Kanani Higbee told RNZ Pacific she had no choice but to leave Hawai’i for another state where the costs of living were cheaper.

    John Crewe said he prayed the community which had existed for generations in Hawaii’s historical city would remain intact.

    “People might have the tendency to leave the island and go somewhere else. We should build it so that people will come back and make Lāhainā a vibrant society and not just a tourist destination,” he said.

    According to Hawai’i’s Senate Housing Committee, one resident emigrates from Hawai’i every 36 minutes.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • Native Hawai’ian official blames colonisation, climate change for wildfires

    RNZ Pacific

    The board chair of the Office of Hawai’ian Affairs says the Maui wildfires were caused in part by climate change and colonisation.

    Carmen Lindsey said as kānaka (Native Hawai’ians), no words could describe the devastation of the losses in Lāhainā, the former capital of the Hawai’ian Kingdom, on the island of Maui.

    “The fires of today are in part due to the climate crisis, a history of colonialism in our islands, and the loss of our right to steward our ʻāina and wai,” she said.

    “Today we have watched our precious cultural assets, our physical connection to our ancestors, our places of remembering — all go up in smoke.

    “The same Western forces that tried to erase us as a people now threaten our survival with their destructive practices.”

    She said the Office of Hawai’ian Affairs was ready to help with community needs.

    The Wiwoʻole #MauiStrong benefit concert on Saturday will raise essential disaster relief funds to support and sustain the victims of the wildfires.

    ‘Born out of activism’
    The Office of Hawai’ian Affairs is a semi-autonomous state agency responsible for improving the wellbeing of native Hawai’ians, for example by annually providing Native Hawai’ian students $500,000 in scholarship money.

    It says it was “born out of activism in the 1970s to right past wrongs suffered by Native Hawai’ians for over 100 years”.

    According to the 2019 US Census Bureau estimate, about 355,000 Native Hawai’ians or Pacific Islanders reside in Hawai’i, out of a total population of about 1.4 million.

    At least 110 people are confirmed dead, while many others remain missing.

    But Hawai’i Governor Josh Green told CNN the number of residents still unaccounted for was “probably still over 1000”.

    This image courtesy of the US Army shows damaged buildings and structures of Lahaina Town destroyed in the Maui wildfires.
    Damaged buildings and structures of Lāhainā Town destroyed in the Maui wildfires. Image: Staff Sergeant Mttew A. Foster/US Army/RNZ Pacific

    Help from American Samoa
    Six members of the American Samoa National Park Service Fire crew are mobilising to respond to the fires.

    In partnership with Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, the National Park of American Samoa trains staff and local villagers in the skills required to fight fires at home and within other areas of the United States.

    The fire crew is made up of National Park Service employees, and employees of the American Samoa government and local businesses.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • Anger over failure of sirens to go off as wildfire swept through Lāhainā

    By Finau Fonua, RNZ Pacific journalist

    As recovery and humanitarian efforts ramp up in Hawai’i’s Maui to help evacuees from the town of Lāhainā, there is frustration among many about the response and the failure of emergency sirens to sound off during the disaster.

    The most recent update for Hawai’i’s Governor’s Office has the death toll at 110.

    “The sirens never went off which is why a lot of people died because if people had heard the sirens, they would of course have run,” said Allin Dudoit, an assistant for the New Life Church in Kahului, which has been assisting survivors with basic supplies, accommodation and counselling.

    “When they saw the smoke outside, they didn’t think they were in danger because they didn’t hear the sirens,” he added.

    “I had a nephew who made it out alive with his sisters, they got burnt a little but they made it out.”

    Dudoit told RNZ Pacific that many survivors were still in their homes when the fires struck and that fallen telephone poles prevented cars from getting out.

    Maui New Life Church receives donations for Lahaina evacuees
    Maui New Life Church receives donations for Lāhainā evacuees. Image: New Life Maui Pentecostal Church/RNZ Pacific

    “People have been telling me they only had seconds to get away, that they didn’t even have time to run down the hallway to grab a family member — that’s how bad it was.

    Telephone pole gridlock
    “So many telephone posts were down that it caused a gridlock . . . they thought they were getting away, but the fires just came in and swept through the traffic.

    “My wife’s uncle didn’t make it, he was in a truck.”

    Lahaina Evacuees attended to by Red Cross Volunteers
    Lāhainā evacuees attended to by Red Cross volunteers. Image: Scott Dalton/American Red Cross/RNZ Pacific

    More than 1000 responders — mostly from the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — are in Maui assisting survivors and recovering bodies from Lāhainā.

    In the wake of the disaster, Hawai’i’s Governor Josh Green had announced aid, including employment insurance, financial support and housing.

    “We have over 500 hotel rooms already up and going,” said Green.

    “If you’re displaced from your job, you need to talk to the Department of Labour . . . please do that so you can get benefits and resources right away.

    “We have an AirB&B programme that will have a thousand available rooms for people to go to.

    Stable housing
    “We want everyone to be able to leave the shelters and go into stable housing which is going to take a long time.”

    Hawaii Governor Josh Green
    Hawai’i Governor Josh Green addresses Hawai’i National Guard. Image: Office of Hawaii Governor Josh Green/RNZ Pacific

    A housing crisis already exists in Hawai’i. Just last month, Green issued an emergency proclamation to expedite the construction of 50,000 new housing units by 2025.

    Lāhainā evacuee and single mother Kanani Higbee — now unemployed and homeless as a result of the disaster — told RNZ Pacific she is already considering leaving the state.

    “It’s looking like this Native Hawai’ian and her kids will have to move to another state that has jobs and affordable housing because there isn’t enough help on Maui for us,” she said.

    “Tourists are going to want to come back to visit and vacation condominiums will not want to house locals (evacuees) anymore, because the owners have high mortgages to pay,” she said.

    Lahaina Evacuee Kanani Higbee and her family.
    Kanani Higbee and her family . . . “Tourists are going to want to come back to visit and vacation condominiums will not want to house locals (evacuees) anymore.” Image: Kanani Higbee/RNZ Pacific

    “My work at the grocery store said they may place me to work somewhere else, but haven’t yet. I also work at Lāhaināluna High School . . . the principal told us that they aren’t sure when it will reopen.

    “My sister-in-law works at a hotel near the fires and they are taking good care of her — they gave her a longer amount of disaster relief pay.

    Some helped, others move
    “Some people are getting lots of help while others are going to have to move away from Maui from lack of help.” 

    Among the most active groups helping Lāhainā evacuees have been Maui’s many churches whose congregations have been raising donations and taking in evacuees.

    Baptist Church Pastor Matt Brunt said many people were still reported missing and there was a sense of despair among those who had not heard from missing relatives.

    “They’re pretty certain that people they haven’t been able to find yet are most likely going to be a part of the count of people who have died,” said Brunt.

    “It seems like people have the immediate supplies they need, but housing is definitely is the biggest need now — to get people out of these shelters and find them a place to live.

    “There’s a mixed response of how people feel about the response time of the government, but we also see just how many individuals are stepping out and meeting the needs of these people.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • ‘Everyone was in panic mode’: Lāhainā resident tells of wildfire escape

    By Finau Fonua, RNZ Pacific journalist

    The death toll from the devastating wildfire that engulfed the historic beachside town of Lāhainā on the island of Maui in Hawai’i, continues to rise, with 55 reported dead so far.

    Images of Lāhainā show a town obliterated by wildfires with homes and cars in ashes.

    Thousands have lost everything and have evacuated to emergency centres.

    The firestorm hit Lāhainā like a blowtorch, with wildfires from vegetation fanned by sustained 100km/h winds generated from a hurricane located south of Hawai’i.

    “The fire started on the top of the mountain within about a five-mile radius from us,” Leimoana Fa’alogo, a 28-year-old resident of Lāhainā who witnessed the disaster, said.

    “The fire was moving down the hill superfast and I would say that within 10 minutes it reached the town and within another 10 minutes moved from one neighbourhood to the next,” Fa’alogo said.

    “Because of the high winds from Hurricane Dora, the fire was moving fast and soon people were trying to evacuate.”

    ‘It was moving too fast’
    Fa’alogo told RNZ Pacific ceaseless winds intensified the firewall, which quickly reached the town. It moved so fast, firefighters were unable to keep up.

    “They were responding but because of the high winds, it was moving too fast for them,” Fa’alogo said.

    “They just weren’t able to respond quickly enough and didn’t have the manpower to continue.”

    Leimoana Fa'alogo
    Witness Leimoana Fa’alogo . . . “The fire was moving fast and soon people were trying to evacuate.” Image: Leimoana Fa’alogo/RNZ Pacific

    Realising the fires could not be stopped, Lāhainā residents abandoned their homes and evacuated. Some residents jumped into the ocean as their escape routes became cutoff by fires.

    “We were in the home with my husband and when I looked outside there was smoke everywhere,” Lāhainā resident Alejandra Bautista said.

    “It was scary, we just grabbed some things and left. I’ve lost my house.”

    Burnt-out shells of cars on the waterfront in the historic Hawai'i town of Lahaina
    Burnt-out cars on the waterfront in the historic Hawai’i town of Lāhainā . . . at least 56 people have lost their lives and 11,000 have been evacuated. Image: @mhdksafa

    Realising the fires could not be stopped, Lāhainā residents abandoned their homes and evacuated. Some residents jumped into the ocean as their escape routes became cutoff by fires.

    “We were in the home with my husband and when I looked outside there was smoke everywhere,” Lāhainā resident Alejandra Bautista said.

    ‘Scary – I’ve lost my house’
    “It was scary, we just grabbed some things and left. I’ve lost my house.”

    Many residents left Lāhainā as the town burned around them. Social media videos by drivers showed apocalyptic scenes with houses burning on both sides of the road, as they navigated around debris on the road.

    “It was just hectic, and because there were so many electrical poles that fell and roads were blocked, but everyone was in panic mode and just trying to get out,” Fa’alogo said.

    “My whole neighbourhood is gone, it’s just all gone, homes damaged, bodies on the street, cars abandoned — caught on fire, people jumping into the water.

    “It’s like a movie, these are things you see in a movie, that’s exactly what it looks like. Our town just looks like The Walking Dead.”

    Historic Lāhainā, capital of the former kingdom of Hawai'i, before and after the wildfires struck
    Historic Lāhainā, capital of the former kingdom of Hawai’i, before and after the wildfires struck. Image: @t0mk0pca

    Aid package
    As the town continued to burn, US President Joe Biden agreed to an aid package submitted by Hawai’i’s Governor Josh Green. No specific figure was given, but the package will cover damages of residents and businesses affected.

    “What we saw is likely the largest disaster in Hawai’i state history,” Green said.

    “We are going to need to house thousands of people. It’s our intent to initially seek 2000 rooms so we can get housing for people. That means reaching out to hotels and those in the community.”

    Hawaii Governor Josh Green, visits the ruins of Lahaina following it's destruction.
    Hawai’i Governor Josh Green . . . “What we saw is likely the largest disaster in Hawai’i state history.” Image: Office of Hawai’i Governor

    Fa’alogo was among those thousands — who were staying in churches, schools and community centres across Maui.

    “Right now, we have been evacuated and we are currently at the Latter Day Saints Church. We’re getting a lot of help with toiletries, clothes and a lot of food . . . were getting more food than in our own home.

    “We have organisations like the Tongan ward of the LDS Church and the Relief Society, they cooked for us last night and we’re up until 2am because people were still arriving looking for shelter.”

    Most Maui homes safe
    While Lāhainā and at least two other smaller settlements were torched by wildfires, the majority of homes on Maui were safe.

    Sandy Kapukala, who lived in the town of Kihei, told RNZ Pacific the western part of the island where Lāhainā is located had been badly hit, while other areas such as the capital Kahului were unaffected.

    “There’s still no power, we don’t, we haven’t heard from a lot of people. The roads are blocked, people can’t get into that part of the island but the part of the island where I am . . .  it’s a sunny beautiful day and people are on vacation, so it’s one extreme to the other.”

    Fa’alogo said the main concern of the Lāhainā community was contacting family and friends separated during the disaster.

    Many residents were still being evacuated from the Lāhainā area and surrounding communities where roads have been blocked, she said.

    “The whole town is sad and a lot of people are trying to locate their families because they were separated.

    “Currently, the side of the island where Lāhainā is located, is running out of water and food, and there’s still people who need to be evacuated to Kahului [capital of Maui].”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • Lāhainā ‘completely wiped out’ – US declares Maui wildfires disaster as toll tops 36

    By Felix Walton, RNZ News reporter

    A New Zealander on holiday in Maui says the wildfires devastating the Hawai’ian island are unlike anything he has seen before.

    Deadly wildfires on Maui prompted a county-wide state of emergency, and several brush fires have also caused evacuations on Hawai’i Island.

    Officials say at least 36 people have died and more than 270 buildings have been damaged or destroyed, the BBC reported.

    US President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in the state of Hawai’i, meaning the federal government will provide funding to assist state and local recovery efforts.

    Canada-based New Zealander Tim Hoy, who was on holiday in Maui, said powerful winds fuelled the fires as they spread.

    “We’re located in between two fires right now, and the wind forces have been nothing like I’ve witnessed before,” he said.

    “I’ve spent a lot of years in Wellington, it’s stronger than what you’d see on the strongest day in Wellington.”

    Hundreds of NZers in Hawai’i
    House of Travel chief operating officer Brent Thomas said hundreds of New Zealanders were on Hawai’i when the fires started.

    “It’s a very popular destination, particularly given it’s winter in New Zealand,” he said.

    “We’ve got hundreds of people up there at the moment, but obviously not all of them are impacted.”

    Hoy said one of the fires was under control, but the other was still raging.

    “They’ve done a great job of controlling one of the fires,” he said.

    “The other one, it’s completely wiped out a township and it’s unable to be contained.”

    Maui County estimated more than 270 buildings had been damaged in the fires.

    Historic Lāhainā . . . "burnt to the ground"
    Historic Lāhainā . . . “for all intents and purposes burnt to the ground . . . Little is left there other than ash and rubble.” Image: @ForsigeNews
    Maui Island in the state of Hawai'i map
    Maui Island in the state of Hawai’i . . . devastating wildfires. Image: @Agent131711

    “My daughter’s friend, her family’s house was burned down,” Hoy said. “They’re currently a few miles down the coast staying at accommodation there.”

    Lāhainā devastated
    The fire on the island’s west coast tore through the town of Lāhainā. Hoy said everyone there was told to evacuate.

    “The area that got wiped out was a major tourist destination, and everyone’s been asked to leave Maui if they can,” he said. “So they’ve headed to the airport, and there’s people in shelters.”


    Hawai’i Tourism Authority public affairs officer Illihia Gionson said Lāhainā, which was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, had historic and cultural importance.

    “One of the most historic towns on Maui, Lāhainā, is for all intents and purposes burnt to the ground,” he said.

    “Little left there other than ash and rubble, lots of older buildings [made of] wood. So it appears a lot of those landmarks are gone.”

    Gionson said the safety of tourists was vital, but local residents needed the most support.

    “We think about the importance of assisting visitors in getting out, to free up those resources and attention for the thousands of residents whose homes were affected, whose businesses were affected, whose livelihoods were affected,” he said.

    “We’re keeping them front and centre in our thoughts and prayers.”

    Historic Lāhainā, capital of the former kingdom of Hawai'i, before and after the wildfires struck
    Historic Lāhainā, capital of the former kingdom of Hawai’i, before and after the wildfires struck. Image: @t0mk0pca

    Victoria University Pacific Studies lecturer Dr Emalani Case, who was born in Hawai’i, said residents of Maui should come first.

    She urged would-be tourists to stay away while the island recovered.

    “A really important message to come out of what’s unfolding right now is: don’t go to Maui,” she said.

    “If you’re planning a trip, don’t go there. The resources and the energies and the money on that island right now really needs to go to the people who are living there and who are going to have to struggle for a while.”

    Dr Case said it was an emotional time for all Hawai’ians.

    “It’s so hard to be so far away,” she said. “I don’t even think we know the scale of it all yet, but just watching it online has been heartbreaking.”

    New Zealand’s Fire and Emergency said it was prepared to send firefighters to Hawai’i if the US government asked for help.

    “We keep in frequent touch with our counterparts in Canada and the US during the northern hemisphere fire season,” a spokesperson said.

    “So far we have not received a formal request for assistance from the USA.”

    Service delivery wildfire manager Tim Mitchell said fires like those on Maui were extremely destructive.

    “They get very hot, we’re talking hundreds or even thousands of degrees,” he said. “Under those conditions they’re just not survivable, and they absolutely consume everything in their path.”

    He said it was vital for people to be aware of wildfire risks.

    “They will spread faster than what you can outrun,” he said.

    New Zealand will enter its own wildfire season within the next couple of months.

    Mitchell said a fire could start anywhere and at any time.

    “Historically, we wouldn’t have necessarily thought of Hawai’i as a high wildfire risk place, there’s places in New Zealand that we wouldn’t consider high risk,” he said.

    “It just goes to show that, if you’ve got the dry vegetation and you get a spark or an ignition, that wildfires can occur everywhere.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. Additional reporting by the BBC.

  • The Urge to Destroy

    As humanity recons with a never ending cavalcade of catastrophes, large segments of the population have succumbed to despair or distraction through culture wars or a series of vain cultural phenomena. [Insert Barbenheimer joke here.]

    Many youth, particularly in France, have channeled this hopelessness into rage. For the past several months the country had been seeing a series of strikes and riots in response to the raising of the retirement age, and these riots intensified in late June after the police murder of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk during a traffic stop. As the dust settles, inept politicians blame bad parenting and TikTok.

    Meanwhile in Peru, protesters from around the country have gathered in Lima calling for the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and the dissolution of congress.

  • As Skies Turn Orange, Media Still Hesitate to Mention What’s Changing Climate

     

    (Marc A. Hermann / MTA)

    Grand Central Terminal under the haze of smoke from Canadian wildfires linked to human-caused climate change. (photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA)

    Skies on the US’s East Coast turned an apocalyptic orange in early June, as wildfire smoke from Canada blew south. On Wednesday, June 7, New York City’s air quality ranked the worst in the world, with an Air Quality Index rating of more than 400 out of 500—deemed “hazardous” for any individual.

    Scientists expect forest fires to increase with the advance of climate disruption—mainly driven by fossil fuel consumption. Hotter, dryer weather, an increase in the type of brush that fuels these fires, and more frequent lightning strikes all contribute to this outcome (NOAA, 8/8/22; UN, 2/23/22; PNAS, 11/1/21; International Journal of Wildland Fire, 8/10/09).

    Short-term exposure to fine particulate matter in wildfire smoke can cause nose, throat and lung irritation, as well as worsening underlying conditions like asthma and heart disease. Over months or years, this exposure can increase chances of chronic bronchitis, as well as hospital admissions and deaths due to conditions like lung cancer and heart disease. In Delhi, India, which typically has the worst air quality in the world, pollution takes an average of nine years off residents’ life expectancy (Democracy Now!, 6/8/23).

    With a sepia hue and the smell of a campfire engulfing the East Coast, the immediate effects of human-caused climate change seemed as concrete as they had ever been. But on US TV news, viewers were more likely to hear climate denial than reporting that made the essential connection between fossil fuel consumption and worsening wildfires—if they heard mention of climate change at all.

    A minority mentioned climate

    Wildfire Segment Breakdown

    Searching the Nexis news database for transcripts from June 5–9 on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and MSNBC, FAIR found 115 news segments that mentioned the forest fires and their effect on air quality. Of those 115 segments, only 44 (38%) mentioned climate change’s role.

    (FAIR defined a “segment” as any portion of a news show that discussed the wildfire pollution. Brief top-of-show or pre-commercial mentions that previewed segments airing later in the show were counted as part of the segments they referred to. When shows included more than one segment covering wildfire pollution, each was counted separately.)

    Outlets varied widely in attention to the wildfire pollution issue: The broadcast outlets ranged from 20 segments at CBS to 10 at ABC and three at NBC. Among cable outlets, CNN had 55 segments, Fox had 23 and MSNBC four. (Note: Nexis relies on outlets to submit content, and submission policies vary among outlets.)

    At MSNBC, it was mentioned in three out of four segments (75%), and in two out of three segments (67%) on NBC. Climate change was mentioned in 48% of segments at Fox, 40% at ABC and CNN, and 10% at CBS.

    Even when outlets mentioned climate change, the detail and usefulness of the information varied greatly.

    Only seven wildfire pollution segments (6% of all 115 segments) named or even alluded to fossil fuels—by far the largest contributor to climate change—in a way that did not engage in climate denial. By disconnecting climate change causes and consequences, media outlets shield the fossil fuel industry and the politicians who aid and abet them from accountability, and avoid discussions about urgently needed action.

    Wildfire Segment Breakdown

    Passing mentions

    Of the 44 segments that mentioned climate change in relation to wildfire pollution, 10 did so only in passing, with no detail as to how, exactly, climate change increases the risk, severity and duration of such fires.

    For instance, CNN Tonight (6/6/23) referred to the air quality in New York City as a “climate crisis,” but went no further into discussing how the broader climate crisis is exacerbating events like these.

    CNN’s Poppy Harlow (This Morning, 6/8/23) remarked on how “important it is that we focus on climate change and all that is happening,” but said nothing else to direct the audience’s focus in that direction.

    ABC also had two passing mentions, as when World News Tonight (6/7/23) aired a soundbite from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre describing the smoke as “yet another alarming example of the ways in which the climate crisis is disturbing our lives and our communities.” Then the segment ended.

    Though a passing mention is better than no mention at all, tossing in the term “climate change” does very little to help audiences understand how climate disruption exacerbates events like these, or to explain the human causes of the climate crisis. This silence deprives viewers of any conversation about potential climate solutions or mitigations, leaving them only with confusion and fear.

    Climate denial

    Fox: CNN: Buy a Tesla to Save the Planet

    Fox‘s Jesse Watters (6/7/23) used the wildfire pollution as an opportunity to mock electric cars—and rival CNN.

    Ten segments in the study period engaged in outright climate change denial, either mocking or attempting to debunk climate change with pseudo-science. These segments were less helpful than not mentioning climate change at all, actively discouraging people from taking action to ameliorate the climate catastrophe.

    CNN aired an interview with Mike Pence (CNN Live Event, 6/7/23), who claimed climate change isn’t happening “as dramatically as the radical environmentalists like to present,” and that the solution is “expanding American energy and natural gas.” He faced no pushback for his scientifically illiterate response.

    But Fox led in climate disinformation, with nine denialist segments. Jesse Watters (6/7/23) offered a typical example:

    A liberal in Canada goes camping, starts a forest fire, smokes out America, and they tell us to pay Elon Musk. But, is manmade global warming causing Canadian forest fires? Why don’t you open a history book, and you’ll learn about New England’s Dark Day. It happened in 1780, long before the Industrial Revolution. Dark clouds stretched from Maine to New Jersey, blotting out the sun…. That dark cloud in 1780 was from Canadian wildfires, 240 years ago. Can’t blame that on climate change. Everybody was riding horses.

    And you might be surprised to find out, over the last 100 years, there have been less wildfires, not more. The Wall Street Journal says in the early 1900s, about 4% of land worldwide burned every year. By 2021, that was down to 2.5%. So, instead of obsessing over climate change, they should take a look at forest management and making sure Canadian campers listen to Smokey the Bear.

    The Wall Street Journal op-ed (10/27/21) Watters cited is by a climate denialist, and misleadingly only takes into account the metric of land burned, ignoring factors like the severity and frequency of more recent fires, and the likelihood of land burned trending back upward (WWF International, 2020). The World Resources Institute (8/17/22) found that forest fires burned nearly twice as much tree coverage globally in 2021 than it did in 2001.

    Forest fire ‘hysteria’

    Fox: Radical Left Uses Wildfire Smoke as Climate Cudgel

    Fox‘s Laura Ingraham (6/9/23) brought on former TV weather forecaster Anthony Watts to use the climate crisis to bash the left.

    Blaming fires solely on poor forest management despite clear links to climate change was a common tactic at Fox (The Five, 6/7/23; see Media Matters, 6/9/23). Laura Ingraham (Ingraham Angle, 6/9/23) argued that because forest fires are “so normal that Canada’s government website has a page…devoted to educating the public about them,” that concern over these out-of-control fires is “hysteria.”

    In reality, Canada is having its worst-ever wildfire season (Bloomberg, 6/7/23). In early June, more than 200 wildfires burned across Canada, accompanied in some areas by record heat. More than half were out of control (Washington Post, 6/3/23).

    Earlier in the week (6/7/23), Ingraham’s guest, Steve Milloy of the conservative, climate-denying Energy and Environment Legal Institute, claimed that “there’s no health risk” from wildfire smoke (not true), and that there are no public health emergencies in countries like India and China due to their low air quality. (Also a lie—air pollution was responsible for nearly 18% of deaths in India in 2019, and causes an estimated 2 million deaths in China per year.) He argued that wildfire smoke is “natural” and “not because of climate change.”

    Fox also applied its typical red-scare tactics, saying climate concern is “about socialism” (Hannity, 6/7/23), and that “the climate crazies are trying to use a Canadian forest fire as yet another excuse to take your freedom, take your power and take your money” (Ingraham Angle, 6/7/23).

    Meanwhile, Fox misled viewers that mainstream media coverage of the fires was rife with discussions about the climate crisis. On The Five (6/7/23), Greg Gutfeld complained: “So, already, the media is blaming climate change. ABC is connecting it to climate change. USA Today asked if the fires were actually caused by climate change.”

    If only centrist corporate outlets were as committed to offering climate crisis context as Fox is to promoting climate change denial.

    Explanatory mentions

    CNN's Bill Weir on the East River

    CNN climate correspondent Bill Weir (6/7/23) offered perhaps the most thorough explanation of how the climate crisis worsens wildfires.

    Twelve other segments that mentioned climate change offered slightly better than a passing mention, explaining things like how a warmer and drier climate exacerbates these fires, or how events like these will worsen as the climate crisis continues. But these segments did not allude to the reality that climate change is caused by people.

    Some of these segments included the sparest of explanations, as when ABC’s Rob Marciano (World News Tonight, 6/7/23) briefly mentioned “climate change with the extra warmth” amplifying the fires, and potentially contributing to weather systems that kept the smoke hanging over the northeastern US.

    Three mentions  (The Lead, 6/8/23; Situation Room, 6/8/23; CNN Newsroom, 6/9/23) were of the same brief soundbite, from Daniel Westervelt, anti-pollution adviser to the US State Department, warning, “With increasing climate change and increasing warming, we can expect more and more of these kind of wildfires to continue.”

    CNN climate correspondent Bill Weir (Erin Burnett Outfront, 6/7/23) offered perhaps the most thorough explanation of how the climate crisis worsens wildfires, demonstrating the connection to the melting ice in the Arctic:

    The Arctic, the northern top of the planet, has been warming up four times faster than the rest of the planet. When I do those reports, I can almost hear the viewers’ eyes glazing over. Like, what do I care about what happens in the Arctic?

    This is directly related to that. There was a heat anomaly in May over Canada, looked like a giant red blob of paint where they had temperatures in the high 90s, way sooner than is normal, that dries things out, one lightning strike sets that off like a tinderbox. And that’s why there’s over 100 fires burning in central Quebec.

    And then the weather patterns connect us. Now, we’re breathing the results of a climate in crisis.

    Weir went on to briefly mention the “cost of doing nothing”; however, he was referring entirely to the economic impact of people not being able to leave their homes on poor air quality days. While he thoroughly explained the connection between a warming planet and devastating wildfires, he did not elaborate on the human causes—nor the human solutions—to the climate crisis.

    Human-caused—but how?

    MSNBC: Climate Change Spurs Intensifying Wildfires in Canada

    MSNBC‘s All In (6/7/23) acknowledged that humans were changing the climate—but didn’t say how.

    Five of the 44 segments that mentioned climate change did point to human responsibility for climate change, either directly or by mentioning the need to reduce emissions. But these segments did not reference fossil fuels, which are the main way humans are changing the climate and the major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

    Thus Fox (Special Report, 6/7/23) aired a soundbite of New York City Mayor Eric Adams saying, “We must continue to draw down emissions,” without remarking on Adams’ comment.

    On CNN Newsroom (6/9/23), climate scientist Zeke Hausefather said briefly, “I hope it will serve as a wake-up call that we need to cut emissions and reduce the impacts of this going forward.”

    Other segments that described or alluded to the climate crisis as human-caused without mentioning fossil fuels included CNN‘s Lead (6/7/23), MSNBC‘s All In (6/7/23) and CNN This Morning (6/8/23).

    The fossil fuel distinction is important, especially because the industry has spent billions to confuse the public on its environmental impact. In the early 2000s, a PR firm for BP coined the term “carbon footprint,” diverting the blame of the climate crisis onto individual citizens and away from these greedy corporations. We can sip our iced coffee out of paper straws all we want, but unless the world’s economies immediately and drastically cut fossil fuels, the planet is headed to far exceed the 1.5°C rise scientists have warned about (Amnesty International, 3/20/23).

    Acknowledging ‘Addiction to oil’

    MSNBC Climate Crisis

    Joy Reid (MSNBC, 6/7/23) put the blame squarely on the world’s “unrelenting dependence on oil.”

    All of the segments that took the crucial next step of connecting the wildfires to fossil fuel emissions—seven in all—appeared on cable news networks.

    On MSNBC’s The Reidout (6/7/23), host Joy Reid called out the world’s “unrelenting dependence on oil,” warning that

    we will suffer the consequences, as the planet we live on and that our children and grandchildren will inherit becomes even more dangerous to live in.

    Environmentalist Bill McKibben appeared on CNN Newsroom (6/8/23) to link the poor quality of New York’s air to the dire situations facing people across the world as a result of fossil fuel–driven pollution:

    It’s terrible in New York right now, and we shouldn’t make light of it. But it’s precisely how most people across much of the world live every single day. That’s why nine million people a year—one death in five on this planet—comes from the effects of breathing fossil fuel combustion.

    Beyond fear-mongering, McKibbon offered a solution:

    The good news is we have an easy fix. We now live on a planet where the cheapest way to produce power is to point a sheet of glass at the sun. We should be in an all-out effort to move to renewable energy and to save energy so we don’t have to use as much of it.

    In another segment that day,  CNN Newsroom (6/8/23) discussed the American Lung Association’s report that stated 90,000 lives would be saved if the US could electrify its vehicle fleet by 2050. “That doesn’t account for the prevalence of wildfire smoke now more common on a planet heated up by fossil fuels,” CNN chief climate correspondent Weir reported.

    This data was mentioned in two other CNN segments (Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees, 6/7/23; CNN Newsroom, 6/8/23).

    Elsewhere, Weir (This Morning, 6/8/23) attributed India’s poor air quality to coal burning, unchecked motor regulations and the burning of agricultural fields.

    And on his MSNBC show (Alex Wagner Tonight, 6/7/23), Alex Wagner called out Republican efforts to defend a household source of fossil fuel emissions even as the wildfires demonstrated the dire effects of unchecked climate disruption:

    House Republicans had an agenda item on the topic of air quality, but it had nothing to do with combating climate change. They were taking a vote on protecting gas stoves.

    Solutions-based journalism

    Democracy Now!: “Climate Silence”: Corporate Media Still Failing to Link Wildfires & Extreme Weather to Climate Crisis

    Author and activist Genevieve Guenther (Democracy Now!, 6/30/23) told journalists, “You need to connect the dots from what you’re reporting to the climate crisis, and then through the climate crisis to the use of fossil fuels that is heating up our planet.”

    When the best mainstream TV news outlets have to offer during an environmental and public health crisis is seven mentions of the key cause that needs to be urgently addressed, there’s little for the public to gain.

    In a recent segment on Democracy Now! (6/30/23), Genevieve Guenther, author and director of End Climate Silence, emphasized the importance of these connections, advocating for all reporters to be educated on the climate crisis, regardless of the beat they cover. “You need to connect the dots from what you’re reporting to the climate crisis, and then through the climate crisis to the use of fossil fuels that is heating up our planet,” she said.

    It is necessary to go beyond cursory headlines to name what is responsible, not to further fear and complicity, but because doing so allows us to offer solutions. We live in a time where, despite Big Oil’s tireless efforts to confuse the public, renewable energy is cheaper—and by many measures, more efficient—than fossil fuels (ASAP Science, 9/9/20).

    A 2022 study shows that news framing that centers credible responses to climate problems were associated with confidence in one’s ability to make changes and more support for collective action (Environmental Communication, 11/11/22). If apocalyptic air enveloping major news headquarters hundreds of miles away from record-setting fires doesn’t prompt these necessary conversations, what will?

    Research assistance: Lara-Nour Walton and Brandon Warner

     

    The post As Skies Turn Orange, Media Still Hesitate to Mention What’s Changing Climate appeared first on FAIR.


    This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Olivia Riggio.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Deaths at Sea: From the Titan to the Mediterranean

    Mortality at sea is becoming a theme of late. The nature of how that mortality has been represented, however, has varied. The death of a billionaire on a quest to see the sunken ruins of the Titanic is treated with saturating interest; the deaths of those making their way across the Mediterranean to seek sanctuary receives a relative footnote of interest.

    News has now emerged that the five occupants on the Titan submersible have perished, joining those other unfortunates already entombed in the watery ruins of the steamship that sank in April 1912 off the coast of Newfoundland. They include Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, the company funding the venture, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, British businessman Hamish Harding and renowned explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

    It was occasion enough to lead Hollywood film director James Cameron, himself a veteran of 33 dives to the vessel whose story he brought to the big screen in 1997, to make a few queries. On hearing of the sub’s disappearance, contacts in the deep submersible community were chased up. “Within about an hour I had the following facts. They were on descent. They were at 3,500 metres, heading for the bottom at 3,800 metres.”

    The loss of both communications and navigation could only lead to one conclusion: “an extreme catastrophic event or high, highly energetic catastrophic event.” On June 22, an official in the US Navy revealed that “an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion” had been detected.

    For almost a week, the coverage on the fate of the Titan remained unrelenting. Commentators with varying degrees of expertise were consulted over speculative minutiae and details. When would oxygen supplies run out? Were there banging sounds detected, suggesting signs of life? How would the Titan be retrieved?

    None of this got away from the obvious point: the mission had been one of sheer folly and recklessness, a doomed reminder of humankind’s overconfidence. The submersible lacked standard certification protocols. Notables in the deep submersible community had also expressed their concerns to OceanGate, warning of the dangerously experimental nature of the vehicle. In March 2018, a letter from three dozen individuals, including oceanographers, deep-sea explorers and industry leaders, stated that “the current ‘experimental’ approach adopted by Oceangate could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry.”

    Within the company itself, the director of maritime operations, David Lochridge, wrote a damning report warning of “the potential dangers to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths.”

    Indeed, the company was the subject of a 2018 lawsuit questioning the safety credentials of the craft. “It is, despite the exorbitant cost of what was supposed to be a short trip,” writes Alex Shephard for The New Republic, “almost comically shoddy, bolted together with parts intended for R.V.s and piloted with a video game controller.”

    Those in the company, evidently aware of such risks, went so far as to make anyone making the journey sign multiple waivers. “To even get on the boat that takes you to the Titanic, you sign a massive waiver that you could die on the trip,” one former OceanGate passenger, Mike Reiss, told the BBC. “It lists one way, after another, that you could die on the trip. They mention death three times on page one. It’s never far from your mind.”

    Perversely enough, the fate that befell the Titan had a resonance with the Titanic’s own fate. The point was not missed on Cameron, who was “struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night and many people died as a result.”

    While the focus on the Titan has become something of a mania, a different narrative, also featuring deaths at sea, has struggled to occupy the news. The Mediterranean has again become the watery grave for those making hazardous journeys to seek sanctuary. Deaths occur, not merely because of shoddy naval construction, but due to the continuing program of preventing desperate arrivals from entering Fortress Europe.

    On June 14, up to 600 individuals may have perished off Pylos, Greece. Questions are being asked about the role played by the European border and coast guard agency, Frontex, the Hellenic coast guard, and the Italian and Maltese authorities. Certain testimonies from survivors, for instance, suggest that the Hellenic coast guard towed the boat away from Greek waters, a hazardous move that led to its capsizing. While the Greek State is being castigated, it is operating with an EU mandate increasingly hostile to irregular migrants. What a relief the Titan–Titanic affair must have been for policymakers.

    Those who perished on the Titan should be grieved. But the incessant coverage of their fates has shown a latent snobbery towards the nature of death. Foolhardy explorers and doomed adventurers are to be admired, their names venerated; the anonymous refugee and asylum seeker is to be judged and reviled, their rights curbed, and coverage of their fates minimised.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Influenza outbreak after Mawar challenges Guam’s evacuation centres

    By Rachael Nath, RNZ Pacific journalist

    An influenza B outbreak has occurred at shelters housing residents who were hardest hit by Typhoon Mawar.

    It has been three weeks since typhoon Mawar wreaked havoc on Guam leaving hundreds displaced.

    Melissa Savares, mayor of Dededo, one of the worst hit areas, said some people were being kept apart from others.

    “There have been confirmation that there are some individuals in the shelter that have influenza B, and they’ve actually been segregated or isolated,” she said.

    “Now, there’s no isolation rooms in the facility, but they’ve actually been isolated from the general crowd, meaning, they’ve been moved into like a side area of the gymnasium, where they’re not in immediate congregation, their beds, their pots, are not right up into a congregated space.”

    The Guam Daily Post reports that the Office of the Governor will step in and help relocate some residents at the shelters.

    700 people in shelters
    It said a child was hospitalised on Tuesday following an influenza B outbreak at the Red Cross shelter at the Guam Pak Warehouse in Tamuning.

    More than 700 people reside in these two shelters, one of which Savares said did not provide proper ventilation.

    “In the one shelter that is in the warehouse, ventilation is very poor, in that area. However, the other one that’s in the gymnasium, there is ventilation,” she added.

    Last week, Savares said she felt the recovery had been “very slow” two weeks after Typhoon Mawar made landfall in the territory.

    She said for her village in the north of Guam, only about half of the community had water and electricity.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Bougainville leaders call on mining giant Rio Tinto to assist communities

    RNZ Pacific

    Community leaders around Panguna mine in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville want mining giant Rio Tinto to help out following recent flooding.

    Rio Tinto was the owner/operator of the mine which has laid derelict for more than 30 years.

    Fears of the threat from flooding in the river system near the mine have increased in recent years.

    Recent heavy rain has choked rivers with mine tailings waste, resulting in several communities being swamped.

    Residents have reported peoples’ homes have been inundated, water supplies and food crops compromised.

    The flooding risks were highlighted in an independent report by Tetra Tech Coffey published last year.

    This report was prepared as a baseline to inform an independent human rights and environmental impact assessment that launched in December 2022 and which Rio Tinto committed to fund in response to a human rights complaint by 156 local residents.

    Phase 1 of the assessment is due to report in mid-2024.

    Immediate funding call
    Community leaders are calling for immediate funding from Rio Tinto for tangible action to address urgent health and safety issues in their communities, as well as a commitment from the company now that it will fund long-term solutions after each phase of the impact assessment.

    To date, Rio Tinto has agreed to fund the human rights and environmental impact assessment only.

    The chairperson of the Lower Tailings Landowners Association, Bernardine Kiraa, said: “Our communities are drowning in mine tailings waste.”

    “The recent flooding damaged peoples’ houses, food crops and water sources. Women have been having trouble finding clean water to wash their babies.

    “We worry about the spread of mosquitoes and disease following the flooding.”

    Theonila Roka-Matbob, who is a local MP and local landowner, and who led the campaign for the environmental assessment said: “We have welcomed Rio Tinto’s commitment to assessing the impacts of the Panguna mine.”

    “We know the process will be a long one. But we have been dealing with the disaster caused by the mine for decades.”

    ‘Always worrying about food’
    “We are always worrying that the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe is not safe. We worry about levees collapsing and mine waste flooding our lands and communities,” she said.

    “We need tangible action now to address urgent health and safety issues. And we need to know what Rio’s intentions are after the impact assessment – that they will stick with us and fund the long-term solutions we need.”

    The legal director at Australia’s Human Rights Law Centre, Adrianne Walters, said: “Communities are being asked to be patient while the impact assessment progresses over a number of years.”

    “But they also need action now and a public commitment from Rio Tinto that it will actually remedy the devastating impacts of the mine.”

    “Rio Tinto’s commitment to assessing the impacts of its former mine is an important first step,” Walters said.

    “The company now needs to publicly reassure communities that it is firmly committed to funding the long-term solutions that will allow them to live safely on their land.”

    Rio Tinto gave away its shares in Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) in 2016 but it has subsequently agreed to the funding of the human rights and environmental assessment.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Bougainville leaders call on mining giant Rio Tinto to assist communities

    RNZ Pacific

    Community leaders around Panguna mine in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville want mining giant Rio Tinto to help out following recent flooding.

    Rio Tinto was the owner/operator of the mine which has laid derelict for more than 30 years.

    Fears of the threat from flooding in the river system near the mine have increased in recent years.

    Recent heavy rain has choked rivers with mine tailings waste, resulting in several communities being swamped.

    Residents have reported peoples’ homes have been inundated, water supplies and food crops compromised.

    The flooding risks were highlighted in an independent report by Tetra Tech Coffey published last year.

    This report was prepared as a baseline to inform an independent human rights and environmental impact assessment that launched in December 2022 and which Rio Tinto committed to fund in response to a human rights complaint by 156 local residents.

    Phase 1 of the assessment is due to report in mid-2024.

    Immediate funding call
    Community leaders are calling for immediate funding from Rio Tinto for tangible action to address urgent health and safety issues in their communities, as well as a commitment from the company now that it will fund long-term solutions after each phase of the impact assessment.

    To date, Rio Tinto has agreed to fund the human rights and environmental impact assessment only.

    The chairperson of the Lower Tailings Landowners Association, Bernardine Kiraa, said: “Our communities are drowning in mine tailings waste.”

    “The recent flooding damaged peoples’ houses, food crops and water sources. Women have been having trouble finding clean water to wash their babies.

    “We worry about the spread of mosquitoes and disease following the flooding.”

    Theonila Roka-Matbob, who is a local MP and local landowner, and who led the campaign for the environmental assessment said: “We have welcomed Rio Tinto’s commitment to assessing the impacts of the Panguna mine.”

    “We know the process will be a long one. But we have been dealing with the disaster caused by the mine for decades.”

    ‘Always worrying about food’
    “We are always worrying that the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe is not safe. We worry about levees collapsing and mine waste flooding our lands and communities,” she said.

    “We need tangible action now to address urgent health and safety issues. And we need to know what Rio’s intentions are after the impact assessment – that they will stick with us and fund the long-term solutions we need.”

    The legal director at Australia’s Human Rights Law Centre, Adrianne Walters, said: “Communities are being asked to be patient while the impact assessment progresses over a number of years.”

    “But they also need action now and a public commitment from Rio Tinto that it will actually remedy the devastating impacts of the mine.”

    “Rio Tinto’s commitment to assessing the impacts of its former mine is an important first step,” Walters said.

    “The company now needs to publicly reassure communities that it is firmly committed to funding the long-term solutions that will allow them to live safely on their land.”

    Rio Tinto gave away its shares in Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) in 2016 but it has subsequently agreed to the funding of the human rights and environmental assessment.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Ni-Vanuatu villagers need more help after cyclones Judy and Kevin

    By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Port Vila

    Communities in Vanuatu continue to rely on government for basic necessities and still lack access to clean water sources almost a month after severe tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin made landfall.

    Sisead village community council chairman Paul Fred in Port Vila lives in one of the many homes in which residents do not have water seeping into the house because of a tarpaulin handed out in aid that lines his corrugated tin roof.

    “To accept two cyclones within a week, it’s unexplainable. We’ve never experienced two cyclones like this one,” Fred told RNZ Pacific.

    “But it’s a good experience for the generations of today, it comes to remind them that we have to prepare.”

    His village is one of five in the country requesting financial assistance from the Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau’s government to build houses that are strong enough to withstand the impacts of severe tropical cyclones.

    “The government should focus to help ni-Vanuatu people to build cyclone-proof buildings so that when the next cyclone comes we can minimise the need for relief and donations,” he said.

    ‘It’s up to themselves’
    Frederica Atavi is from the same community.

    Atavi, who grew up in Australia, said a post-cyclone assessment was still needed to be done in the village.

    “It’s nearly a month now and you can see there’s still rubbish on the side of the road,” Atavi said.

    “It is slow but that’s probably the island life. It’s slow and steady.”

    Like Fred, she wants financial assistance to go towards rebuilding homes for the people in her community.

    “The people in Vanuatu don’t have access to financial aid or anything to help them with their structural damage,” she said.

    “It’s only the food and the hygiene kits but for structural damage it’s up to them to do it themselves.”

    Charlie Willy, also from Sisead, stayed in the village during both the cyclones.

    During Kevin, while the older people were moved out of the village for safety, Willy and six others stayed in a concrete bathroom block, so they could nail down roofs in the middle of the storm.

    Willy said roofs were still leaking and it was challenging for people to pay for materials to fix homes.

    Water source declared unsafe
    In the rural village of Pang Pang, about an hour’s drive away from the capital, Serah John, who tends the community’s gardens, said the village had become reliant on food from government aid.

    “All the gardens, the fruits and food crops were damaged… bananas and cassava that were uprooted from the strong wind,” John said in bislama.

    She said their clean water source had been contaminated by livestock waste after Cyclones Judy and Kelvin and declared not safe for human consumption.

    Kalsakau told RNZ Pacific last month that the damage caused by the twin cyclones would cost the country tens of million of dollars.

    Serah John from Pang Pang village
    Serah John from Pang Pang village says the community’s clean water source has been contaminated by livestock after the cyclone. Image: Caleb Fotheringham/RNZ Pacific

    New Zealand providing help
    New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta was in Vanuatu for three days last week and visited both villages.

    She announced a $NZ1 million grant to support post-cyclone recovery efforts that would be made available to local non-governmental organisations.

    Mahuta also meet with her counterpart Jotham Napat to sign the first-ever cooperation agreement between the two countries.

    The deal will see the New Zealand government provide almost $NZ38m as part of its commitment to assist Vanuatu – with the money going towards climate change resilience projects, general budget support, and the tourism sector.

    Mahuta said the resilience of the ni-Vanuatu people stood out.

    “You can not truly appreciate resilience until you come into communities where there has been absolute devastation,” she said.

    “Yet the people still pull together, they still smile, they still have the endurance factors that help them get through, something which I think is probably emotionally and mentally draining,” she said while visiting the Pang Pang community.

    “It reinforces why the world needs to take action on climate change because those most vulnerable in the Pacific require us all to do our bit.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    Minister Nanaia Mahuta gives a gift to the village of Sisead village in Port Vila.
    Minister Nanaia Mahuta gives a gift to the village of Sisead Village in Port Vila. Image: Caleb Fotheringham/RNZ Pacific

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Vanuatu hails ‘historic resolution’ in climate battle on the world stage

    By Barbara Dreaver in Port Vila

    Vanuatu is in celebration mode after winning a significant battle on the world stage over climate change.

    In a United Nations resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu, the world’s top court will now advise on countries’ legal obligations to fight climate change.

    It also means the International Court of Justice can advise on consequences for those countries which do not comply. The resolution was passed overnight on Wednesday.

    Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau was ecstatic. He was in New York for the vote.

    He called it a “historic resolution” and the beginning of a new era in multilateral climate co-operation.

    “I celebrate today with the people of Vanuatu who are still reeling from the devastation from two back-to-back cyclones this month caused by the fossil fuels and greenhouse emissions that they are not responsible for,” he said.

    His country is still picking up the pieces from Cyclone Judy and Cyclone Kevin, which struck within a couple of days of each other earlier this month.

    Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has been in Vanuatu looking at what support New Zealand can give — and ensuring help gets to those who need it.

    She has witnessed first-hand the climate challenge that the people are facing. Mahuta said New Zealand had supported Vanuatu’s drive to get the UN resolution across the line.


    NZ’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta . . . “”We have to acknowledge Vanuatu’s leadership.” Video: 1News

    “We have to acknowledge Vanuatu’s leadership,” Mahuta told 1News.

    “It’s not really the size of the country, but it’s the size of the vision, and Vanuatu’s voice has clearly put front row centre an aspiration to have the ICJ recognise the impacts of climate change on vulnerable countries.”

    Accompanying New Zealand’s delegation is a 10-member Pasifika Medical Association PACMAT team. They will be based at the Aotearoa-funded Mindcare Mental Health facility for the next 28 days helping those traumatised by the two cyclones.

    New Zealand has announced $12 million to add to a funding pool for the region to help people get back on their feet quicker after the disaster.

    In Vanuatu, New Zealand is offering $18.5 million for a clean drinking water project, $4 million for tourism recovery and $3 million for general budget support.

    Barbara Dreaver is 1News Pacific correspondent. Republished with permission.

  • Vanuatu minister says harvests will take time to recover after cyclones

    By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change warns “there’s going to be a lot of hardship” for people waiting for their crops to grow back as dry rations are distributed to communities.

    Minister Ralph Regenvanu said the main food push started in the middle of last week, with only a small amount of supplies being handed out in the immediate aftermath of the severe back-to-back cyclones.

    He said there had been logistical issues in getting the food distributed, but dry rations should reach everyone in the two worst affected provinces, Shefa and Tafea, by the end of this week.

    “It’s not really ideal but it’s still within the timeframe we’ve set which is three weeks from the cyclone and those three weeks end about now,” Regenvanu said.

    “People are frustrated, they’re waiting for food, some are waiting for shelter and supplies so they can rebuild.

    “As with every disaster of this magnitude, there’s a lot of frustration with the ability of the government and other partners to respond in a timely manner, but that’s just issues of capacity within the government and our donor partners.”

    Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's Minister of Climate Change Adaptation
    Vanuatu’s Climate Change Adaptation Minister Ralph Regenvanu . . . “As with every disaster of this magnitude, there’s a lot of frustration.” Image: RNZ Pacific

    Regenvanu said gardens, which were the main source of food for people, had been damaged.

    “There’s going to be a lot of hardship while we wait for the gardens to regenerate,” he said.

    “The food cluster is also giving out lots of seeds and gardening tools to assist people to start planting which should have started happening immediately after the cyclone.”

    Rivers, streams polluted
    Soneel Ram from Vanuatu Red Cross said the two most urgent needs were access to shelter and clean drinking water.

    “Most of the houses have been damaged and some have been completely destroyed by the strong winds,” Ram said.

    “Some have been shoved out to sea as a result of floods.

    “Most of the villages rely on rivers and streams as the source of their drinking water; because of the cyclones the debris has actually polluted these water sources.”

    A road blocked by the uprooted trees after Cyclone Judy made landfall in Port Vila, Vanuatu on March 1, 2023.
    A road blocked by the uprooted trees after Cyclone Judy made landfall in Port Vila, Vanuatu on March 1, 2023. Image: RNZ Pacific/Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer/AFP

    He said Vanuatu Red Cross handed out jerry cans for people to store water. The organisation has also raised awareness for safe hygiene practices like boiling water before drinking.

    Ram said the subsistence farmers he spoke with were down to their last week or two of food supplies.

    Minister Regenvanu said money would be given out alongside food so households could purchase whatever they needed.

    Non-government organisations were also providing additional relief, he said.

    “So we hope that that will mean nobody’s terribly negatively affected by being hungry.”

    Assessment difficult
    Regenvanu said the assessment of the damage was quite difficult to do because a lot of communication systems were knocked out.

    However, last week most of the assessments had returned.

    Regenvanu said not all communication had been restored around the country.

    He estimated phone connection was down from a baseline of about 60 to 70 percent to around 50 percent around the country.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Sanctions on Syria: Australia’s Complicity in Policide

    In 1998, the United Nation’s humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Denis Halliday, resigned in protest against UN Security Council sanctions on Iraq, using the term ‘genocide’ when he explained reasons for his resignation.

    Before Halliday’s resignation, the US ambassador to the UN, Madeleine Albright had been asked if she thought the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children from US sanctions were worth it. She replied: ”I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.”

    Australia’s strategic allies in the UNSC – America and Britain – had voted for the sanctions on Iraq, while Russia, France and China abstained: no country used its veto power to oppose them, so they became law.

    People walk past damaged buildings at the Yarmouk refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Damascus © Reuters

    Sanctions on Syria are quite a different matter. They are ’unilateral coercive sanctions’ imposed by individual countries, including Australia. It means, basically, that we contribute to any suffering in Syria that results from the imposition of sanctions.

    In a 2021 interview, Denis Halliday explained: “We kill people with sanctions. Sanctions are not a substitute for war—they are a form of warfare.”

    If we accept this as a truth, then Australia has been involved in a war on Syria and its people since 2011 when Julia Gillard’s government imposed sanctions on Syria. According to DFAT: ‘Australia has imposed sanctions in relation to Syria to reflect Australia’s grave concern at the Syrian regime’s deeply disturbing and unacceptable use of violence against its people’.

    But what do we know about the truth of events in Syria?

    We have come to accept lies were told to enable a war on Iraq. For those of us who are aware of US and UK interference in Syrian affairs over decades, we can safely assume lies have been told to enable the war on Syria.

    Today, for a broader understanding of the war in Syria one must seek independent analysis provided by outlets such as Grayzone or The Cradle.

    In a Cradle article titled ‘The role of UK intelligence services in the abduction, murder of James Foley,’ we learn that in 2009, former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas was told by top UK officials that “Britain was organizing an invasion of rebels into Syria”.

    Developing a more sophisticated and objective understanding of the war in Syria becomes even more vital as evidence mounts of the dire suffering Syrians are enduring due to sanctions.

    The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) empowered a ’Special Rapporteur’, Prof. Dr. Alena Douhan, to investigate the impact of sanctions on the basic human rights of people in Syria. Her Preliminary Findings were presented in November 2022.

    Prof. Douhan ‘urged sanctioning States to lift unilateral sanctions against Syria, warning that they were perpetuating and exacerbating the destruction and trauma suffered by the Syrian people since 2011.’

    Her 15-page preliminary findings are detailed and deeply disturbing. Yet, I have found no evidence that the ABC, our national broadcaster, has given this OHCHR preliminary report any attention.

    After the earthquake in Syria, two ABC journalists did write about President al-Assad and Asma al-Assad’s visit to a hospital in Aleppo, gratuitously describing the First Lady’s jumper and jacket for readers. They mentioned the harsh sanctions and, like DFAT, blamed the ‘Assad regime’ for them. But the two journalists gave no attention to the increasing number of female headed households in Syria impoverished by the sanctions, as reported in Prof. Douhan’s findings.

    In 2020, Grayzone’s editor-in-chief Max Blumenthal undermined the justification for the harshest of the US sanctions in his article: ‘How a US and Qatari regime-change deception produced “Caesar” sanctions driving Syria towards famine.’

    After the earthquake, the head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent called for the lifting of sanctions. The most the US administration would do was issue a 180-day exemption to its sanctions, but the exemptions apply only to transactions related to earthquake relief. The US policy on Syria remains one of ideological opposition both to the country’s reconstruction and the normalisation of relations with it.

    Despite the wishes of Washington, in recent times the foreign ministers of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan as well as parliamentary delegations from Lebanon, Iraq, Oman, Algeria, and Tunisia have visited Damascus.

    Syria is ever more clearly becoming the scene of a proxy war between the Global North and the Global South.

    Do we believe the price Syrians pay is worth it? Perhaps, on our behalf, the Australian Government, DFAT and the Treasury have decided it is. Australia has close economic ties with Qatar – a tiny country whose wealth has given it inordinate influence. It is a country that has played a pivotal role in the war on Syria, acknowledged in 2017 by Qatar’s former prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani – the politician who, in 2015, gifted €3m to Australia’s now Head of State.

    Al Jazeera – the media outlet owned by Qatar’s royal family – has played a key role in the war on Syria. On its Arabic channels, it promoted hatred towards Syrians, particularly Alawite Syrians, who did not support the ‘revolution’. In a 2012 Guardian article, a former Al Jazeera reporter explained how, in May 2011, Al Jazeera had forbidden him from reporting on armed men he had witnessed crossing into Syria from Lebanon.

    Al Jazeera heavily promoted Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, whose fatwas against the Syrian government would have incited much hatred and violence against ordinary Syrians, Sunni, Alawite or Christian, who didn’t support insurgents. (Incidentally, Sheikh Qaradawi, who was a friend of Qatar’s royal family and the spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood, once provided justification for the flogging of women.)

    Another controversial player in the war on Syria was a personal friend of the Bush family – Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who was given the Syria file in 2013. It has been reported he played a role in fabricating the alleged 2013 sarin attack in Ghouta.

    In 2012, former Melbourne University academic Jeremy Salt, described the efforts to destroy Syria as ‘politicide’. He wrote: ‘Syria is being ruined, destroyed before our eyes as an actor on the Arab stage, with the west playing the same game of divide and rule that has worked so well  for it over the past 200 years.’

    In those 200 years, visitors to Syria would have attested that Syria was enchanting; its people were gracious, generous and warm. Evidence of the latter can still be found in today’s Syria: see this short video: ‘British volunteer Syrian Red Crescent working with children in east Aleppo’.

    The unilateral coercive sanctions Australia and its allies impose on Syria make us complicit in a war on the people of Syria, and arguably complicit in policide, if not genocide.

    To lobby our government to lift the cruel sanctions, we must both educate ourselves and come to the realisation that Syrians are human, like us.

  • First published at Pearls and Irritations.
    • The post Sanctions on Syria: Australia’s Complicity in Policide first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Cyclones: Vanuatu children ‘need to see their friends’, educator warns

    By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific reporter

    Tens of thousands of ni-Vanuatu children could be experiencing “stress and trauma” after the double cyclones that tore through the island nation last week, says an educator.

    With widespread damages to infrastructure, many children have lost their homes, had their schools damaged, and neighbourhoods hit hard by tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin.

    Port Vila International School teacher Cassidy Jackson-Caroll told RNZ Pacific it was important to prioritise school-aged children’s wellbeing during these times.

    Jackson-Caroll said that requires all stakeholders to move quickly and restore a sense of normalcy and enable children to return to school.

    “It is quite important [for schools to open],” she said, while noting the large-scale devastation caused by the twin cyclones.

    “One thing I thought is the kids want to see their friends. They have spent a lot of time time at home tucked up with their families, which is very important [during cyclones]. But they also need a little relief to see that their friends are okay.”

    She said no electricity and no running water is an issue across the country which means schools remain affected.

    But she is hoping the situation will improve by next week and those children who can return to school will be able do so.

    “I think it is important even if it is half days or two or three days a week for some kids that is enough because some are going to be traumatiSed,” she said, adding Port Vila International School will have a “soft opening” on Wednesday.

    “Sometimes they might just need to see their friends and go and play some soccer or just have a hug. They just need to laugh away from the anxiety and stress and trauma that they might have at home,” she added.

    The aftermath of cyclones Judy and Kevin in Vanuatu.
    The aftermath of tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin in Vanuatu. Image: VBTC/RNZ Pacific

    Schools, health centres ‘damaged’
    UNICEF estimates up to 58,000 children have been impacted and those in the worst affected provinces of Tafea and Shefa needing urgent assistance.

    The UN agency’s Pacific representative Jonathan Veitch said “with power still out in many places, and boats and planes grounded or damaged, we still don’t have enough information on the impact of children in the outer islands of Tafea.”

    “We know that schools and health centres have been damaged throughout the country.”

    “UNICEF Pacific, in partnership with the government, has begun to support the children and families most affected,” he added.

    Preliminary reports indicate that almost the entire population has been affected.

    World Vision Vanuatu country director Kendra Derouseau said they are expecting similar destruction to Tafea province that occured following Cyclone Pam in 2015.

    “We know that most homes will be partly or completely destroyed,” Derouseau said.

    Food sources scarce
    “The vast majority of the population in Tafea are subsistence agricultural farmers so food sources will be scarce and water sources will be contaminated.”

    She confirmed that there were about 2000 people still in evacuation centres on Efate.

    “People tend to sleep in the evacuation centres, leave vulnerable individuals and a carer in the centres during the day, and then go back to their homes to try and build and repair and then come back to sleep at night.”

    But Derouseau said the number of people in evacuation centres were decreasing as people felt safe to go back to their home.

    Meanwhile, New Zealand has sent relief supplies including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, and family hygiene kits and an initial financial contribution of NZ$150,000.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the government was working closely with Vanuatu to support this response, together with France and Australia.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    New Zealand Aid to Vanuatu post-cyclones Judy and Kevin.
    New Zealand aid to Vanuatu post-cyclones Judy and Kevin. Image: Hilaire Bule/RNZ Pacific

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Back-to-back cyclones in Vanuatu – stories of survival in ‘tough go’

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist

    People in Vanuatu remain optimistic about their future after two destructive cyclones in two days left parts of the Pacific nation in ruins.

    Authorities are yet to determine the full scale of the damage caused by the back-to-back severe tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin.

    But those who had to endure the worst of the natural disasters last week believe demonstrating resilience is their only option.

    “To have had two category four cyclones in less than a week is history in itself,” Vanuatu’s only female Member of Parliament, Gloria Julia King, told RNZ Pacific.

    “[It’s] something that even the elders in our families haven’t seen before.”

    She said her island nation has had its fair share of severe weather events, highlighting the destruction caused by Cyclone Pam in 2015 from which the country has still not fully recovered.

    “A lot of our schools are still in makeshift classrooms, [children] still sitting on the floor without desks and chairs.”

    Hopeful over challenges
    But she is hopeful that the ni-Vanuatu people will get through the challenges in front of them.

    “I have seen Vanuatu come back from Pam, I’ve seen Vanuatu come back from Harold, and I am positive Vanuatu will be able to bounce back from Kevin,” King said.

    A property flattened in Port Vila following the wrath of cyclone Judy followed by cyclone Kevin.
    A property flattened in Port Vila following the wrath of Tropical Cyclone Judy followed by TC Kevin. Image: Shiva Gounden/RNZ Pacific

    The country was hit by a category 4 TC Judy first on March 3, but just as people started to pick up the pieces, they had to rush to evacuation centres the following day as Kevin arrived as a category 3, intensifying to a category 4 and then reaching 5 over open water.

    “People [were] carrying people with disabilities on their back to an evacuation building,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s advisor Shiva Gounden, who is in the capital Port Vila, said.

    He said three to four families huddled in homes while properties around them were being wiped out.

    “Roads are completely blocked or flooded. There’s no access for anyone to leave the village for any type of emergencies.”

    ‘No power, no water’
    “There’s no power. There’s no water,” he added.

    Gounden was in a village on Efate island helping people prepare for TC Kevin when it hit with a force much more violent than anyone was prepared for, he told RNZ Pacific.

    He had to hold the doors of the house he was residing in for almost 10 hours in shin high water to remain safe.

    “It was extremely strong,” he said, describing Kevin’s ferocity.

    “I’ve seen and responded to several cyclones in my life and I felt Kevin was as strong as Cyclone Winston which wiped out Fiji.”

    “I was trying to hold my door from 5pm till about 3am. I was using all my [strength] with my hands and my back and my legs to try and hold the door because if I didn’t, it would snap. There was water everywhere,” he said.

    ‘It’s a tough go for many’, says Vanuatu journalist
    Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry, who has been on the frontlines documenting the disaster, visited vulnerable communities in the aftermath.

    He said people were living in “impromptu housing” in various parts of Port Vila.

    “What I found was quite disturbing,” he said.

    “It’s becoming obvious that the increasing reliance on a cash economy is creating inequalities in terms of people’s ability to cope with this kind of disaster cycle.”

    McGarry said informal settlements up on the hillside in the capital were covered with clothing lines because everything had been soaked.

    “There were tarpaulins pulled across roofs to provide some sort of temporary shelter.”

    He has spoken with several residents and shared the story of one woman who has lost everything.

    “She has no livelihood at the moment because her employer, of course, isn’t calling her into work,” he said.

    “She’s lost everything and she is without the means to return it. It’s a tough, tough go for a great many people here in Port Vila,” he explained.

    Hundreds of people in Vanuatu's capital have been evacuated after Cyclone Judy which was followed just a day later by a second cyclone, Kevin. 2 March 2023
    Hundreds of people in Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila have been evacuated after TC Judy which was followed just a day later by a second cyclone, TC Kevin. Image: Hilaire Bule/RNZ Pacific

    Climate crisis issue
    Climate crisis is front of mind for Ni-Vanuatu residents as they start to rebuild.

    “[Climate change] turns what used to be sort of periodical issues for Pacific island nations into chronic ones,” he said.

    “In this case, we’ve had two severe cyclones in the course of a week an as New Zealanders have seen these weather systems are moving further south.”

    He believes development partners of the Pacific cannot afford to walk away; a sentiment echoed by Gounden.

    “We have the most resilient people, but there is a deep hurt that is within us,” Gounden said.

    He said the “the hurt” stems from fossil fuels being burned across the world which exacerbates climate change.

    “The people of the Pacific contribute the least to climate change, yet we face the greatest consequences of it all.”

    “The biggest thing we can do is pressure world leaders right now to phase out [the use of fossil fuels.”

    Meanwhile, Australia, France and New Zealand have been the first to send support to assist with emergency response.

    “We will appreciate any help we can get,” King said.

    “The biggest challenge now is just getting power and water back into full circuit around the country.”

  • Tropical Cyclone Kevin lashes Port Vila with destructive winds and heavy rain

    Asia Pacific Report

    Vanuatu has been under a state of emergency, after two earthquakes and two cyclones hit in as many days, reports ABC News.

    Hundreds of people remained in emergency evacuation centres in the capital Port Vila as Tropical Cyclone Kevin brought destructive winds and heavy rainfall.

    The Fiji Meteorology Service said wind gusts reached up to 230km an hour in the early morning hours on Saturday.

    No casualties were immediately reported but a number of properties were flattened and many homes and businesses reported power outages, said ABC.

    The cyclone built to a category four on Saturday as it passed the capital and travelled south-east.

    Port Vila-based journalist Dan McGarry tweeted updates as both cyclones hit.

    No VDP Saturday edition due to Tropical Cyclone Kevin
    No Saturday edition due to Tropical Cyclone Kevin. Image: Vanuatu Daily Post screenshot APR

    “Port Vila has properly woken up now. Fuel is in short supply, power is out everywhere, and a boil-water order is in effect,” he tweeted early on Saturday.

    “Lots of people at the few hardware stores that were able to open. Some with rather disturbing stories.”

    The country’s main newspaper, Vanuatu Daily Post, did not publish on Saturday due to the cyclone, but will publish a special edition tomorrow.

  • Mediawatch: Signal to noise – is NZ’s AM radio really under threat?

    RNZ Mediawatch

    Old-fashioned AM radio was an information lifeline for many in Aotearoa New Zealand during last month’s Cyclone Gabrielle when other sources wilted without power.

    Now a little-known arrangement that puts proceedings of Parliament on the air has been cited as a threat to its future. But is a switch-off really likely? And what’s being done to avoid it?

    “Government websites are a waste of time. All they’ve got is a transistor radio — and they need to actually provide a means for these people who need the information to damn well get it,” Today FM’s afternoon host Mark Richardson told listeners angrily on the day the cyclone struck.

    He was venting in response to listeners without power complaining online information was inaccessible, and pleading for the radio station to relay emergency updates over the air.

    Mobile phone and data services were knocked out in many areas where electricity supplies to towers were cut — or faded away after back-up batteries drained after 4-8 hours. In some places FM radio transmission was knocked out but nationwide AM transmission was still available.

    “This will sharpen the minds of people on just how important . . . legacy platforms like AM transmission are in Civil Defence emergencies,” RNZ news chief Richard Sutherland told Mediawatch soon after.

    “We are going to need to think very carefully about how we provide the belt and braces in terms of broadcasting infrastructure for this country as a result of this,” he said.

    Future of AM questioned
    But while Gabrielle was still blowing — the future of AM was called into question.

    On February 15, Clerk of the House David Wilson told a Select Committee he might have to cut a $1.3 million annual contract to broadcast Parliament on AM radio after 87 years on air.

    The next day The New Zealand Herald’s Thomas Coughlan reported “radio silence could come as soon as the next financial year on July 1 unless additional funding is found in the next Budget in May”.

    In last Sunday’s edition of RNZ’s programme The House (also paid for by the Office of the Clerk), Wilson explained his spending cannot exceed his annual appropriation.

    He said costs have gone up and the AM radio contract might have to go to make ends meet.

    RNZ reporter Phil Pennington discovered for himself how handy AM transmission was when he was dispatched from Wellington to Hawke’s Bay when Cyclone Gabrielle struck.

    Several times on the road he had to switch to AM when FM transmission dropped out.

    Sustainability issue
    “It puts a huge question mark on its sustainability because the money that the Clerk pays for us to broadcast Parliament underpins the entire network,” RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson told Pennington this week.

    “It is an irony that at a time when New Zealand has had one of its biggest lessons about the importance of AM, it also has this challenge around its viability,” Thompson said.

    It was also a time when the funding of RNZ is under review after the collapse of the government plan for a new public media entity with an annual budget of $109 million. RNZ’s current annual budget is $48m.

    “It puts a lot of pressure on us as an organisation. We won’t be able to pick up the ($1.3m) cost. The parliamentary contract is a significant contributor to RNZ being able to maintain the AM network nationally,” Thompson said.

    “If that money is not available, closing the network is not going to be feasible. This is such an important asset for New Zealand — a truly critical information lifeline. We will have to find a way of keeping it going,” he said.

    Some RNZ Morning Report listeners were alarmed by question marks over AM’s future.

    “I live in Central Hawke’s Bay. AM is the only strong signal. Do not stop broadcasting on that frequency. We love you, stay with us,” Cam said.

    FM off air in Gisborne
    “RNZ FM was off air in Gisborne for two days during Gabrielle. But RNZ on AM kept going. It absolutely must be kept,” Gisborne’s Glen said.

    There are in fact two AM networks run by RNZ.

    One broadcasts RNZ National from transmission sites all over the country.

    The other carries Parliament and is broadcast from fewer transmission sites and on a range of frequencies in different parts of the country. It also airs programmes for customers including religious network Southern Star.

    Iwi broadcasters and some commercial broadcasters also use RNZ sites to broadcast locally.

    When RNZ shut AM transmission down in Northland last November, the government urgently injected $1.5 million to upgrade the aging sites.

    At the time, Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty said radio was “a critical information channel to help reach New Zealanders in an emergency”.

    Other AM sites
    He said Manatū Taonga/the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, NEMA, and RNZ were all “collaborating to develop criteria for future decisions about other AM sites to make sure communities are able to stay connected and access critical warnings and guidance in emergencies”.

    Clearly it is a problem if an important national emergency service owned and run by the public broadcaster can be  jeopardised by pressure on a fixed budget at the discretion of Parliament’s Clerk.

    When RNZ’s Phil Pennington asked NEMA to comment on the future of the AM network this week, his request was referred to Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson.

    Jackson is also the Minister of Māori Development, which oversees Māori Broadcasting, including for Te Whakaruruhau o nga reo Irirangi, the umbrella group of iwi radio broadcasters around the country. Jackson was the chair of Te Whakaruruhau before he entered Parliament again in 2017.

    After the government scrapped the plan for a new public media entity last month, Jackson will have to go back to cabinet with a new plan to address RNZ’s future funding.

    Jackson was one of the ministers on the ground in the regions hit by Cyclone Gabrielle and overseeing the  emergency response — and was unavailable for interview on Mediawatch this week.

    Citing Northland
    His office supplied a statement citing that intervention in Northland last year.

    “AM transmission is a key priority for the government. Officials from Manatū Taonga, NEMA and RNZ are working closely to ensure radio services (including AM transmission) are always available for people in an emergency,” it said.

    “Long-term work to develop funding approaches is also underway to ensure RNZ’s AM transmission strategy continues — and the minister is considering this as part of a package to strengthen public media and will be returning to cabinet with proposals soon,” the statement said.

    Before Gabrielle, provisions for AM broadcasting would have been low on the list for reporters scrutinising the minister’s latest cabinet plan for RNZ’s funding.

    After Gabrielle, it will be one of the first things they look for.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Vanuatu residents ‘exhausted’ after two wild cyclones in three days

    RNZ Pacific

    Ni-Vanuatu residents have emerged battered but still standing after Cyclone Kevin swiped the country with a strong backhand.

    “It was quite exhausting. Dealing with two cyclones in three days is pretty draining, you know,” Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry told RNZ Pacific.

    He said the gale-force winds have been rough. He woke early on Saturday morning to try and get a sense of the extent of the damage.

    He went outside in the dark to charge his phone, and when the sun came up it was a real eyesore.

    “Our own laneway is blocked off. We’ve got tree limbs all the way up and down,” he said.

    After clearing the way, he was able to get out and about and have a look around.

    Port Vila had been badly knocked about. McGarry came across a mango tree that landed directly on top of a minibus.

    “And then the wind lifted the entire tree and dumped it a metre-and-a-half away,” he said.

    Fuel was in short supply and a boil water order was in effect, McGarry said.

    Many people were at the few hardware stores that were open, trying to buy tools to repair their properties, he said.

    Cyclone Kevin and Cyclone Judy as pictured on Earth Nullschool on Saturday March 4.
    Cyclone Kevin and Cyclone Judy as pictured on Earth Nullschool today. Image: Nullschool/RNZ Pacific

    On Saturday evening, the Fiji Meteorological Office said the severe tropical storm remained a category five, and was centred in the ocean near Conway Reef.

    Tafea province in Vanuatu, which was under a red alert as Kevin tracked south-east, had been given the all clear.

    An Australian Air Force reconnaissance flight over Tafea province was reported to have shown some intact settlements and still some greenery.

    No casualties had been immediately reported but hundreds of people fled to evacuation centres in the capital Port Vila, where Kevin blasted through as a category four storm.

    Foreign aid needed
    Vanuatu needs support from its international partners.

    “There is going to be a significant need — this is not something Vanuatu can do alone, so the assistance of these partners is going to be critical to a speedy and effective response,” McGarry said.

    He believed cooperation from donor partners was needed. France has already received a request to send a patrol plane, he said.

    “I expect that New Zealand would be putting a P3 in the air before very long. Australia has already committed to sending a rapid assessment team.”

    Stephen Meke, tropical cyclone forecaster with the Fiji Meteorological Service, said cyclone response teams and aid workers wanting to help should plan to travel to Vanuatu from Sunday onwards, as the weather system is forecast to lose momentum then.

    “Kevin intensified into a category four system,” Meke said. “It was very close to just passing over Tanna. So it’s expected to continue diving southeastwards as a category four, then the weakening from from tomorrow onwards.”

    A UNICEF spokesperson said its team was preparing to ship essential emergency supplies from Fiji in addition to emergency supplies already prepositioned in Vanuatu.

    “These include tents, tarpaulins, education, and health supplies to support immediate response needs in the aftermath of the two devastating cyclones.”

    New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was working with the Vanuatu government and partners to see what help it could offer.

    An MFAT spokesperson said New Zealand had first-hand experience of the challenges Vanuatu faced in the coming days and weeks. It had been challenging making contact with people because of damaged communications systems, they said.

    Sixty-three New Zealanders are registered on the SafeTravel website as being in Vanuatu.

    UNICEF is preparing to ship tents, tarpaulins, education, and health supplies to support immediate response needs on the ground.
    UNICEF was preparing to ship tents, tarpaulins, education, and health supplies to support immediate response needs on the ground. Image: UNICEF/RNZ Pacific

    Parts of Vanuatu have plunged into a six-month-long state of emergency.

    Evacuations in Port Vila
    The Fiji Meteorological Office said Port Vila experienced the full force of Kevin’s winds. Evacuations took place in the capital.

    McGarry said he knew of one family that had to escape their property and shelter at a separate home.

    “The entire group spent the entire night standing in the middle of the room because the place is just drenched with water.

    “So it’s been an uncomfortable night for many, and possibly quite a dangerous one for some.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.