National Disaster, News

It’s been revealed that when White Island emergency calls began Police & rescue services decided not to go – the first responders were NZ citizens

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Thanks to reader Jo Blogs for this link… (for background info read this post):

“Those nearby, and back on the mainland, reacted instantly and humanely. They ran, flew, and sped by boat toward the danger. Politicians and officials have praised these as “first responders”. Their use of the phrase was a dishonest attempt to hide that these people were not official first responders, but ordinary people. “

From stuff.co.nz

OPINION: The tragedy at Whakaari/White Island last week exposed a growing institutional cowardice among emergency services, particularly police, that affects their usefulness to citizens.

When the eruption occurred, and the emergency calls started on Monday afternoon, police and rescue services decided that they would not head to the island to help.

It was left to my fellow citizens to respond with māia (courage). Those nearby, and back on the mainland, reacted instantly and humanely. They ran, flew, and sped by boat toward the danger.

Politicians and officials have praised these as “first responders”. Their use of the phrase was a dishonest attempt to hide that these people were not official first responders, but ordinary people.

READ MORE:
* Finding answers for grieving families
* Recovery plan under way as ash threatens to entomb bodies
* Recovery teams leave island empty handed after search for bodies

Mark Law, a helicopter pilot with Kāhu​ NZ, heard that emergency services were not heading to White Island. He and others, including Tim Barrow and colleagues from Volcanic Air, flew out and landed on the island. They rescued some survivors – particularly members of the group that had been closest to the erupting crater.

Law hauntingly describes the island soon after the eruption as “silent”. The air permeated by gases and ground dusted with ash. Survivors, their burns awful to comprehend, weakly called for help. Our untrained heroes were there for them. Our trained rescue services were not.

When police finally got their act together, they used their authority to prevent further private rescues or body recovery.

Let’s assume that, as some people seem to be arguing, it is OK for state professionals, trained for, paid for, and possibly even keen to respond to emergencies, to refuse to attend one.

It does not follow that they can prevent others from assessing risk differently and taking it. But I believe that the official cordon was a kind of post-incident justification for managerial cowardice.

Police also used an official flight over the island, and brief landing on it, to provide “evidence” justifying their decisions. These flights usefully allowed officials to claim there were no signs of life, and that conditions on the island were not conducive to a rescue.

The flight did not see all the bodies.  The helicopter crew that landed and concluded unsafe conditions was clearly wrong, as brave people had already landed and effected a rescue.

Police divers prepare to search the waters near Whakaari/White Island for missing bodies on Saturday.
NZ Police
Police divers prepare to search the waters near Whakaari/White Island for missing bodies on Saturday.

The state made a big deal about the risk in recovery of bodies. GNS estimated the risk of a second eruption at higher than 50 per cent. Police used that percentage, and the GNS risk zone maps, to justify the decision not to recover bodies. Neither of these are go/don’t go assessments. The complexity of the volcano, and the uncertainty built into those numbers, means they are not thresholds for action.

Despite the risk and continued “level 2” status, daring Defence Force teams finally undertook a speedy recovery of most of the bodies. Then the police claimed the same conditions meant there could be no further recovery action.

The GNS risk measurements were a prop. The decision to go in was based on very human factors: personnel who are ready to volunteer, families who are waiting, international attention, and politicians not enjoying the public pressure.

Mark Blackham: "The response to the White Island tragedy is a stark insight into the continued creep of managerialism."
Supplied
Mark Blackham: “The response to the White Island tragedy is a stark insight into the continued creep of managerialism.”

When, in 2012, I criticised police prevention of rescue of workers at Pike River mine, I blamed the insidious creep of “managerialism”; a preference for process over action. Cultural trends, such as fixations on health and safety, infect management systems with an endless loop of passing responsibility.

The response to the White Island tragedy is a stark insight into the continued creep of managerialism. It undermines the ability of state services to help citizens, but empowers it to infantilise us.

We’re discouraged from acting on our own, and forced to bow to experts. Yet systems and fancy talk prevent experts taking substantive action for fear of career, safety, or arbitrary consequences for taking the “wrong” action. In these environments, there are no career prospects for heroes.

What White Island tells you is that, when disaster occurs, you really are on your own. It may be time for citizens to make private provision for security and emergency; collectively or commercially purchasing or organising policing, rescue and fire response.

The state’s sophistication has cemented inaction. The police and government are turning cowardice into a professional duty. I see no value in paying for it through my taxes. It certainly makes them unfit to tell us what to do.

As citizens, it is down to us to help ourselves. To paraphrase our brave pilot Mark Law: “We must take care of our own business.”

* Mark Blackham is a director of Wellington-based BlacklandPR.

SOURCE

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118219897/after-whakaariwhite-island-its-up-to-us-to-save-ourselves

 

21 thoughts on “It’s been revealed that when White Island emergency calls began Police & rescue services decided not to go – the first responders were NZ citizens”

  1. NZ Police and other Government emergency services are headed the way of the UK (where an officer was praised for standing by and watching a child drown instead of jumping in to assist).
    Outfit the cops with guns and armoured cars and strip them of all the qualities that earned public respect.
    They used to be known as “Public servants”. Now they are corporate and governmental arse-coverers.

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    2. Same happened on london bridge a few years ago, outside parliament, car full of police top brass, stayed in their car and locked the doors, while a terrorist went on a stabbing spree in front of them

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That’s horrific Allan … the older folk among us know that that’s not how it used to be. It is the new norm. As Mark Blackham discusses in the article it is basically the business model. The thing too about it is, they know it’s inherently WRONG. Otherwise why would they cover up by not outright telling the public of the rationale behind their decision & then refer to those who did go as ‘first responders’ knowing they weren’t the officials. It surely is a new era. Every man woman & child for themselves.

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        1. Thanks Pam, maybe we are better off fending for ourselves, as they proved with white island, things got done when the citizens took the initiative

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    1. Yes Clu, it is looking very much that way now. Perhaps with future disasters the public will have cottoned on enough to do as these honourable citizens did … the first responders I mean.

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  3. Pingback: It’s been revealed that when White Island emergency calls began, Police & rescue services decided not to go – the first responders were NZ citizens | Waikanae Watch

  4. White Island
    Helicopter operators in Fiordland doing the same job would have immediately flown to the site when the body was FIRST observed in the water and used a scoop on the end of the long strop to retrieve the body. No ground personnel required . Same treatment for the injured.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. It is the unwritten law that any Chopper pilot will do all they can to save life as they all know how hopeless the police are

    Liked by 1 person

  6. We have been getting reports of White Island here in the UK. Why were these people taken there when it was obviously dangerous?
    I like the comments on managerialism, I always thought this was an European Union idea (problem) but obviously international. I would dearly love to know what they teach them in college because in my past experience they knew nothing about the job they were supposed to be managing.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Re ‘dangerous’ cadxx interesting question. There’s rumour (see comments in other White Is article) saying they didn’t report the correct level. Can’t prove of course. Also volcanologists said in the 80s a live volcano is not the place to take tourists. And ‘managerialism’, and what do they teach them in school. I noticed that after (here) Rogernomics & the big $$ heist restructuring carry on when they just literally destroyed everything. I noticed they’d put someone totally unrelated to the new ‘corporation’ (govt dept) & in retrospect I often wonder if that was just part of their destructive process. Like deliberate.

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      1. One day a couple of weeks ago I was working-out if anything good had come from the EU and I came-up with a list – all bad. One of the items was management and how it had changed from promotion from the shop floor to so called “Professional Managers”. I could never work-out what their purpose actually was. It certainly was not production oriented as they caused more strife and dissatisfaction than anyone else.

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  7. This incident and many others should be encouraging free thinking people to question the value that we receive for the money we pay to support all of the government “enterprises” that pretend to be protecting and serving our needs.

    Are they really doing this or is it a very expensive sham?

    Visiting an active volcano was always a risk. Now we know it.
    When people take part in activities that involve risks they are accepting that they could be harmed as unfortunately occurred in this and many other cases.

    Once the unfortunate incident occurs, all the blaming starts and someone usually gets labelled as being responsible for the damage.

    The people in the government “enterprises” always use their authority and power to avoid any responsibility and praise themselves for their response.

    The reality is that the numerous highly paid bureaucrats in our government enterprises ought to have been aware of the risks of visiting an active volcano and they had the authority, power and resources to help protect people from these risks but THEY DID NOT.

    Of course, we have great sympathy for the people that were killed and injured and admiration for those who potentially risked their lives to help.

    As usual it is the virtue signalling politicians and bureaucrats who did nothing to protect or help the victims who lap up all the attention and praise from the media and will, as usual, deny their responsibility and deflect all the blame and consequences to others.

    There will be speeches, “investigations”, reports and new regulations imposed to limit our freedom.

    These post-event reactions will not change what happened and they probably will not prevent future incidents in which people will be harmed or killed.

    Everyone who works and generates the revenue that people in the government take from them and spend pays for these bureaucratic “enterprises” and should be more concerned with the value they actually receive in return for what they are forced to pay.

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    1. Very true Charles. As to visiting a live volcano, I think the dangers are played down somewhat. Sad indeed but folk need to look more into things & not just believe the glossy brochures.

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