Natural hazards are a part of life in this country. Faults, volcanoes and tsunamis exist throughout. Government funding has always been available. In recent years that has changed. Funding tax cuts for those who do not need it, has been a bigger priority.
To the point that…
If a major natural hazard event had occurred on Friday afternoon, New Zealanders would have been none the wiser. Why? Geonet was forced to close its 24/7 monitoring centre in Wellington, due to staffing shortages.
My thoughts on this?
These closures were enabled by the underfunding of Geonet. The Wellington office was designed to operate 24/7/365 and provide live monitoring.
As a natural hazards postgrad with a life-long interest in the field I have concerns. The funding set aside to run Geonet is a tiny portion of the annual budget. It performs an essential service to New Zealand emergency management. Geonet data provides local councils, Civil Defence, emergency services with vital information on developing emergencies.
More broadly, this is typical neoliberal cost cutting. Let us imagine public services as a body. Neoliberal cost cutting typically involves looking for a scape goat. A negative event happens and the scapegoat is seized upon. The Minister/s responsible for the entity/entities that were involved, use it as an excuse to fire/interfere with the corporate management. With new managers in place, proponents start looking for ways to save money (read “get rid of people who disagree”). That is neoliberal economics.
How did this become possible?
Penny Simmonds, Minister for Science Innovation and Technology, has enabled funding cuts to essential monitoring of our volcanoes, faultlines, tsunami and landslide risk zones. Ms Simmonds claims that the organization would have adequate staff coverage. However, the truth is that these cuts are part of a bigger war on science. Neither of the big parties appreciates what a properly funded research, science and technology sector could look like.
It is also not the first attack. Earlier in the term of this Government, 96 job losses were announced at the then Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences. Much concern was expressed at the time about the cuts.
Future natural hazards
I just hope that before a major disaster happens, that Wellington decision makers fund Geonet properly. Whether it is an Alpine Fault earthquake, a North Island volcano erupting, or a tsunami, to best protect our communities, we need continuous monitoring of our hazard zones.
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