Mateship

This summer of Australian natural disasters has been book-ended by two New Zealand disasters, both of which claimed more lives than all of the Australian weather-related calamities put together.

Despair. Pic: Getty Images

In late November, the Pike River mine blast claimed 29 victims. Various Australian weather events – most notably the SE Queensland floods – then claimed around 25 lives, while the death toll continues to rise rapidly from yesterday’s devastating Christchurch earthquake. At last count it was 65 and early morning reports suggest this could reach as high as 200.

There are no lessons in all of this, except one. New Zealand’s pain is our pain. And ours is theirs.

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  • Anna says:

    12:21pm | 28/02/11

    Thanks Phil. Absolutely. Where is the humour in death? I am all for a bit of banter when it comes to sheep, fish & chips and all the other (tired old) Australian jokes aimed at Kiwis however I obviously am only speaking for myself when I say my humour does… Read more »

  • son of a banker says:

    06:51pm | 24/02/11

    100% pure wool. We all deal with natural tragic events in individual ways. I hate how media (and politicians—joined at the hip)  use these events to sell their bloodied wares. Shit happens - people deal with it - modern-day journalists just get in the way. Read more »

 

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