Were any other Queenslanders cringing at the Premier's tsunami performance yesterday?
There was a massive, 8.1 Richter earthquake off the Solomon Islands early yesterday. As well as the Solomons themselves, there was a tsunami alert raised for Queensland, specifically the outer Barrier Reef islands and Cooktown.
A bit of confusion reigned, what with some of the far northerners heading for the hills but not sure how far up the mountains to go, Cairns Hospital cancelling all elective surgery and evacuating the ground floor, and schools and a fair few businesses closing. They even closed the beaches on the Gold Coast and as far south as Sydney, where they also cancelled cross harbour ferries.
Overreaction or what, especially the further south it went, it is understandable looking back to the Aceh and Thailand Boxing Day thing sixteen months or so ago. Early reports from the Solomons themselves are that some villages have been swamped by five metre waves, a couple of dozen dead and thousands homeless - again, just early reports at this stage. By the time it got to Oz, the additional water was a mere surge of ten to twenty centimetres.
What is less understandable is how Smart State Premier Peter Beattie did a bit of a rant and rave about it all -
"What we didn't know was what was the extent of the tsunami, was there a tsunami coming, where will it hit, how much damage is it likely to cause, and how far people had to be pulled back from the beach,"
Yes Pete, I am sure those nefarious federal officials and scientists weren't telling us for an actual reason, perhaps because the state government is of an opposing party, rather than the simple fact that they did not know. Earthquakes are random, both in timing, location and effect, and even the computer modelling will not be sufficiently powerful for another two years. But let's put in a complaint about that as well. Queenslanders lives are at risk, do you understand?
If the premier is waiting around for the feds to give him instructions as to how to go about natural disaster planning, we are screwed. What's the money on SES being the next departmental fuck up. Does Beattie go and have a whinge to the Commonwealth if there is a bushfire or cyclone or drought? Well, on the latter one, maybe, but apart from that, I would hope that the state government has some idea of what to do when 'stuff happens'.
I can usually put up with any number of idiotic statements Beattie comes out with, but just the 'Queensland as Hicksville' impression he gave yesterday made me extra special venomously livid about the whole state of affairs. Pete needs his hand held after doing the latest Chicken Little show, awww.
Yes, yes, I know, sarcasm doesn't become me, lowest form of wit, but just shaking my head, rolling my eyes at the whole thing. Needed an outlet to get it out.
There was a massive, 8.1 Richter earthquake off the Solomon Islands early yesterday. As well as the Solomons themselves, there was a tsunami alert raised for Queensland, specifically the outer Barrier Reef islands and Cooktown.
A bit of confusion reigned, what with some of the far northerners heading for the hills but not sure how far up the mountains to go, Cairns Hospital cancelling all elective surgery and evacuating the ground floor, and schools and a fair few businesses closing. They even closed the beaches on the Gold Coast and as far south as Sydney, where they also cancelled cross harbour ferries.
Overreaction or what, especially the further south it went, it is understandable looking back to the Aceh and Thailand Boxing Day thing sixteen months or so ago. Early reports from the Solomons themselves are that some villages have been swamped by five metre waves, a couple of dozen dead and thousands homeless - again, just early reports at this stage. By the time it got to Oz, the additional water was a mere surge of ten to twenty centimetres.
What is less understandable is how Smart State Premier Peter Beattie did a bit of a rant and rave about it all -
"What we didn't know was what was the extent of the tsunami, was there a tsunami coming, where will it hit, how much damage is it likely to cause, and how far people had to be pulled back from the beach,"
Yes Pete, I am sure those nefarious federal officials and scientists weren't telling us for an actual reason, perhaps because the state government is of an opposing party, rather than the simple fact that they did not know. Earthquakes are random, both in timing, location and effect, and even the computer modelling will not be sufficiently powerful for another two years. But let's put in a complaint about that as well. Queenslanders lives are at risk, do you understand?
If the premier is waiting around for the feds to give him instructions as to how to go about natural disaster planning, we are screwed. What's the money on SES being the next departmental fuck up. Does Beattie go and have a whinge to the Commonwealth if there is a bushfire or cyclone or drought? Well, on the latter one, maybe, but apart from that, I would hope that the state government has some idea of what to do when 'stuff happens'.
I can usually put up with any number of idiotic statements Beattie comes out with, but just the 'Queensland as Hicksville' impression he gave yesterday made me extra special venomously livid about the whole state of affairs. Pete needs his hand held after doing the latest Chicken Little show, awww.
Yes, yes, I know, sarcasm doesn't become me, lowest form of wit, but just shaking my head, rolling my eyes at the whole thing. Needed an outlet to get it out.
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