Craig Cooper: Cyclone’s real stories uplifting, false claims unsettling

It seems most of New Zealand has a large, global warming-sized problem, writes Craig Cooper. Photo / NZME

Opinion

The absolute drivel emanating from social media this past week has reinforced why journalism is needed in the world.

At the time I am writing this, eight people in Hawke’s Bay have lost their lives in the Cyclone Gabrielle flooding that has decimated the region.

Eight. Not 90. Found in one day. Or 100.

Eight, which is eight too many no matter how you look at it, or where you look, when it comes to seeking answers as to what the hell happened a few weeks ago, especially in the Esk Valley.

The exaggerated death toll on social media is hurtful, macabre fiction.

An NZME reporter was abused last week for not telling the truth about the 100-plus people killed.

Reporters are used to occasionally not being the most popular person in the room.

It’s usually when we are present around people who would rather not have their business or behaviour exposed.

I don’t mention this to garner sympathy for journalists.

I mention it because it’s a classic example of people getting things wrong because of misinformed paranoia and conspiracies fuelled by social media.

It’s also ironic, given we need reporters more now than ever to counter social media hysteria and provide information that is accurate.

Ask yourself this question.

Who would gain from the true death toll of Cyclone Gabrielle being suppressed? No one.

What happened was an act of nature that historically we may have attached the word ‘freak’ to, as in a ‘freak storm’ or ‘freak downpour’.

Except that in Hawke’s Bay, and globally, these ‘freak events’ are becoming more common.

Along with the rain that steadily pummelled the region, there were isolated downpours that caused the devastating flooding and made the intense rainfall that flooded Napier in 2020 look like amateur hour.

And it seems that if weather experts are right and these intense downpours are linked to warming oceans, then most of New Zealand has a large, global warming-sized problem.

So no, last week’s cyclone and flooding wasn’t caused by the Government, which is now seeking to suppress the true death toll lest it looks bad.

Amid the rumour mill was the temporary morgue set up at Napier Port, as it was during Covid.

It seems some people identified the morgue’s presence as a reaction to the volume of deaths. It wasn’t.

No, no one would gain from lying about the death toll.

But people lose, especially those whose anxiety dial moved a level or three on hearing the fake news, when there is already enough anxiety and pain in our community without this sort of rubbish.

Eight people died last week in this region’s biggest natural disaster since the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.

And many survived thanks to the heroic efforts of many people who put their own lives at risk.

Fakebook news aside, many of the real stories that have emerged from Cyclone Gabrielle are uplifting and extraordinary.

But in the eye of the storm is the sobering, tragic reality of a story of shocking heartbreak and loss.

At the time I am writing this, the number of uncontactable people after Cyclone Gabrielle is eight.

I hope all of those people are alive.