LOUIS PIERARD
Only traffic incidents and falls cause more accidental deaths of New Zealanders than drowning. Yet in a country with more than 18,000 km of coastline and countless inland waterways we are constantly reminded by the sorry toll that we are ill-prepared to meet such an obvious natural hazard.
The most common cause of drowning is falling into the water unintentionally, followed by swimmers getting into difficulty.
According to Water Safety New Zealand (WSNZ) we drown, per capita, at twice the rate of Australians. Between 1995 and 2002, 1087 people drowned in New Zealand. Annual drowning statistics date only from 1980 but peaked at 214 in 1985. The average of the past five years is 118.
Yet despite all of that, only 1 percent of New Zealanders polled recently considered drowning was a serious risk (compared with 71 percent for road accidents)
The best insurance against a watery death is an ability to swim competently. Yet, surprisingly, many of us are not confident swimmers. If we were it is likely the death toll would be lower.
If New Zealand families underrate the risk of drowning then it is little wonder WSNZ is finding it hard to make much of an impression.
The poll result argues for a curriculum change to waterproof children for life. Swimming is not compulsory. It should be, not only to save our own skins but to provide the means of saving others, too.
It makes absolute sense for swimming to be high on the list of priorities for children; the earlier the better, and with subsidies for tuition. There are no guarantees against an unexpected dunking and, given our abundance of water, it pays to be prepared for the worst.
On its website, WSNZ includes a passage from the book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by American Sebastian Junger. The book is an account of a fishing boat crew's struggle with one of the worst storms imaginable. It includes a compelling, salutary and deeply disturbing description of what a person endures when he or she drowns.
It should be prescribed reading: "Researchers have shown that a human in a drowning situation holds their breath for 87 seconds. That's how long the instinct not to breathe can overcome the thought of running out of air; how long a sort of clear headedness lasts. Eighty-seven is the break point.
"Until the break point a drowning person is said to be undergoing 'voluntary apnoea' - choosing not to breathe.
"Lack of oxygen to the brain causes a sensation of darkness closing in from all sides. The panic of a drowning person is mixed with the odd incredulity that this is actually happening. Having never drowned before, the body and the mind do not know how to die gracefully.
"When the first involuntary breath is taken most people are still conscious, which is unfortunate because the only thing more unpleasant than running out of air is breathing water. At this point the person goes from voluntary to involuntary apnoea and the drowning begins in earnest.
"A spasmodic breath drags water into the mouth and windpipe and then one of two things happens. In about 10 percent of people water touching the vocal cords triggers an immediate contraction in the muscles around the larynx. This is called laryngospasm and it's so powerful that it overcomes the breathing reflex and eventually suffocates the person. A person with laryngospasm dies without water in the lungs.
"In the other 90 per cent of people water floods the lungs and ends any warning transfer of oxygen to the blood. The clock is running down now; half-conscious and enfeebled by oxygen depletion, the drowning person is in no condition to fight.
"They have suffered for a minute or two. Their bodies, having imposed increasingly drastic measures to keep functioning, have finally started to shut down. Only the brain is alive, but its electrical activity gets weaker and weaker until, after 15-20 minutes, it ceases altogether."
EDITORIAL: Drowning unthinkable way to go
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