A little common sense will go a long way for Civil Defence — Editorial

We hope all affected – especially farming and rural people -- are able to get through the tough and challenging times in the months ahead as the clean-up and recovery rolls on.

We also hope the Government and bureaucracy quickly pick up and act on things learned during and after the quakes.

What we have learnt – so far – is that Civil Defence, or ‘Emergency Management’ as it prefers to be called nowadays, needs to put its staff and volunteers through a rural awareness course.

The sad fact of life during the recent earthquakes has been CD’s lack of understanding of the needs of farming people.

Do the people in CD truly understand the plight of farmers? Many farmers have not only lost their homes and lack basic necessities, but they carry the added responsibility of caring for stock – cows, sheep, cattle, deer or man’s best friend, the farm dog.

It appears many CD people don’t get this, and understandably farmers in North Canterbury and Kaikoura have been frustrated at the inflexible, bureaucratic approach of some well-meaning volunteers dealing with farmers at a local level.

Yes, safety is important, but some behaviour of the civil defence people beggars belief. Understandably, care is essential on the inland route to Kaikoura, but serious questions arise about the management of this road.

Even the Acting Minister of Civil Defence, Gerry Brownlee, has asked questions about the workings of the CD response and so he should.

Farmers may be forgiven for feeling they have been dealt a bad hand by CD. Its role rightly includes restoring calm, but in this case some CD people have added to farmers’ woes by being impractical and non-pragmatic. Their approach seems to many rural people to be, “If it’s not in the CD manual we don’t do it”.

Sorry, but that’s daft! A little common sense will go a long way.

It requires a bit more thinking, a lighter touch – and, to be fair, training – for CD to appreciate the plight of a dairy farmer whose rotary milking platform has been jolted off its rollers or a sheep farmer needing to get his animals crutched.

Consider the plight of a farmer plagued by landslips, destroyed fences and stock going bush, and lacking tracks for stock mustering and digger access for track repair. To be told by dad’s army that he can’t go home is the final straw in an already unbelievably stressful time.

The Kaikoura/North Canterbury quake highlights the enduring gap between town and country, especially at the level of officialdom.