NATURAL DISASTERS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22390, 2 May 1938, Page 5

NATURAL DISASTERS

VO T*B KDITOB Oi TB» PBBSB Sir,—At Putarino. 40 miles north of Napier, 32 inches of rain werfe recorded in the recent flood, and this was described as a heavy downpour. After that, one may well ask what amount of rain constitutes the cloudburst we sometimes read about, and what sized flooid, in feet and inches, becomes an act of God. When the Kopuawhara catastrophe occurred, the Minister for Public Works laid the blame at the door of Divine Providence, and expressed the belief that it was humanly impossible to foretell that disaster. And now the Prime Minister, after being told of the devasatation that had been wrought in the Esk Valley, says in effect, that he must see it does not occur again. In Man’s war with Nature there is always the uncertainty as to what is Nature’s limit. A flood like the recent one in Hawke’s Bay is not likely to be seen for many generations to come; and yet it may be exceeded this year or next—who knows? Try as he may. Man cannot count on absolute safety when pitted against Nature’s extended forces, whether it is flood, earthquake, or hurricane that threatens him. No doubt he can take some useful lessons from past events, but it is the uncertainty of the future and how far to go to meet that uncertainty which must always baffle him. Probably no Public Works camp will again be placed in a river valley which, a little higher up, is narrow and steep, and where there is a chance of a temporary dam being formed, as at Kopuawhara. Communities may combine to make their position comparatively sgcure; we have our own River Trust, and nothing (so far) has happened to us, but in the more open and solitary

life men must take greater risks, or no progress can be made. —Yours, etc., T.A.S.