PLANS FOR EMERGENCIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22183, 9 August 1935, Page 10

PLANS FOR EMERGENCIES

"Be prepared" is so palpably good a principle that the Mayor's proposal for organised readiness to cope with the ills attendant on a serious earthquake or a perilous outbreak of influenza is to be approved as wise. The first contingency may be viewed as only remotely passible because of Auckland's situation outside the zone of likely seismic disturbance, but it is better to err on the side of excessive precaution in such a matter than to be caught unawares. Toward the second an attitude of preparedness may at any time prove essential for speedy and efficient grappling with trouble. Recollections of the epidemic in 1918 should prompt effectual thinking ahead. As yet no municipal scheme is, even outlined. It ought to be planned with full attention to detail. Two considerations ought to be weighed at the outset of practical discussion. One is the fact that the City Council is in control of a restricted area of Auckland and its suburbs, and consequently any organisation must extend beyond municipal boundaries to be adequate. Adjacent local bodies should be incorporated in the project. Also there will be involved an effective co-ordination of effort with the national Health Department and the district Hospital Board. This is practicable, as experience shows, but to postpone, perfecting of co-opera-tive arrangements until the emergency arises would be to risk giving an epidemic a dangerous start. Every practical aspect calls for preparatory attention.