Ummmmm slacktivism yey?
I have mixed feelings about this post.
The Prime Minister, John Key, has called for two minutes of silence(1) at 12:51pm Tuesday 1st March, exactly one week after the quake that struck Christchurch and devastated my hometown.
On the one hand, I tend to consider those kinds of things a waste of time; give us money, give us port-a-loos(3), give us this day our daily bread (turns out most of the large bakeries were in Christchurch, whoops, sucks to be the South Island); two minutes of silence is not, in the larger scheme of things, terribly practical assistance.
On the other hand, it makes some people feel better.
So, if you would like to participate, you can find out when that is in your timezone here, or you can do it at 12:51 your own time, or hell you can even close your eyes and think of Christchurch right now if it will help you.
(1) IDK why it's not the standard "minute of silence"; I guess to emphasise how big(2) this disaster is for us?
(2) In terms of loss of life, this is currently at fifth place in NZ history; expected to end up at least third but may end up first. Per capita, it's equivalent to 2,119 deaths in the UK, or 10,518 deaths in the US. In terms of cost, it's estimated at 7-8% of GDP, compared with the 1% of GDP of Hurricane Katrina. The airport has put on 20 extra flights per day to cope with the numbers of people evacuating and I can't be bothered looking up the numbers to translate that into Real Country Equivalencies but just take my word for it that it's a lot.
(3) I am so not kidding about the port-a-loos. Send them all.
(4) I have not cried, for the sole reason that if I start I'm not sure how I'll stop. I've got shit to do, okay; there's a city to be rebuilt.
(5) Shut up; I like footnotes.
The Prime Minister, John Key, has called for two minutes of silence(1) at 12:51pm Tuesday 1st March, exactly one week after the quake that struck Christchurch and devastated my hometown.
On the one hand, I tend to consider those kinds of things a waste of time; give us money, give us port-a-loos(3), give us this day our daily bread (turns out most of the large bakeries were in Christchurch, whoops, sucks to be the South Island); two minutes of silence is not, in the larger scheme of things, terribly practical assistance.
On the other hand, it makes some people feel better.
So, if you would like to participate, you can find out when that is in your timezone here, or you can do it at 12:51 your own time, or hell you can even close your eyes and think of Christchurch right now if it will help you.
(1) IDK why it's not the standard "minute of silence"; I guess to emphasise how big(2) this disaster is for us?
(2) In terms of loss of life, this is currently at fifth place in NZ history; expected to end up at least third but may end up first. Per capita, it's equivalent to 2,119 deaths in the UK, or 10,518 deaths in the US. In terms of cost, it's estimated at 7-8% of GDP, compared with the 1% of GDP of Hurricane Katrina. The airport has put on 20 extra flights per day to cope with the numbers of people evacuating and I can't be bothered looking up the numbers to translate that into Real Country Equivalencies but just take my word for it that it's a lot.
(3) I am so not kidding about the port-a-loos. Send them all.
(4) I have not cried, for the sole reason that if I start I'm not sure how I'll stop. I've got shit to do, okay; there's a city to be rebuilt.
(5) Shut up; I like footnotes.