Prime Minister John Key said today that he did “not expect” New Zealanders would be “rushing out” to help Vanuatu recover from Tropical Cyclone Pam, as their “first thoughts” would be with their deck chairs at home that are in desperate need of putting back up.
“Obviously, our thoughts go out to everybody affected by Vanuatu,” he said, in a statement released to media this afternoon. “I have spoken today with Prime Minister Natuman and President Lonsdale, and I have assured them both that New Zealand will provide them with our very best aid as soon as we get around to it.”
Despite that, he said, the people of Vanuatu would have to understand that “we, too, have been affected by this event.”
“New Zealanders are a generous people,” he wrote, “but as the cyclone travelled south of Vanuatu, past Auckland, and the East Cape, it left a trail of deck chairs blown over, small tree branches on streets, and also things that were outside got wet.”
Key said he felt it would be “irresponsible” and “neglectful” to ignore these issues at home in favour of “nation building” abroad.
Those spoken to by media today agreed with the Prime Minister.
43-year-old Owen Reynolds, of Gisborne, said that the cyclone brought with it heavy winds, and a strange kind of water from the sky that made everything “very wet.”
“It’s a little hard to believe,” he said, “but I swear to God I saw it. I saw water, just tumbling out of the sky, and now everything is wet. Absolutely everything. The ground, the plants, the power lines. Oh God, the power lines. That can’t be safe.”
Civil Defence director Sarah Stuart-Black said that, in the aftermath of yesterday’s weather, the majority of New Zealand cities and towns were “covered in water,” and that “countless towels” would be needed to mop it all up.
The Government has pledged one towel to the clean-up effort, but will be saving its other towel to send to Vanuatu.
Meanwhile, in Auckland, many residents have reported loose leaves stuck to the outside of their windows, which is proving particularly problematic for those in apartment blocks above the ground floor.
32-year-old Natasha Jones said she was “overwhelmed” by the scale of the task ahead.
“My heart really does go out to everyone in Tuvalu,” she said. “I mean, gosh, if it’s anything like this, it’s absolutely horrific.”
Jones said she would “normally donate” to something like that, but was currently too preoccupied thinking about “how on earth I’m going to dislodge that leaf.”
She believed it was “just something Aucklanders have to get through,” and couldn’t imagine what it would be like if something like this happened “practically all the time.”