Finnish Comic Responds To Jerry Brownlee, Minister for Earthquake Recovery

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Some of Tuomas Enbuske’s jokes:

“New Zealand has a very strong culture. An extremely strong barbecue, beer and car driving culture.”

Other countries’ experts come to Finland to learn from the Finnish educational system, people come to New Zealand to eat Kiwi fruit”

“The most famous New Zealanders in the world are ….er what was this guy’s name?…no he’s from…Australia”

“You sing in your national anthem that god defend New Zealand, well after seeing your unemployment and suicide it seems that god doesn’t defend Maoris”

“We have Kimi Räikkönen – you have sheep…we have the angry birds game – you have sheep, we have Nokia – you have sheep…”

We fully expect a massive backlash within New Zealand to this video from people that are quick to criticise other countries  but can’t take a joke about themselves. Maybe Mr Brownlee should concentrate on getting the rebuild of Christchurch underway. How long has it been now since the earthquake?

Jerry  Brownlee said his speech in the NZ parliament was meant to be humorous and not an attack on the country:

    “I’m sure that New Zealanders have been on the butt of all sorts of jokes at various times and not taken offence at such a thing.”

We’re not so sure

Background:

Finnish embassy wants answers over Brownlee’s comments

“The Finnish embassy in Canberra has asked for an explanation over comments Gerry Brownlee made about the Nordic country in Parliament.

During a debate in Parliament Brownlee criticised Labour leader David Shearer for using Finland as an example when outlining his vision for New Zealand.

Brownlee proceeded to list reasons why he believes New Zealand is a superior country to Finland, including a “terrible” homicide rate, having a better standard of living, more consistent growth, lower unemployment, and lower inflation rates.

He also said Finland “hardly educates its people, and has no respect for women”.

Brownlee said he could not believe “for the life of me” that Labour wanted to be like Finland.

Radio NZ is reporting that, Juha Parikka, the deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Finland in Canberra, has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade asking if there will be any reaction from the Government to Brownlee’s comments…” more here

Pot calling the kettle black more to come

• Every year there are  about 500 completed suicides in New Zealand, plus 5,000 hospitalisations. New Zealand leads the world in the highest rates of suicide for under 36 year olds.
• Kiwi youth suffer some of the worst health outcomes in the developed world. New Zealand youth have higher rates of mental illness, suicide, teen pregnancy and suffered more injuries than young people in other OECD countries.
• New Zealand is ranked joint third in the world by UNICEF for the highest number of  child maltreatment deaths (1.2 per 100,000 children) only the US and Mexico have more.
• “NZ has 14 times the average OECD rate of rheumatic fever, five to 10 times the rate of whooping cough and pneumonia compared with the United Kingdom and United States, and four to six times the rate of child maltreatment compared with the best countries.”
• Children as young as nine are among the hundreds of young people aged under 16 that are being treated for alcohol and drugs addiction – and that’s just in Auckland. The numbers of children receiving treatment is on the rise – there was a 20% increase in 2010.
• The Chief Coroner said he was “shocked and frustrated” by the high number of very young teens (some as young as 13) who drink themselves to death in New Zealand. It’s another symptom of the country’s hard drinking/binge drinking culture.
• According to figures held by the independent NZ Institute murder and manslaughter account for around 100 deaths every year, it places New Zealand 5th out of 30 OECD countries for violent deaths.
• There also scores of people who simply ‘disappear’ in New  Zealand every year, such as Korean mother Jessica  Chun who went missing on a Northland holiday  or Srikanth  Rayadurgam who vanished on his way to college in Auckland, who are never declared dead.

Womens rights slipping in New Zealand

We also have a range of posts about women’s rights in New Zealand link and about assaults against women link, from which the following has been taken:

Swiss Campers’ Tyres Slashed In Kaikoura

Parents Furious At Dean’s “Slut” Comment

17 Year Old Arrested For Mount Roskill Savage Rape

Turangi Child Rape: Open Letter to the Prime Minister of New Zealand

“Sex & Power” – Women’s Participation In NZ Stalled

Womens’ Rights Slipping In New Zealand

Another Street Attack In Wellington

Another Pregnant Woman Told To Leave New Zealand: Pregnancy Now Equated To Sickness In Human Rights Abuse

Violent Shallow 5.8 Earthquake Damages Christchurch – updated. Significent Aftershocks Continue

Update: Another quake, at least as big as the earlier 5.8, struck the city at 3.18pm and significant aftershocks are still continuing (3.35pm) Some locals are saying the latest was a 6.4.

The USGS gave a figure of 5.8 for the 3.18 earthquake and a depth of 4.9km, located at 43.491°S, 172.844°E. That puts it on land in the west of Pigeon Bay.

Geonet later rated this as a magnitude 6.0 at a depth of 5.8 km, placing it in South New Brighton:

Reference Number	3631380 [View event in Google Maps][View Felt Reports in Google Maps]
Universal Time	December 23 2011 at 2:18
NZ Daylight Time	Friday, December 23 2011 at 3:18 pm
Latitude, Longitude	43.53°S, 172.74°E
Focal Depth	6 km
Richter magnitude	6.0
Region	Canterbury
Location	10 km east of Christchurch 10 km north of Lyttelton

See chart below for all of today’s quakes.

Trace showing the 3.19 quake

A violent 5.8 earthquake has hit Christchurch at 1.58pm today, followed by a succession of strong aftershocks. No reports of tsunami yet.

RadioNZ has reported one casualty at Eastgate shopping mall and there is liquefaction in St Albans, Wattle drive,  Bromley..

Initial photos of the quake may be found here and there have been rockfalls at Scarborough cliffs.

Christchurch airport has been evacuated, and there is an unconfirmed report that one of the buildings was damaged, some phone networks down, power out in New Brighton.

RadioNZ is saying that the force of the quake is comparable to the devastating 22 February earthquake:

Newstalk ZB reporter Elliott Smith was on the couch in his Mairehau home when it struck.

“It just came and boy, it certainly had a lot of force to it. Judging by the reaction of people, our neighbours have come over, they weren’t expecting anything like this at all,” he says.

Since the quake, Elliott Smith says there’s been several smaller aftershocks which have left people on edge… more here

Qantas flight QF45 Sydney to Christchurch has been diverted to Wellington source

more to come.

Details from Geonet

Reference Number	3631359 [View event in Google Maps] [View Felt Reports in Google Maps]
Universal Time	December 23 2011 at 0:58
NZ Daylight Time	Friday, December 23 2011 at 1:58 pm
Latitude, Longitude	43.49°S, 172.90°E
Focal Depth	8 km
Richter magnitude	5.8
Region	Canterbury
Location	20 km north-east of Lyttelton 20 km north-east of Diamond Harbour 20 km east of Christchurch

Will have been damaging in Christchurch.

5.8 earthquake and aftershocks in Christchurch 23 Dec 2011

Geonet drums. Quakes hit Christchurch 23 December 2011

Migrant Tales – Irish Construction Workers Beware in Christchurch

Continuing in our series of Migrant Tales – first hand accounts of the immigrant experience of New Zealand gathered from locations around the net.

Today’s tale follows on from a story from a British plumber which we published yesterday.

The following account first appeared on the forum at Expatexposed.com and was written by someone who works in the NZ construction industry and whom is concerned about third world standards and lack of care that cost lives in all manner of industries.

It comes as inquiries are still underway into building failures during the Christchurch earthquake, the shocking revelations of the Pike River Mining disaster, the impending prosecution of two companies in the blast death of a female Canadian civil engineer in Auckland and news of a very near miss at the Huntly Colliery in Waikato. In all of those incidents immigrants or visitors from western countries were involved.

New Zealand: not a western country

Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:13 pm

“I need to rant so I thought that I’d also make it into a public service annouchment.

I work in what passes for New Zealand’s construction industry. Currently these nasty toe-rags are touting this awful country to construction workers from overseas (mainly Ireland) in order to get folks in to fix Christchurch (which, to be honest, should just be levelled and abandoned- only the foolish would want to live there now).

If you are thinking of coming here, don’t do it. Because, despite what you may have been told, New Zealand is not a western country. Sure they speak English and rather a lot of them are pale-looking, but that is where the similarity ends.

New Zeland is a Pacific island nation more akin to Fiji, Tonga or Samoa than Europe. Sure the place looks good on paper, Kiwis write reports as if their life depends on it (their life DOES depend on it). If they can’t spin a good yarn to unsuspecting foreigners no one will come, which means no one to fleece.

At the moment I’m dealing with something that has just pushed me over the edge, the proverbial straw the broke the camels back. Thankfully I’m nearly out of this damn place. I’ve been tasked with sorting out a problem due to an incident that could very well have cost a few people their lives lives. It was only luck that stopped a catastrope. If a similar situation occured in the UK it would be an issue of national concern, with a proper inquiry. Heads would roll.

In New Zealand, sholders are shrugged and a few folks meet and discuss it. Nothing done about it, though. The problem could reoccur today and people could die this time. Welcome to New Zealand’s laid-back lifestyle. You see, in New Zealand I often get asked to sort out problems. But only if it doesn’t upset the nicely laid-back (lazy) Kiwi mentality. They want the problem fixed, but without actually fixing the actual problem (as long as it looks like they tried), whilst not spending any money (because there isn’t any- that’s right folks, New Zealand is broke, it just doesn’t know it yet), and yet the half-cocked “solution” will probably end up costing more than doing the job properly.

That is the unreported toll of the NZ lifestyle. People die here all the time, needlessly. Children get killed on badly designed driveways and tourists on badly managed activities. Kiwis know nothing of accountability, Helen Clark’s nanny-state took away any need for personal responibility over here. People die and the nation shrugs it’s shoulders. If you read this and still make your way to this turd of a county, all I can say is it serves you right.”

For more migrants tales please click on the links in the menu bar above.

Workplace death statistics from the NZ Department of Labour

Key  annual statistics for 2010  

• 75 workers killed at work
• 5,945 serious harm notifications
• 89 cases  where an employer or employee was successfully prosecuted for breaches of health and safety  legislation.

Aftershock Predictions Held Back From Public

The NZ Herald reporting on the Christchurch earthquake inquiry have said that GNS scientists held back from making predictions about another powerful aftershock  following the Boxing Day 2011 quake.

“Government earthquake experts held back forecasts of a massive aftershock for Christchurch following the magnitude 4.9 Boxing Day jolt because they didn’t want to alarm the already traumatised population.”

GNS scientist Dr Kelvin Berryman admitted under cross examination that

“information was withheld from the public, on advice from social scientists scared for the beleaguered city’s collective mental health.”

The Herald reports that Christchurch lawyer Marcus Elliott said that after the 22 February 6.3 magnitude aftershock which killed 182 people, GNS made public statements warning of the possibility of an aftershock of one order of magnitude less.

He then asked the panel of four scientists if they considered issuing the same warning after the December 26 shake.

Mr Elliott asked: “If someone had come to GNS after Boxing Day and said, `we want to give people the Christchurch a people of understanding if this one less magnitude earthquake occurred under the city’, could GNS have calculated the likely ground forces and given people an understanding of what they might expect?”

The panel confirmed they could provide such information.

But GNS Scientist Dr Terry Webb said the idea of a issuing a warning was thought to be”unhelpful”.

Dr Webb admitted: “In the first couple of weeks (after the Boxing Day shake), social science advice was basically that we’ve got a traumatised population and what can you do to help them cope best, and that really was to get them coping with aftershocks.

“They had a need and a right to know, and that’s why we readily talked about the possibility of a six, so that certainly wasn’t hidden.

“But what was thought of as unhelpful at the time, was talking about the possibility of an event bigger than Darfield (magnitude 7.1 on September 4) itself, in terms of magnitude.” … you can find the entire Herald report here

However, if you look back to this news report from January you’ll see that there is no mention of the possibility of a magnitude 6 aftershock, people were being told to expect tremors of up to magnitude 5 every month to six weeks.

“Flurry of aftershocks hits nerves” 21/01/2011

Christchurch has been rattled by its 10th aftershock in 24 hours after a magnitude 4.4 quake struck this morning…

…GNS Science seismologist John Ristau warned people to expect aftershocks of up to magnitude 5.0 every month to six weeks.

He said aftershocks could go on for “months, a year or maybe even over a year”.

The report goes on to talk about the psychological effect the quakes were having and the high degree of anxiety some people were experiencing. This had been heightened by the Boxing Day quake.

But as the New Year holiday season drew to a close and people started going back to work fears began to grow. A month and a day before the 22 February quake people were voicing their concerns about returning to workplaces and entering high-rise buildings:

“The general manager of counselling and trauma support organisation Employee Assistance Programmes Services, Rod Berry, said some people were still apprehensive about returning to their workplace.

“There are some people naturally nervous about going into any buildings at the moment, particularly high-rise buildings,” he said.

The ACC will pay for counselling only if a a person is physically injured in the quake or can show a mental injury arose from the physical injury.

A Canterbury District Health Board anxiety disorders unit spokesman said there had not been a noticeable increase in referrals.”

If the scientists had provided the information and predictions, which they told the inquiry that had at their disposal,  could more lives have been spared on 22 February?

Would people have still occupied damaged buildings if they were fully aware that a magnitude 6 quake was likely to strike at any time?

Canterbury Shaken By Strong Quake

View Larger Map

The Canterbury region of New Zealand was shaken by a strong 5.5 magnitude earthquake this evening.

Data from Geonet place the epicentre 20km east of Christchurch at a depth of only 12km.

The quake was later classified as a new event by the Earthquake Commission for insurance purposes, fresh claims may be made for damage. This was the largest quake quake to hit the city since a 6.3 magnitude on 13 June.

Reactions to the insurance annoucement were predictably skeptical:

Anon chch – “whats the bloody use in claiming when the insurance companies are not stepping up to fix the houses. Save tax payers money and make the insurance’s step up for once. Enough has been paid out by the Eqc, still waiting a year down the road to get house fixed and thats in green zone. if the damage is made worse its down to insurance for failing to fix in the first place.”

Anon -  “what a f..king joke now we will have to waiting another 12 months to have our places looked at”

beattie8 – “yet another claim for insurance companys? maybe they should hire more staff and get the claims from a year ago sorted first. slack as”

“Shit that was big”

People in the area were shocked by the power of the quake and were quick to take to the internet and talk on Trademe.

• “phones are out”
• “Harewood was big and rumbling”
• “Has to be a 5……right??? really bad here in Redwood”
• “Good one here in Leithfield too…. not nice!”
• “shakey shakey here in Timaru as well!!”
• “GEONET’s DOWN not a good sign – must have been over 5 then – not down but REAL GLITCHY”
• “Felt that in Methven too. Usually has to be a big one over your way for us to feel it.”
• “felt long out here (Doyleston) started out like Feb, was waiting for it to grow…”
• “I must admit that I got off of my chair in readiness for a increase in the intensity, it started off like the 7.1 did last year”
• “reminded everyone to make sure their touches are at the ready just in case, bit of a rough couple of days”
• “We rockn out west.”
• “Looks like it was centered somewhere in the sea off of Godley Heads”
• “It was a big one in Bromley & a few more of the block’s in the house came loose with it,if we get any more like that I wont have any left.We keep putting them back in but I think it’s a waste of time. A lot of thing’s fell out of the cupboard’s as well.”

Reference Number	3591999
Universal Time	October 9 2011 at 7:34
NZ Daylight Time	Sunday, October 9 2011 at 8:34 pm
Latitude, Longitude	43.58°S, 172.82°E
Focal Depth	12 km
Richter magnitude	5.5
Region	Canterbury
Location	10 km north-east of Diamond Harbour 10 km east of Lyttelton 20 km east of Christchurch

As yet we’ve not heard of any structural damage or liquefaction, daylight may bring some news.