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Two years ago it came to us. The big one - a hurricane strength storm that ravaged Rodney and left behind it a trail of destruction and disruption. It wasn’t that we weren’t prepared. We’d been expecting a substantial storm for some time. Civil Defence is trained to deal with one, and its aftermath. But what did catch us by surprise was the intensity of the initial damage and most of all the recovery time - as entire communities struggled to cope with, in particular, no electricity and, in some cases, no water for weeks after the storm. We were hit again by a storm last year. Not as severe admittedly, but the evidence was there that most everybody was better prepared for it than the first time around.
Are we getting used to storms? I doubt that will ever happen. But we are now managing to cope with them, handle them, and minimise the disruption they cause in our lives. When it comes to us against the storm - we’re starting to win a few. 'You Against the Storm' was a campaign aimed at reminding us all that coping doesn’t mean complacency - we still need to be prepared as a council, as a community, as an individual and as a family. Families - what is perhaps remarkable is the response of young people to the campaign. Clearly youth is no barrier or protection from memories - and so many young people wrote or drew pictures of their vivid memories of the storms. Many went a step further and, at our invitation, told us what they were doing to prepare for the next one.
This book contains their suggestions, their memories, their stories. When it comes to kids against the storm, as this anthology records, the kids clearly are on to it! Civil Defence is indebted to all the young contributors.
Mike Isle, Rodney Communications Manager, Civil Defence Emergency Management |
