Claudia Marangon, 4 A PNI, overseas student in New Zealand writes about environmental disaster
On the 5th of October a cargo ship, the “Rena”, hit the Astrolabe reef off the coast of Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty. The impact with the reef opened a big hole in the keel of the ship, where hundreds of tanks of oil were stored.
Now,16 days since the nightmare began, 350 tonnes of oil have been spilling into the sea, while only 150 tonnes have been pumped from ship and 1000 tonnes are still on the vessel. But why ONLY 150 tonnes have been pumped from the ship? The main discussed reasons are two:
1. The weather did not help the rescue operation: it was often rainy and very windy, it would have been too dangerous to try something with that weather.
2. The rescue operation started too late: this is the opinion of most Kiwis.
Most people are not very happy with the government and their Prime Minister, John Key, they think that the government reacted too slowly and that they are not providing enough help due to the fact that everybody is focused on the other big event which is happening in New Zealand now: the Rugby World Cup.
The reaction was actually very slow: they started pumping the oil from the ship a week after the disaster happened, after too much deliberation. This might be fatal for New Zealand: this country’s economy is mostly based on the tourism industry and heaps of tourists come here to see the untouched landscapes, the rare wildlife and the unique sea life, but all of this is in great danger now. The oil spilled from the boat is now spread in 60 km from the ship, thousands of birds died and thousands more are badly injured, and the beaches of the Bay of Plenty are turning black. A lot of volunteers are helping Maritime New Zealand cleaning the beaches and rescuing the wildlife.
Maritime New Zealand is an association that protect and preserve the environment in New Zealand, everybody there is trying his best to limit the damage, but they cannot do everything on their own, this is the biggest environmental disaster New Zealand has ever faced.