SIDELINES: Ignore the doomsayers and stop worrying | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

IN MOST cases eight out of 10 would be regarded as a good, even overwhelming, majority.

If that many people were in agreement it might even be assumed they were probably right.

But not, it seems, if they consider impending disaster so unlikely that they can do without a survival kit and an evacuation plan.

Headlines last week that 80 per cent of Bay people surveyed were not prepared for disaster unfairly implied a slack complacency and failure to recognise impending doom.

I think it is reassuring and a measure of general common sense that four out of five choose to thumb their noses at the doomsayers, scaremongers and chicken-lickens.

More than half of those surveyed said that of the four disasters considered likely in the Bay (tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption and flood), tsunami worried them most.

Here's some advice. Stop worrying. The only death in New Zealand attributable to a tsunami happened on the Chatham Islands about 150 years ago. A man who had walked up the beach ahead of the initial wave drowned when he went back to try to retrieve a boat that was floating away.

It is a big jump from that to the currently favoured "worst scenario" of a four- or five-metre wall of water travelling at 500km/h sweeping across the beach and dunes into the Mount and Papamoa.

Let's remember that two well-meaning tsunami warnings issued in the past year saved no one but caused needless alarm to many.

People left feeling foolish after fleeing to the hills hid their discomfiture by criticising those less easily spooked, who chose to go down to the beach for a look.

Far from being reassured by the calculation that tsunamis average 682-year intervals, they are demanding evacuation plans.

Given similar intervals between disasters they are probably also worried about the return of the Black Death and the Spanish Inquisition.

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Of course it is possible that many of those who responded to the survey might indeed have a survival kit sitting in their cupboards but be unaware of it.

Take a typical household, such as the one I am fortunate to share.

The front row of tins in the pantry is the usual lineup of baked beans, spaghetti, assorted soups, sliced peaches and pears.

Look behind, to the back of the cupboard, and a forgotten treasure trove is revealed.

There's a huge tin of black doris plums. Rust on the top makes it impossible to read the use-by date but there is no sign of leakage.

There's evidence of a long-forgotten foray into the world of Indian and Asian cooking, abandoned after a disastrous misreading of a recipe which included green curry paste.

I found packs of chicken korma, with best-before dates of April, 2002 and December 2002 still decipherable. They share space with apricot chicken curry (best before March 2001) promising "a delicious family meal, great with rice and green beans".

Most daunting of all is the jar of sichuan spicy noodle sauce (extra hot), best before June 1999 ... definitely to be opened only in an emergency.

An unexplored corner of the deep freezer yielded more surprises. Mysterious plastic containers with swelling lids can contain anything from stewed feijoa to leftover soup or stew.

Pencilled labels have long since disintegrated but they are usually distinguishable from the newspaper-wrapped trevally and squid fish bait.

Most important is a regular checking and replenishing of the beer fridge. Light beer, brought by visitors, sometimes even soft drinks, somehow missed by grandchildren, can be found occupying valuable space.

Check now. There's still time to fill the survival kit in case a tsunami hits before tonight's rugby.