Michael Bassett: Cyclones and politics

In February-March 1988 when Cyclone Bola hit the eastern North Island I was Minister of Civil Defence. I remember flying crab-wise into a howling gale to a closed Gisborne airport in a small Air Force plane in order to get an immediate handle on the crisis that was unfolding. I met with local officials and put them in touch with the Beehive national emergency team. Prime Minister David Lange followed a day or two later by helicopter, dropping in on isolated farms and settlements with bottles of water and assurances that the government was doing what was needed to help the recovery.