Editorial: Prepared or not, tragedy unavoidable

The Nepalese have been struck by a devastating disaster that will take them years to recover from.

Social science experts from around the world had gathered in Kathmandu to try to prepare for a disaster they knew was coming.

They didn't know when it would happen but they knew it would. It did - the magnitude 7.8 quake struck on Saturday killing thousands of people and leaving millions in limbo.

Just how do you go about preparing a country like Nepal for disaster?

The poor, congested country is full of shabbily-built buildings that had no chance against an earthquake of this magnitude.

How do you get 1.5 million people from the Kathmandu Valley to stockpile food and water when the majority of them are struggling to get by on a day-to-day basis?

When Cyclone Pam was bearing down on Hawke's Bay and people were warned to batten down the hatches and be prepared they did just that.

However, when the predicted storm didn't hit there were grumbles from people about the media brewing up a storm in a teacup.

Others were thankful that we escaped the path of the cyclone.

We are so lucky we have the technology to be warned. Everyone in New Zealand would have heard about Cyclone Pam and while she did cause some damage on the East Coast it would have been far worse if people weren't warned.

We do need to be prepared for a disaster no matter where we live.

The Nepalese have been struck by a devastating disaster that will take them years to recover from.

They need all the help they can get and I have no doubt the world will come to their aid just as they did for Christchurch and Vanuatu.