One NZ has won a world-first resilience endorsement from the Zombie Research Society.
One NZ has won a world-first resilience endorsement from the Zombie Research Society.
Aotearoa is highly ranked for surviving a zombie apocalypse due to its low population density and geography.
One NZ received a “zombie resilience” endorsement for its satellite service enabling text communication without cell tower coverage.
Zombie Research Society founder Matt Mogk emphasises the importance of communication and practical survival strategies.
Essential items for surviving the zombie apocalypse?
Water, shelter – and a New Zealand postcode.
Aotearoa would “for sure” make an updated list of Top 10 countries to weather a global plague of the living dead, says Matt Mogk, founder of the Zombie Research Society.
“Just being surrounded by water is a huge advantage, whether it be the Spanish flu of 1919 or even Covid 19. If you don’t let people in your country, you’re not going to catch whatever disease it is. And essentially zombies are a virus with legs and teeth.”
But it’s not just our geography. In a global first, the American-based research society (whose members include scientists, authors and academics) has awarded a “zombie resilience” endorsement to a New Zealand telecommunications company.
One NZ received the “most zombie resilient network” accolade for the satellite service it rolled out late last year in partnership with Starlink Direct to Mobile (engineered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX).
The service allows customers with an eligible phone, plan and direct line of sight to the sky, to send and receive texts – even when traditional cell-tower coverage is unavailable.
One NZ has described the endorsement as “bizarre” but chief executive Jason Paris also said it underscored the importance of telecommunications in a crisis.
Efforts to establish a satellite network here were elevated after Cyclone Gabrielle, the country’s deadliest weather event in 55 years.
“I heard how scary it was not being able to tell anyone you needed help or to know that the people you cared about were safe.”
Paris said the ultimate aim was to enable emergency messages to be sent to any eligible phone, regardless of the mobile network provider.
And he said the technology had applications beyond disasters, citing the agriculture, transportation and conservation sectors among those with workers “in the middle of nowhere”.
Formed in 2007, the Zombie Research Society describes itself as “the ultimate authority on the undead”. Members have authored multiple scientific papers and had books published by the likes of Princeton University Press.
According to its founder, zombie research is useful for “understanding catastrophic and survival situations – it has a lot of real world applications.
“It’s a fun topic that gets people interested. There is a lot of meat in there. Pun intended.”
Currently based in North Carolina, Mogk says that when he lived in Los Angeles he did not have an earthquake preparedness kit.
“But I do have a zombie preparedness kit and it works great for earthquakes! So, that’s where this idea of endorsements started.”
Matt Mogk, founder of the United States based Zombie Research Society, which has just endorsed local telecommunications company One NZ as the "most zombie resilient network".
The society had previously looked at an electric fence from South Africa and a survival kit from the United Kingdom, but ultimately settled on One NZ Satellite - a service it described as a “game changer”.
“Due to its remote operation from space, rather than a terrestrial network of cell towers on the ground, it has more capacity to withstand damage and maintain connection,” Mogk said in the society’s official critical analysis.
“It’s like doom and gloom around every corner,” he told the NZ Herald.
“The first thing you need to do, whether it’s for peace of mind or for actual survival, is to be able to communicate... you need to have information to be able to plan properly.”
Rotorua-born actor Cliff Curtis, who starred in the television zombie phenomena, Fear The Walking Dead, presented the endorsement on behalf of the Zombie Research society.
Cliff Curtis (left) who starred in Fear The Walking Dead, presented One NZ chief executive Jason Paris with the Zombie Research Society's endorsement for "most zombie resilient network".
“A zombie apocalypse can be disruptive,” says Curtis, in a video released via social media.
“After years of trying to fight them on TV, I would know... trust me, when the dead start walking, you want a lifeline.”
Also, possibly, a cricket bat.
Mogk (a regular panellist on the long-running live television show Talking Dead) says the question he most frequently fields is how to kill a zombie.
“Obviously we’re not dealing with zombies at the front door, but if you look at popular culture and the way the zombie zeitgeist has developed, then the best way to destroy a zombie is to destroy the brain.
“I wouldn’t use firearms, because they’re very loud. You don’t want to be drawing attention to yourself. So some blunt object. Massive blunt force trauma to the head . . . I actually think that in Shaun of the Dead, when they use a cricket bat, that was a really good idea.”
He would not take tips from Kiwi director Peter Jackson’s comedy splatter movie Braindead (in which zombies are killed by fire, lawnmower and blender).
“That movie is not designed to be realistic. I love it, but I would not take any advice from it. That movie is pure entertainment!”
A scene from Peter Jackson's zombie comedy Braindead.
New Zealand (population 5.2m) had previously only missed out on making the official Top 10 list of countries to survive a zombie outbreak because the society had limited its selection to countries with populations of greater than five million.
“We haven’t really been tracking population increases,” Mogk said.
“I will talk to the board and see what we can do.”
Matt Mogk, Zombie Research Society founder on:
Killing zombies: “The last thing you want to do is run around and start chopping zombies’ heads off. You know, if there was a trash bag full of toxic goo that, if you got a single drop on you, would turn you into a raving maniac, why would you ever start banging on that bag or cutting it open?”
Zombie diets: “Everybody will tell you zombies eat brains. One of our scientists geeked out on this and did a study on the bite compression force of hundreds of different animals . . . humans cannot bite very hard compared to many other animals and we cannot get our mouths open wide enough to bite on anything larger than an apple. So, zombies may prefer brains, but unless they’re using tools to somehow open your head, there’s no way they’re biting through your skull.”
Zombie respect: “The Walking Dead came around and zombies really hit their heyday . . . they were so disrespected before that. Especially before the internet, you’d have one kid in Iowa who loves zombies and one kid in South London or Sydney – now you have these giant zombie walks in different cities and I’m just really happy about the respect they’re getting because, you know, it’s fun – and there are real world applications.”
What to do if someone you know becomes a zombie: “You see this in popular culture. Someone’s husband has turned into a zombie and she’s like ‘no, we have to keep Bert alive’ and she locks him in the bedroom... his eyes are red, he’s drooling blood and actively trying to eat you. Can we accept that’s maybe not Bert?”
Could sheep turn into zombies? “Many diseases only affect one species. Dogs can’t get the flu, for instance. Australia has got many, many deadly animals right? Would you rather have a deadly spider or scorpion as a zombie, or a sheep? I would definitely rather have a sheep. Now, would I eat that sheep? No, I would not.”
Entry-level zombie movie recommendation: “I used to say Night of the Living Dead, because it’s the original. I remember watching it on honeymoon with my wife 22 years ago. We actually went to New Zealand and we were in Auckland, watching it on my computer... she felt it was boring. My wife always says, in a zombie outbreak, she wouldn’t want to live if there weren’t hot showers and happy hours for a long time, and by a long time, she means a month.”
Waiting it out in New Zealand: “As long as you can keep the sheep from biting your knee.”
