Cyclone Gabrielle: Adaptation no longer climate change’s poor cousin [Video]

Ben Thomas is a commentator and public relations consultant who has worked on both government and private sector projects, and for a minister in a National government. He is a regular contributor to Stuff.

OPINION: “Truth or dare”.

The words, in red biro, were written on the side of a wooden jenga block on a table in Wairoa’s memorial hall, which served as an evacuation centre for the cyclone-hit Hawke’s Bay town.

Like the hall, the jenga set was repurposed for the emergency – leaving its former life as a jerry-rigged stag night or 21st party game, with other blocks inscribed “FMK” and “take two shots!”, to provide wholesome diversion for families displaced by flooding from the town’s swollen river.

Kieran McAnulty, the Local Government and Rural Communities Minister, had been due to visit the town the week I was there, …