On Tokelau Water Supply Will Fail By This Weekend; Tuvalu Crops Dying

[hatrack]

A SECOND South Pacific community has called a state of emergency as water rationing continues in parts of the area. Tokelau, a New Zealand-administered territory of about 1400 people, has less than a week's drinking water after a long drought blamed on a La Nina weather pattern, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said.

Mr McCully said Tokelau declared a state of emergency late Monday, following a similar move in neighbouring Tuvalu, which has a population of fewer than 11,000 and where water is already being rationed in places.

A New Zealand air force plane landed in Tuvalu on Monday carrying containers of water and desalination units.

"There's been a state of emergency declared in Tokelau as well, where there are three islands, (they are) New Zealand citizens and they're down to less than a week's drinking water there too," he told Radio New Zealand.

EDIT

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/world/tokelau-to-run-dry-by-weekend/story-e6frea8l-1226158573284

[kestrel91316]

1. Sigh.

[Nihil]

2. The phrase "Slow motion train wreck" is becoming more appropriate ...

For now, most people will simply not pay any attention.

After a while, they will write it off as "Just something happening
to foreign people in far off lands".

After a bit longer, they will start to notice the impact on
their own country and way of life.

By the time they are really paying attention, it will be too late
to do anything except watch in helpless despair as the inertia
involved with these changes is far greater than anything that can
be brought to bear to prevent the inevitable conclusion.