Saturday, July 27, 2013

NZ Earthquake Hits Australia???!!!

Ya gotta hand it to the Americans: when they do it, they do it BIG!
That includes their stuff-ups!
A US on-line news site has been slammed for reporting that this week's big EQ near Wellington actually occurred in the Australian state of Victoria, and was felt as far away as Napier in Western Australia!!
The 2013 Great Australian Earthquake...riiiight!
The dickhead who wrote the article is Tom Ukinski, science reporter at the Las Vegas-based Guardian Express. He said Seddon (NZ), near the epicentre of the 6.5 EQ, was in fact a suburb 7km west of Melbourne: "It is located in the state of Victoria on the SE tip of Australia. The shock effects of the quake have been felt as far away as Napier, in Western Australia, 3302km from Melbourne," he wrote. And thus, with that initial geographical cock-up, everything else followed suit: "This suggests that the path of the quake is along the southern part of Australia." The article continued: "The death toll for earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.0 to 6.9 can reach 25,000 people. A large number of buildings in populated areas can be destroyed. The damage can be experienced far from the epicenter (sic)."
You'd think, when faced with the enormity of the error, GE would've withdrawn the article asap...but no. GE elected not to take it off the website, despite hundreds of comments from readers: "To preserve our journalistic integrity, we have decided not to change one word of Tom Ukinski's article, however, our team of reporters are (sic) working as fast as possible to provide you with the most accurate news and information covering the recent New Zealand earthquake. We expect to provide you with an update shortly, right here on this page."
The headline to the updated story read: "Severe Earthquake Strikes Australia / Correction - New Zealand".
Readers had a field-day with their comments:
• "We're taking up a collection to buy Tom an Atlas for his birthday".
• "And I thought the Muppet Show had finished? Apparently one of its previous stars is now a journalist working for the Guardian."
• "Leave poor Tom alone - everyone knows that Australia is really NZ's West Island."
Hmmm...not much more to add really.

No comments: