A new type of technology will connect Tai Rāwhiti communities to civil defence during disasters - even when all other communications are wiped out.
During Cyclone Gabrielle, power and cellphone connections to most of Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay were cut, but Tai Rāwhiti’s Civil Defence has now come up with a solution, as part of its new kit for disaster preparedness.
I tend to think the more options for communication the better - you never know what will fail entirely, or not perform in any given situation so having alternatives - especially ones that can be as cheap as meshtastic nodes - is a good thing.
Hopefully by the time the next Cyclone Gabrielle level disaster happens in this region we’ll have more people with radios, better resiliency in cell towers, direct to satellite texting and stuff like meshtastic.