In the early 21st century anxiety over the danger of avian influenza virus H5N1 revived memories of New Zealand's worst disease outbreak, the lethal influenza pandemic of 1918. In two months New Zealand lost about half as many people to influenza as it had in the whole of the First World War.
The 1918 flu pandemic
Remembering the dead - NCEA Level 2 history activity
If your school was in existence at the time of the First World War (or perhaps the Second World War) chances are that ex-pupils who served in the armed forces have been acknowledged in some way. It might be in the name of a building or a school trophy or award. Perhaps a roll of honour to those who served or were killed while fighting overseas is displayed somewhere in your school.
The pandemic begins abroad
The first wave
When the ‘new pandemic flu’ first appeared in 1918 there was no immediate cause for alarm. The disease was different to other strains experienced in the past – for example, it was unusually prevalent amongst young healthy adults. But most people affected by what would turn out to be ‘the first wave’ of the pandemic recovered.
Roll of honour - the Merchant Navy
The following roll lists the names of seafarers who died while serving on New Zealand merchant ships and New Zealanders known to have been lost while sailing under the flags of other countries (mainly Britain). It currently contains 135 names (or 131 if the four Australian nationals are excluded – see note below).
The pandemic hits New Zealand
‘A deadly new virus’
Uneven rates of death - 1918 influenza pandemic
It is clear that no matter how the second wave developed in New Zealand, it was many times more deadly than any previous influenza outbreaks. No other event has killed so many New Zealanders in so short a space of time. While the First World War claimed the lives of more than 18,000 New Zealand soldiers over a four-year period, the second wave of the 1918 influenza epidemic killed almost 8600 people in less than two months.
Dealing with the dead - Tangiwai disaster
While many of the survivors were 'shocked, filthy, choked with silt and half blind with oil', they were the lucky ones.
Identifying victims is a major task following any mass tragedy. A number of circumstances made this process particularly difficult at Tangiwai. The summer heat and lack of refrigerated facilities meant that the initial identification had to be carried out as quickly as possible, and, as a result, it was not accurate in every case. Some of those killed were recent arrivals to New Zealand who had no relatives or local medical or dental records to help identify them. A makeshift mortuary was set up at the army camp where police cleaned and laid out the bodies in coffins. Coroner's courts were hastily convened at Waiouru to legally determine identity where possible and issue death certificates. Pathologist Dr J.O. Mercer pronounced the main causes of death to be drowning and asphyxiation by silt.
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