Services ill-prepared

THE deadly asthma thunderstorm that claimed nine lives in Victoria late last year could not have been predicted, but emergency services were not adequately prepared for such a wide-scale catastrophe, the final report into it says. The report on the event, that also left 8500 people in hospital, was handed down yesterday. During the peak of the storm last November, there was a call for an ambulance every 4.5 seconds.