Storage concern

Some modern supermarkets and megastores have very heavy pallets of goods stored well above head height.

Others have unsecured cartons of food or drinks placed above the shelves. They worry me.

Your Saturday paper contained a full page advertisement from Wellington Civil Defence telling me that in an earthquake I should ‘‘drop, cover, hold’’.

If I found myself in the aisle of a busy supermarket in an earthquake, I don’t think that I could effectively cover or hold if I did drop.

If I was being pelted with individual cans of baked beans or fruit that were coming off supermarket shelves in an earthquake I assume that I would have a reasonable chance of a bruised survival.

But if pallets or cartons were falling from a height into crowded aisles, the likelihood of fatalities would be high.

New Zealand has very high building standards which are enforced.

There do not appear to be enforced standards for storing goods in stores.

Some storage methods that are used in countries that do not get earthquakes are not safe here. DAVID HAMILTON

Taupo

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