Chapter 178: Chapter 172: Who should we believe?


    “On November 8,1903, New Zend suffered an unprecedented disaster. A typhoon madendfall from the town of Opunaki on the North Ind of New Zend, sessively hitting the towns of New Plymouth, Pio Pio, Hamilton, Huntley, Waitako Harbour, Manukau, Oand, Caperna, Colomandel, and Port Fitzroy. The disaster inflicted tremendous damage on the economy, industries, and all forms of infrastructure on the west coast of the North Ind of New Zend.”


    Based on preliminary statistics, the disaster caused at least two million pounds in property damage to New Zend and resulted in the death of over 36,000 people, with 84,000 more injured, some seriously.


    Following the disaster, virtually the entire west coast of the North Ind of New Zend needed to be rebuilt, leaving at least 200,000 people homeless.


    We are grateful for aid from various regions and countries around the world, especially our friendly neighbor, Australia, which on the day of the disaster transported assistance totaling 450,000 pounds, coupled with supplies worth over 100,000 pounds.


    We also appreciate the aid from other countries; the German Empire’s 50,000 pounds, the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s forty thousand pounds, and the support of ten thousand pounds each from France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Russian Empire.


    We sincerely thank all countries for their aid to New Zend. Long live our friendship.


    After the disaster, the colonial government of New Zend will mobilize the entire strength of New Zend to aid the people of the west coast of the North Ind to rebuild their homes. We also call on more New Zenders to join this rescue effort, for up until now, many New Zenders remain missing and require more help.”


    Starting from November 12, this report was printed in all newspapers in New Zend and freely distributed to every town in New Zend.


    In a short amount of time, nearly all New Zenders saw this newspaper and report, and understood the scale of the disaster that had urred on the North Ind of New Zend.


    While a few people were curious about the organization that managed to get all newspapers in New Zend to publish this report simultaneously…<div>


    More were drawn in by the information in the report, focusing their attention and concern on the North Ind of New Zend.


    In the report, beyond the shocking death toll and the heart-wrenching property damage, what gathered the most attention were the aid provisions from other nations.


    New Zend is a colony of the British Empire. The aid from the other world powers was extraordinarily generous.


    The people of New Zend also see it that way, especially the aid from the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires, which was the most generous of all the major world powers at present.


    However, the British Empire, as the current sovereign state of New Zend, offered aid on par with other world powers and was even surpassed by the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires.


    This disappointed many New Zenders loyal to the British Empire. They felt they have been abandoned by the British Empire.


    Compared to the other nations, the aid from Australia appears much more considerable. Not only did they provide 450,000 pounds in funds, they also provided aid in the form of supplies, valued at over 100,000 pounds.


    This means everything to present-day New Zend in the wake of the disaster. Avast number of refugees are in desperate need of supplies and food to sustain their everyday lives.


    As the saying goes,parison is the thief of joy. Whenpared to a number of European nations, particrly the British Empire, Australia’s aid seems much more genuine.


    Furthermore, it was clearly stated in the report that Australia provided aid on the day the disaster struck, unlike the European nations that New Zend had to ask for help.


    Following the report, many New Zenders gradually changed their views, at least bing more friendly towards Australia.


    Quite a few New Zenders now see Australians as good neighbors of New Zend and anticipate a union between New Zend and Australia as projected by the Union Party.


    On November 14,1903, the second batch of aid from Australia arrived in New Zend.


    This batch of aid was mainly in the form of much-needed manpower for the current rescue efforts. Australia gifted New Zend with 30,000 Southeast Asian natives to aid with New Zend’s post-disaster rebuilding work.


    This manpower is just what New Zend needs for its current rescue efforts. The poption of New Zend has always been rtively small. Even after several years of development, it barely exceeds 1.1 million.


    This typhoon directly resulted in a loss of at least 40,000 people for New Zend. This has set the New Zend economy back for at least five years.


    Moreover, with almost half of the North Ind of New Zend affected by the disaster, resulting in refugee numbers exceeding 200,000, the difficulty of New Zend’s rescue efforts has significantly increased.


    On November 17,1903, Arthur personally arrived in New Zend and, after delivering a speech in Oand promising fullmitment to the rescue and rebuilding effort, announced again that he would donate 500,000 pounds to New Zend as the Governor of New Zend.


    As of now, the amount of money New Zend received in aid surpassed 1.1 million pounds, and the amount of grain and supply aid exceeded 150,000 pounds.<div>


    This has substantially alleviated New Zend’s logistic burden and sped up the progress of its rescue efforts.


    From the end of the typhoon on November 10, New Zend’s rescue efforts have been ongoing for seven days, up until November 17.”


    From here on out, the focus of the efforts would be ced on post-disaster reconstruction, rather than on searching for the missing citizens.


    This was an inevitable decision, as after waiting for a week, there was almost no hope left for the survival of those who hadn’t been rescued. By the time a rescue team would find them, they would likely have already turned into corpses.<div>


    Many of the refugees were settled in the northern part of the Ad Penins, which houses over ten small towns capable of amodating twenty to thirty thousand refugees.


    Some were relocated to North Palmerston, Picton, Xahart, and Wellington, located in the southern region of the North Ind of New Zend. This area is the heart of New Zend and also where the colonial capital, Wellington, is located.


    This area could amodate at least eighty thousand refugees, who were distributed among the major cities, supplementing the poption of the urban areas in the North Ind.


    Almost a hundred thousand refugees chose to stay in their homnd, despite it being reduced to ruins.


    The most critical part of the reconstruction work was centered around Ad. Ad is home to the secondrgest city on the North Ind, Ad city, including the two major cities of Caperna and Manukau in the north and south.


    The resident poption in this area exceeded two hundred thousand, with over half of them bing refugees.


    The southern part of the West Coast disaster area was mostly made up of small towns. These towns varied greatly in poption, with therger towns housing five to six thousand people and the smaller ones being home to less than a thousand.


    In response to media reports, passionate New Zenders enlisted in the rescue effort and were allocated to these towns. Their responsibilities included aiding the refugees in the reconstruction of their homes andmunities.


    The primary task of the thirty thousand indigenous people donated by Australia and the New Zend Garrison was to rebuild the Ad region, particrly Ad city.


    Ad serves as a vital hub connecting the Ad Penins and the main part of the North Ind of New Zend. Itplements Wellington to the south, and together they form the brightest pearls of New Zend.


    The damage inflicted upon Ad was the least desirable situation for New Zend; hence, its reconstruction was of utmost urgency.


    On November 18th, Arthur once again called in twenty thousand indigenous workers and tens of thousands of Australian workers from Australia.


    The majority of these workers had knowledge of the construction industry. They would y a crucial role in New Zend’s reconstruction efforts.<div>


    At the same time, Arthur implemented a work-for-relief policy in the disaster- stricken areas, encouraging arge number of lightly wounded and uninjured refugees to join in the rebuilding of their homnd.


    As a reward, they would receive additional relief supplies and a small amount of money. This wouldpensate for their financial losses to some extent.


    This policy earned the support of many New Zend refugees, who eagerly joined in the reconstruction efforts along the West Coast of New Zend.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Just a weekter, the West Coast of New Zend had amassed over fifty thousand natives and one hundred and fifty thousand New Zenders. This significantly sped up the reconstruction of the towns and viges.


    During this time, Arthur was extremely busy, and so was Grant.


    As the leader of the New Zend Alliance Party, Grant, upon Arthur’s signal, promptly joined in the reconstruction efforts, setting an example for all political parties and officers in New Zend.


    This earned the Alliance Party the favour of the New Zenders once again. After all, those who personally contributed to the reconstruction of New Zend were far better than those who idled in their offices.


    During this time, Arthur personally visited all disaster-stricken towns in New Zend and met the New Zenders working on reconstruction in these areas.


    Arthur was weed by almost everyone, and some of the more zealous individuals even shouted “Long live” in a frenzy upon Arthur’s arrival.


    Arthur didn’t openly react to such demonstrations, but he was pleased with Grant’s actions.


    Considering the extent of the recognition Arthur received in New Zend,bined with the recent disaster and the difference in the amount of aid provided by Australia and the British Empire, perhaps some things could truly change in New Zend.


    On November 26th, 1903, a piece of news was broadcasted, which stirred up New Zend.


    The news headline was rather simple, consisting of only a few words, but deeply struck the hearts of all New Zenders.<div>


    “The British Empire and Australia, who should we trust?”


    Both the British Empire and Australia have special rtionships with New Zend. The British Empire is currently the suzerain of New Zend, with New Zend officially part of the empire.


    Meanwhile, New Zend used to be part of Australia, having only seeded in separating from Australia a few decades ago.