How Queensland Stood Strong Against Cyclone Yasi

BtN: Episode 36 Transcript 08/02/11

On this week's Behind the News:

 How Queensland stood strong against Cyclone Yasi.

 We go behind the scenes of a 24-hour news channel.

 And we reveal the real stars of the movie business.

Hi I'm Nathan Bazley, welcome to Behind the News.

Also on the show today, we meet some inspiring young athletes who've overcome major obstacles in their hunt for gold medals.

But first today.

Cyclone Reporter: Nathan Bazley

INTRO: Queensland has been hit with yet another natural disaster, this time a cyclone up north.

And sadly, for a state still struggling to recover from the floods further south, it was massive.

Let's take a look at exactly how destructive this storm really was and how the people of the north fared.

ANNA BLIGH, QLD PREMIER: We are facing a very frightening time and many people in far north QLD over the next 24 hours or more will be facing an event that will be terrifying.

Yasi was poised to unleash it's fury on a huge area, stretching from Cairns to Townsville and beyond; and it was rated as a category five cyclone, which is the highest category there is.

People living there were told to evacuate, as there was a real danger they could be killed.

Many took up the advice.

But some people decided to ignore the advice and stay at home.

1 It was going to be a rough ride.

The 285km/hr winds battered all through the night and by morning, locals woke up to find homes completely flattened, roofs ripped from buildings, cars crushed and boats tossed around by the waves.

Many trees had been ripped from the ground and were scattered across roads.

But as bad as the damage was, it was actually less than expected in most areas.

In this part of the world, most locals have strong memories of the terrible Cyclone Larry.

It tore through Innisfail in 2006, wiping out many homes and businesses and causing more than a billion dollars damage.

Lots of lessons were learned about how to prepare for cyclones in the future.

REPORTER: These days, buildings in North Queensland and other cyclone areas, have to be built much stronger than homes elsewhere.

A normal house would need its frame re-enforced, would need stronger steel for support, even the nails would need to be replaced with bigger ones to survive category five winds like those during Cyclone Yasi.

If they were just built as normal, this video gives you a pretty good idea of what would've happened to them.

But it's not just the buildings; people themselves were better prepared this time around as well.

The internet became a vital tool for the latest information and almost constant updates were broadcast advising residents what to do.

Evacuation centres were a success too, providing safe shelter to around 11 thousand Queenslanders.

EVACUEE: We brought the kids here to make it a little less scary for them, and it was, they were fine.

But now the immediate danger has passed, attention is turning to those that have lost so much at the hands of Yasi.

Some families, made homeless, will have to rebuild their lives.

Farmer’s, who have seen their crops wiped out, will somehow have to start again.

The recovery effort will be lengthy and costly.

2 And with Queensland already facing the huge task of rebuilding after the devastating floods further south, this is a state that'll need a lot of support to get back

Presenter: And we'll let you know how the recovery's going next week. The Wire

Let's get some more of the week's news now in the wire.

Natural disasters are hitting other parts of Australia too.

First to Perth in WA, where bushfires broke out over the weekend.

About 400 fire fighters battled the fires which destroyed many houses and forced hundreds of people to evacuate.

Lucky no lives are currently in danger but more homes may be lost.

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To Victoria now where there's been more flooding after a weekend of heavy rain.

About eighty homes near Mildura have been evacuated while in Melbourne flooding has started easing up after big problems there.

Some houses in the city suffered from flash flooding damage and many major roads were cut.

The state emergency service says they were getting calls for help every ten seconds during the worst of it.

Egypt Reporter: Natasha Thiele

INTRO: Egypt is a country known for its ancient history but at the moment its future is of greater concern.

Egyptians have been protesting on the streets because they're unhappy with the way the country's being run and want their President to step down.

So what are they protesting about?

Tash has the story.

3 NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: Egypt isn't just a desert; the country holds a lot of history!

Tourists go there to visit the famous pyramids, the Great Sphinx and check out mummies, pharaohs and tombs.

It sits at the top of Africa near the Middle East.

But at the moment this tourist hot spot isn't all that safe.

Around 300 people have been killed during big protests here, which have been going on since the end of last month.

People from different religions, backgrounds and ages have all come together, united against one man.

This is Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt for the last 30 years.

He's a 'dictator' which means he gets to run things pretty much how he wants.

But many Egyptians would rather see this man in charge, Mohamed ElBaradei.

He wants to create a new Egypt, where people get to vote for their leader through fair elections.

And whether he gets the top job or not, many Egyptians are sure that they want a change.

They want things like better healthcare, cheaper food and more jobs for people.

The protests have often been peaceful, with people stopping to pray in the streets.

But sometimes the demonstrations have turned into fighting, which the army has to sort out.

Under Egypt's dictatorship the army has to do exactly what Hosni Mubarak says, even if they don't agree with him.

The police are also under the dictator's control, and they've been using tear gas and water cannons to control the protestors.

It looks like pretty scary stuff, so as you can imagine many tourists have been trying to get out of harm's way.

But many roads have been blocked and airports have been packed with people desperate to fly home.

The Australian Government has paid for extra jumbos to fly to Egypt or nearby countries, to help out stranded Aussies.

4 President Mubarak has tried to stop the protests by bringing in curfews, making it against the law to protest at night.

He's even tried shutting down the mobile phone network and the internet.

But all that hasn't stopped Egyptians from protesting, it's made them even more determined!

So what happens now?

Some people are worried that if the President does leave, it could create chaos with lots of different groups scrambling for power.

But the protestors think that it's worth the risk.

President Mubarak has already said he's willing to stand down in September when there's an election.

But lots of the demonstrators aren't happy with that. They want him to leave now!

For them, they're fighting for a fresh start in their country.

Presenter: Egypt's a fascinating place. Let's have a quiz about it. Quiz 1

What is the name of the big river that runs through Egypt?

Danube

Answer: Nile

News 24 Reporter: Alfie Tieu

INTRO: It's generally regarded as the longest river in the world stretching 6,650 k's.

Now, I reckon it's been a pretty newsy start to BtN this week and that's because a lot of important stuff has happened.

5 It makes for a busy time for journalists who have to race around trying to cover the stories.

We sent Alfie to a 24 hour news channel to see how they cope when the news breaks.

ALFIE TIEU, REPORTER: News is happening all around us all of the time. Getting the right information to viewers quickly can be vital. No more so than during natural disasters where the ABC acts as the official emergency services broadcaster to make sure people have access to information that could potentially save their lives. But it's not only radio and the internet, there's now a 24 hour TV channel dedicated entirely to news!

This is Joe. He's one of the presenters, and spends about three hours on air each weekday.

WOMAN: Cue Joe.

JOE O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: Good morning you're watching ABC News 24 I'm Joe O'Brien.

JOE: The most exciting thing about the job is when there's a news story breaking and happening as we go to air and you're crossing to a reporter in some part of the world who's there on the scene and telling you the latest on what's happening.

REPORTER: How is that exciting and not terrifying?

JOE: Well you get used to it.

REPORTER: What's your most memorable experience? Aside from now.

JOE: You've thrown me there Alfie.

REPORTER: So what happens behind the cameras?

MATT: Steph are you able to update that pols thing for 2 o'clock?

STEPH: Ok.

REPORTER: Steph is one of several "producers" working today and she's just been assigned a story. She'll look at the pictures and the information that's coming in then write a script for Joe to read live on air. She then edits the pictures into a sequence for the viewer to watch while the words are read. Without fast-working producers like Steph, Joe wouldn't have anything to present! And because it's live television, it can be pretty stressful work!

STEPH: Sometimes when we're actually going to air they mark down blue, so if your stories halfway down the rundown and we're starting to go to air you can see the story's coming up to a deadline, and that's when it gets.

6 REPORTER: So it's like a time-bomb, if you don't get to that story before that blue line hits, it's all over!

STEPH: Yep!

REPORTER: That story then goes into the autocue system for Joe to read.

REPORTER: Technically I guess one of the big parts of your job is reading. Is that all it is?

JOE: Alfie! Well, yeah it is reading off the autocue, but we do have guests that come in and we interview the guests.

REPORTER: So it would be very wrong to assume that newsreaders don't have to know much about the news?

JOE: That's a terrible thing to say Alfie! Yeah no you definitely do need to keep across everything that's happening, because who knows who you are going to be interviewing next and you've got to be up to date on everything.

WOMAN: Are you able to confirm that?

REPORTER: With new events happening all the time, interviews need to be arranged at short notice.

WOMAN: If he can, does he want to jump in front of the newsroom camera?

REPORTER: This producer's just arranged one with a reporter, to get the latest on a breaking story.

JOE: For the details I'm joined by police reporter Sean Rubinstein Dunlop. Sean good afternoon what can you tell us.

SEAN: Well, it's been confirmed.

REPORTER: And so the stories continue to come over and over again. Even at night when you're asleep, people will be working here making sure the news is ready for when you wake up in the morning. When it comes to breaking news, there can be no break.

Cinema Reporter: Natasha Thiele

INTRO: The Oscars are just a few weeks away and it's the hot topic on many people's lips.

But have you ever wondered how films are actually beamed onto our cinema screens once they're made?

7 Tash snuck behind the scenes of a cinema to find out how it all works.

NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: Cinemas have been around for more than a century, entertaining people of all ages.

But while the films have moved on and look massively different, some of the technology behind the movies hasn't changed at all.

So how does the movie get onto the screen?

Well, it's not as simple as turning on your TV or pressing "play".

A person called a 'projectionist' works behind the scenes, playing the movies from a special room.

REPORTER: Well, here we are and this is where it all happens

GEOFF, PROJECTIONIST: I'm just getting some film ready. Here's one ready over here, about to thread up, I'll show you how we do that.

REPORTER: So how long Geoff, does it take to do all this?

GEOFF, PROJECTIONIST: To get a film ready, it's about five minutes between sessions and then we've gotta enable the computer to start it.

REPORTER: The computer controls the projector, the cinema lights, the music and the sound and it's where you program all the movie sessions for the week.

But it's not so high tech for the actual movie itself.

It arrives in 20 minute rolls of film so for a two-hour movie, the projectionist has to literally tape the rolls together using this little machine.

It's called 'splicing'.

And it's a similar process for all the movie trailers.

Each one is kept here and has to be played out by the projectionist before the movie.

Many of the bigger cinemas will have one of these machines. It plays out 3D movies.

It's easy work for the projectionist because they arrive on a hard drive, so there's no messing around with film.

They're really expensive so not all cinemas have them.

But while it's more modern it still works by projecting the images onto the screen using light.

8 That explains why it's so dark in the cinema.

Because projecting film onto the screen is a bit like shining a torch onto the wall.

And as you know, the darker the room, the clearer and brighter the picture looks.

So the actual cinema screen is little more than a white wall with a few tweaks.

The screen actually has lots of small holes which you can see in the cinema if you look closely.

That's to let the sound through because there are speakers behind the screen, giving the effect that the characters in the movies are talking right in front of you!

The movie sound track, with all the music and special effects, is a big part of the cinema experience.

You can actually see the sound on the film; it's in the blue strip and the shaded area next to it.

In each of Geoff's movie theatres there are around 20 speakers to create the amazing surround sound and the projectionist also has to look after that.

So next time you go to the movies, just remember there's a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes!

Presenter: That's got me in the mood for the movies. Let's have a quiz. Quiz 2

Quiz Opener

The question is: What is the highest-grossing Australian movie?

Is it:

Happy Feet

Crocodile Dundee or Australia

Answer: Crocodile Dundee

Presenter: It was made in 1986 and raked in 328 million dollars worldwide.

Let's check out the latest in sport now with the score.

9 The Score

The Australian cricket team has wrapped up their summer season on a high note taking out their last one-dayer against England to dominate the series 6 -1.

The win was especially sweet after an unsuccessful ashes test campaign which England took out easily.

The Aussies are hoping their one day form will follow them through to the World Cup which kicks off this month in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

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Staying with cricket and the domestic big bash competition also wrapped up on the weekend and the big winners were the South Australian Redbacks.

They were facing the New South Wales blues in the final who batted first and set a target of 154.

In reply the Redbacks never really looked troubled reaching the total with the loss of just two wickets.

The win ends a 15 year title drought for the South Australian team.

*********

Finally to America now where the jewel in their sporting crown was held on the weekend - the Super Bowl.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers met in Super Bowl 45 and it was the Packers that came out on top, 31 - 25.

The sporting event is one of the most watched on American TV with companies paying $3 million just to advertise during it!

Amputee Athletes Reporter: Kirsty Bennett

INTRO: Staying with sport and this next story is about two friends who have also become fierce competitors.

The girls have just bagged some golds and broken records at the World Championships.

10 But what makes these runners stand out is that they haven't let life's obstacles get in the way.

Here's Kirsty.

KIRSTY BENNETT, REPORTER: If you want to be pushed to the limits, this is the place to be.

TIM MATTHEWS, COACH, PARALYMPIAN: So have about four or five minutes then we'll run a 120. OK. Put on a jumper on if you get cold.

Michelle and Kelly sure look determined but training to represent Australia is fairly new to them. They're leg amputees and have used running to get their lives back on track.

KELLY CARTWRIGHT, ATHLETE: When I was 15 I was worried about how I looked makeup, boyfriends, in year ten at school partying with my friends and yeah as soon as I got told that I had cancer my world turned upside down and my life changed I think my whole family's life changed and then also to hear that you were going to lose your leg as well was heartbreaking.

Michelle's leg was amputated after she was hit by a car.

MICHELLE ERRICHIELLO, ATHLETE: Almost four years ago I was at work one day taking out a rubbish bin and I was on the footpath and a car came jumped the kerb slammed me into the brick wall at work and my leg was instantly amputated.

Michelle's goal was to start running and that's when she met Kelly. Now they train together all the time and look to each other for support. They've become great friends and rivals!

KELLY CARTWRIGHT, ATHLETE: It's like any rivalry as soon as you see the line and you want to win and you want to win for yourself but like I said we get along so well and we're happy for each other as soon as that race is over whoever won we are happy for each other.

MICHELLE: We got two and a half. We got two 80s.

Michelle and Kelly can clock up some pretty zippy speeds. It's all thanks to these prosthetic legs. On the track, Kelly uses a special light-weight leg that she can tune and balance to give her the best performance. It's different to her everyday prosthetic leg, which is heavier and designed to look like a real one. Prosthetic legs can be painful on their bodies so sometimes they need to ice their leg after using it. But according to their coach, there's a benefit of having one. He says prosthetic legs can even give amputee runners an advantage over able-bodied people.

TIM MATTHEWS, COACH, PARALYMPIAN: I guess that's the beauty of paralympic sport is the technology that's involved that you can play around with different types of legs able bodied athletes can't take off a leg and swap it.

11 And it seems like it's given them the edge they need. Shortly after filming with the girls, they took the World Championships by storm in New Zealand. While Michelle put in some good performances, Kelly went on not only to win gold in the sprint but she also picked up a gold in long jump and broke a world record at the same time!

KELLY CARTWRIGHT, ATHLETE: Oh my god I don't have any words to explain what I feel like right now I can't believe that I a broke a world record but also a gold medal and it's my first gold medal at a big international meet and to do it in long jump. I'm just over the moon!

So with that kind of form and with the support of each other, Michelle and Kelly will no doubt be going for gold again at the Paralympics in London in 2012.

Presenter: Impressive stuff Closer

That's it for this week's show.

See you next time!