Tsunami Warning Creates Chaos in Gisborne, NZ
Locals Warned of Tsunami by Overseas Relatives not Civil Defence
Jun 25, 2009
The US issued a warning for New Zealand, Fiji, and other countries on May 4, 2006, after an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale struck off the Pacific Island of Tonga at 3.26am local time. It was predicted a tsunami could strike Gisborne just after 6am.
With the devastating effect of the December 2004 Asia tsunami still very much alive in their minds, relatives in daylight time zones heeded the US warning. Phone lines went frantic as they tried to alert their loved ones still asleep in night time in high risk areas on the other side of the world.
Suddenly Gisborne was awake. But despite the high alert and panicked population, local Civil Defence remained silent.
One resident said, "If we hadn't got a phone call from a relative in Britain, we might have slept through it. They weren't even talking about any warning on the radio."
The man had later been told that a neighbour was running about in the street shouting 'hurry up and get out' but that person had failed to wake him or his children, he said.
New Zealand Civil Defence Failed to Respond to International Tsunami AlertDriving his family to higher ground, the man said he tuned into a local radio station expecting to get some direction from Civil Defence but there was none.
"I found it very bizarre driving with the local news on expecting to hear a repeated Civil Defence warning, but there was nothing - only the normal ads and music," the man said.
"It was silly because the earthquake (which triggered the alert) happened at 3.20 a.m. and it took two and a half hours before we heard it (the tsunami) was coming, then another half hour until we heard it wasn't.
"There was a complete and utter breakdown, I feel, between the international warning system and the local system," the man said.
Once the danger was quashed the family, like others in the district, was relieved to be able to share tsunami escape stories. The man said it was nice to be able to laugh about his family's high speed exodus during which they had managed to rally all their beloved pets but completely forgotten about the foreign tourist staying in their backyard apartment.
That embarrassing oversight was funny in hindsight. However, it was no laughing matter that the people of Gisborne had been let down by civil defence - especially at a time when the world was only too well aware of the devastation a tsunami could reek, the man said.
Civil Defence Minister Unimpressed by Local Tsunami Warning Response
Interviewed by the New Zealand Herald later that day, Civil Defence Minister Rick Barker admitted the official response to the morning's alert was not up to scratch. He had ordered Civil Defence to step up the way it communicated alerts to the media.
However, Civil Defence national controller Mike O'Leary defended the reaction, telling the Herald the National Crisis Management Centre was activated but that within half an hour of the quake it was obvious no national warning would be necessary.
