Panic from tsunami siren sound in Northland leads to alert test changes

Monday, 22 March 2021

Hundreds of Mangawhai Heads residents wait out the tsunami warning on higher ground.

Northland civil defence is changing the way it tests its tsunami sirens, to recognise the anxiety some people still feel when they hear the siren go off.

The network of 205 alert sirens along Northland’s coasts were activated on March 5, when a magnitude 8.1 earthquake near the Kermadec Islands resulted in an evacuation order.

Tens of thousands of people evacuated to higher ground, including 15,000 people in central Whangārei, where traffic jams became an issue.

Northland residents, including those on the east coast, evacuated to higher ground on March 5 after a tsunami alert was issued.

Residents admitted being unnerved by the tsunami warning.

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Alison Robinson from Mangawhai says she has never experienced anything like the March 5 evacuation in the 10 years she has been living in the area.

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Victoria Harwood, of Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management, says the tsunami sirens still need testing, despite getting an airing on March 5. (File photo)

“It was panic stations,” said Mangawhai resident Alison Robinson on March 5. “Everyone just piled in the car; [I] took the animals and just threw them in the boot.”

Low-lying shops in Whangārei’s central business district closed after the tsunami evacuation on March 5.

Waves of 1-3m were predicted, but fortunately did not eventuate, and evacuees were able to return home in the afternoon.

However, on the evening of March 15, a power fault set off the tsunami sirens in the Whangārei and Kaipara districts.

Power company Northpower and Northland Civil Defence apologised for “scaring everyone”.

Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management is now changing its siren test, to acknowledge some people remain unsettled by the sound and to recognise the test coincides with Easter Sunday, spokeswoman Victoria Harwood said.

The sirens are normally tested at the start and end of daylight savings, for 10 minutes at 10am and for 30 seconds at 10.30am.

Instead, they will be tested for just two minutes at midday, on Sunday, April 4.

Last year, the tsunami sirens were also not tested at the end of daylight savings, due to the country being in coronavirus alert level 4 lockdown.

Harwood said the six-monthly test is still needed to identify any faults, despite the authority getting feedback after the March 5 warning.

Authorities are already investigating a power fault which prevented the sirens in the remote Te Aupōuri Peninsula – also known as Te Hiku Peninsula – just south of Cape Reinga, from going off on March 5.

Harwood said the April 4 test will also include a test of indoor tsunami sirens and alerts through the Red Cross Hazard.

However, emergency mobile alerts, which were used to send alerts to cellphones on March 5, will not be tested, as this platform is tested nationally at the end of the year.

Harwood said the test is a reminder for people to be aware of the risk of local-source tsunami, which could arrive before any official warning.

“Everyone who spends time on the coast needs to know the natural warning signs of tsunami – a strong earthquake that is hard to stand up in or one that lasts longer than a minute, or out-of-the ordinary sea behaviour, such as sudden rise or fall, and/or unusual noise.”