Zoe Hunter: Tsunami system needs fixing before real emergency strikes

Waihī Beach residents were in a panic and many began to evacuate after hearing the false alarm. Photo / File

COMMENT
A series of sirens caused panic across the region this week.

They sounded long and loud and late at night in places including Te Puke, Bayfair, Waihī and Ōmokoroa.

Some who heard them assumed a tsunami was on its way and rushed to higher ground, only to find out it was all a false alarm and had nothing to do with the Civil Defence's tsunami warning system.

Those who did react to the sirens are being praised for taking them seriously, but that's cold comfort to the great majority who were just confused.

The Bay of Plenty does not have any dedicated civil defence tsunami sirens, so many did not know what was happening or how to react.

The sirens that did sound were used by Fire and Emergency services to call volunteer firefighters.

Fire and Emergency top brass called it a result of one of their "legacy systems" and are trying to get to the bottom of why the sirens were activated.

But the false alarm has highlighted a lack of knowledge about tsunami warning systems.

We are supposed to get an emergency text alert if there is a real tsunami threat to the region. It is supported by an app that is free to download and set up your alerts.

The radio, TV and social media will also be used to send alerts.

It's a system that was tested nationally late last year. But Sunday's false alarm was the second in 12 months, leaving people scratching their heads about how and when to evacuate.

The sirens could still be used in the event of a large tsunami emergency and different tones mean different things, apparently. Hands up if you're confused?

Well done to those who did evacuate. But there were others who were left waiting for an instruction from a text alert or notification.

Some did not even hear the siren or the alert at all and what about the people who don't have access to either cellphones or sirens?

There is a system in place. But how useful is it if all that system has done is confuse people?

The system needs to be fixed and clearly communicated before real emergency strikes.

We don't want it to turn into a case of the boy who cried wolf. If there is another false alarm, people might not react next time.