Napier workshops aim to help improve tsunami evacuation models

Napier Intermediate School children practise evacuating during a tsunami, in March 2018. Photo / Duncan Brown

Seven Napier communities are invited to a series of workshops next month based around making tsunami evacuations easier, safer and quicker.

The workshops will help researchers and scientists improve their computer-based tsunami evacuation models of Westshore, Ahuriri, Pandora, Napier South, Maraenui, Te Awa and Marewa.

The models, developed by scientists from GNS Science, simulate the movement of people who have self-evacuated on foot, after an earthquake that causes a large tsunami.

Tsunami modeller at GNS Science Dr William Power said the models showed where congestion might occur and how long it would take people to evacuate if they left immediately after an earthquake.

"The models are quite simple at this stage of the research and to improve them we need to add information that only locals know, and that's where these workshops come in," Power said.

The two workshops will be held on Tuesday, March 5, the first from 12.30pm to 2pm at the Napier Sailing Club and the second from 6.30pm to 8pm at McLean Park in the Chapman Pavilion Pettigrew Lounge 1.

Participants will be asked to help identify routes that have been modelled but are not possible in real life, as well as routes that are possible in real life but have not been modelled.

"This information is really valuable as it means we can provide more realistic models that Civil Defence Emergency Management can later use for planning purposes," Power said.

East Coast Lab (Life at the Boundary) project leader Kate Boersen also encouraged people to practise their tsunami evacuation routes as part of tsunami hīkoi week from March 11 to 17.

"Tsunami hīkoi week is a great chance for people to familiarise themselves with the evacuation route they're planning to take and identify any potential obstacles or hazards along the way," Boersen said.

"Walking the route you would take in an actual event is one of the best ways to prepare for a tsunami, as well as learning the natural warning signs of a tsunami: a long or strong earthquake."

This research is part of a two-year project called "Quicker Safer Tsunami Evacuations" funded by the Natural Hazard Research Platform.

It involves researchers and scientists from GNS Science, Massey University, East Coast Lab and the University of Canterbury.