Tsunami surge felt in North

Northland's civil defence and community response systems were on full alert as a tsunami raced toward New Zealand from Chile at the speed of a jumbo jet.
The impact of the tsunami was minimal when it rolled into the east coast  mid-morning yesterday, but Northland's top emergency manager Clive Manley said: "We were not crying wolf."
There had been no reports of damage, he said, but the tsunami had had a significant impact in several harbours.
Civil defence managers praised the way low-lying coastal communities swung into action with response plans when it was known the tsunami was on its way - only an hour after an  8.8-magnitude earthquake hit southwest of the Chilean city of Santiago on Saturday evening.
Mr Manley said the Northland warning systems and community action plans would have saved lives and properties had the tsunami struck with major force. Several communities had been on standby to move to higher ground.
 While no evacuations were needed, emergency services were kept busy warning people to get off, or stay away from, beaches and jetties.
For several hours yesterday  some east coast locations experienced  fluctuating tides, surges and swirling currents.
 At Tutukaka, boat owners desperately got their vessels out of the harbour to ride out any large waves. Tutukaka geologist Darlene Buckley said the first sign of the tsunami  had occurred at about 9.45am when the sea level dropped about 50cm and then came back quickly.
Ms Buckley said a depth gauge on a marina pylon showed at one time before midday the tide level rose about a metre in 10 minutes.
"That's why people shouldn't be standing on rocks and breakwaters," she said.
Far North Mayor Wayne Brown said the tide at Mangonui Harbour rapidly rose and fell about half a metre  half a dozen times over three or four hours from about 10am.
"It roared in and out. I had a dinghy tied to my veranda and half an hour later it was hanging by its rope," he said.

 At Oakura residents watched the nearly full tide rapidly recede until rocks were exposed that some locals had not seen before, and eddy back in at considerable speed to high-tide level.
At Marsden Cove, near Ruakaka, the marina was closed between 9am and 11am, and owners stopped from going on their boats. That shut-down was called off when there had been no significant rise or fall of water levels.
Northland MP and Civil Defence Minister John Carter  spent much of the night "in the bunker" at Civil Defence's Wellington headquarters.
He said emergency systems had worked smoothly and the increasingly "tsunami savvy" public had largely acted responsibly.