How well did Civil Defence do?

Many people were unaware that a tsunami warning had even been issued. Photo / Christine Cornege

There are mixed reviews from people I've spoken to today about our government's official response to the very real threat of a devastating tsunami in New Zealand from last night's large quake in Chile.

Here are my thoughts.

I think Civil Defense have mastered modern technology very well and their website, Get Thru, along with twitter updates, meant that WeatherWatch.co.nz and other kiwis had "real time" updates throughout the night and across today. The updates were detailed and answered most of my questions. 8 out of 10 I'd say.

But I think their response early in the evening was incredibly poor. Here's why:

The quake happened in the 8pm hour on Saturday night. I was alerted around 8:30pm via a text from CNN. My initial response was to think about the major quake that hit in the 1800s - New Zealand's most damaging recorded tsunami, which also came from Chile.

While CNN and other international media organisations gave me news for New Zealand the Civil Defence department said "No threat for New Zealand". This, to me, was a major mistake.

I'm not a scientist but I know the ripple effect a tsunami has. One had been detected and the details broadcast soon after the quake.

Not too much further into the evening Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued tsunami warnings for the east coast of New South Wales north of Sydney, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island - which is just 700km north west of New Zealand. Still, nothing from our government.

Towards midnight a warning was finally issued. This was unacceptable in my view. It was far too late and explains why so many people on the beaches on Sunday morning had no clue a tsunami was even coming.

I would've preferred to have seen "No threat to New Zealand, but it's very likely the tsunami will have some effect on the country. Stay tuned for updates".

It's not over hyping the situation - it's educating the public that there is likely to be a risk on Sunday. With the weather so stunning across New Zealand it was even more important that this warning go out early - or at the very least a basic "advisory".

I'm not wanting to "rip down" Civil Defence. They covered today's events brilliantly. But tsunamis are hard to predict and in the past several years they have killed hundreds of thousands of people. We need to learn from every single opportunity to ensure the safety of everyone.