Veteran aid worker Alex Snary speaks to Michael Morrah about the Boxing Day 2004 earthquake and tsunami disaster that claimed a total 250,000 lives across multiple countries. Video / Ben Dickens
The tsunami advisory has been lifted for the whole country this afternoon, more than two days after a monster quake in eastern Russia set off warnings across the Pacific.
“Tsunami activity around the New Zealand coastlines has significantly decreased”, the National Emergency Management Agency [Nema] said in its latest advisoryjust before 2pm.
“However, there may still be strong and unusual currents and these may continue until Monday.
“We advise the NZ public to exercise caution in and around the ocean and estuaries over the weekend.”
Nema said beach and marine tsunami conditions were “observed overnight” across the east coast.
Earlier, Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell told Ryan Bridge on Herald NOW that although he had been “extremely proud” of the response, he would also be looking for improvements, considering the errors in the alerts in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“Well, we review everything. We’re looking for constant improvement all the time in our emergency management, because we’re a country that has to be able to prove that we can identify our risk and we know how to deal with it.”
National Emergency Management said the areas under the National Advisory that are experiencing strong and unusual currents have been reduced.
New Zealand was relatively unscathed, with the largest tsunami wave reaching 51cm high on the Chatham Islands.
The first signs of the arrival of the tsunami were detected about 1am yesterday on the North Cape tide gauge, GeoNet said.
Kiwis then awoke at 6.30am to the second updated tsunami warning of “strong currents and surges” that advised people to “stay away from water”.
Signs at Tutukākā Marina on Thursday morning following alerts from Civil Defence. Photo / Brodie Stone
People on boats, live-aboards and at marinas were advised to leave their boats/vessels and move on to shore.
The tsunami also posed a risk to swimmers, surfers, people fishing and anyone in or near the water close to the shore.
In spite of the raised concern by authorities, a few dozen people were seen on the sand, easing into their morning routines at a popular Auckland beach.
Mitchell told the media that the two official emergency alerts were justified.
“I can tell you right now that if we hadn’t done that and there’d been half a dozen people swept off the beach this morning when they were walking their dogs at 6.30am and had been drowned, then I’d be standing here being asked why we didn’t use our national alert system.”
Mitchell said: “We don’t have the luxury of playing Russian roulette with people’s lives.”
Speaking to Ryan Bridge on Herald NOW on Thursday morning, government minister Shane Jones said he had switched off his phone and gone to bed early after enjoying a few wines and missed the alert completely.
Impacts on the Pacific
On Wednesday, the tsunami wave swept away buildings on the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific, and authorities declared a state of emergency.
This image shows the epicentre of an 8.8 earthquake that hit off Russia's far east. Image / US Geological Survey
In Japan, tsunami waves reached Hokkaido, prompting evacuations of more than two million people, train suspensions and heightened concern near the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Tsunami warnings were issued across the Pacific, with waves of over 3m possible in parts of Russia, Japan, Ecuador, and the northwestern Hawaiian islands.
Authorities in the Philippines and California also issued alerts, warning people to stay away from the coast.
The Klyuchevskoy volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s far east started erupting after Wednesday’s powerful earthquake in the Pacific, the Russian state news agency RIA reported.
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