The day tsunamis hit New Zealand’s shores

The shaking started at 2:27 a.m. M. del Friday and woke up more than 50,000 people from their slumber.

Some stayed in bed, while others crouched in the dark under tables or doors as the floor rolled and rolled, each wondering how long it would last and how big it would be.

The early morning earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.1, was the first of three, about 100 kilometers east of Te Araroa on the North Island, and that would send thousands of people into the hills.

It was Graeme and Pauline Summerby’s dog, Monty, who felt it first.

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The couple live on the top of a hill between Hicks Bay and Te Araroa in the east. Moments before the shaking started, Jack Russell started barking.

“He’s a little crazy and barks at possums or hedgehogs, but once we felt the shaking we knew what he was talking about,” Graeme said.

Te Araroa’s Four Square store owners Roslyn and Rick Metcalfe were also woken up by their two dogs, Kaha and Kotiro, about two minutes before the quake.

“They were going a little crazy,” Roslyn said. “They were not ordinary barking. It was different. I knew something was wrong. I sat on the bed and told them to shut up, like you do, and then I realized. The bed began to move. They felt it before us. “

The couple got out of bed, got into their car and shot up the hill behind the settlement, where about 200 more people had gathered in their cars.

Almost an hour later, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) ordered “anyone near the shore” to move immediately to the nearest high ground, or as far inland as possible.

Around 3:30 a.m. M., A formal tsunami watch has been issued, with an unusual strong current with unpredictable swells near shore and the first waves are expected to reach the Eastern Cape at 3.34 a.m. M.

“The evacuation notice overrides the current Covid-19 alert level requirements … if you are told to evacuate do not stay home,” NEMA said in the pre-dawn statement.

At 5.07 a.m. M., NEMA had calmed down and told people that coastal flooding was no longer expected and that unless local civil defense said otherwise, people could return to shore.

Less than two hours later, a second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck near the Kermadec Islands. At 8.28 am, a third earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 would hit the same spot.

People from the Bay of Islands to Whangārei, from Matatā to Tolaga Bay, including Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki, and Great Barrier Island were also told to evacuate.

Hicks Bay Motel service manager Jackie Grace said people rushed back to the motel, which sits on a hill south of the settlement, for the second time that morning.

“They were all here this morning, they went home, then they all came back up,” he said around 9am on Friday after the Kermadec Islands earthquakes.

He said there were about 100 people in cars in the motel’s parking lot and they parked on the road Friday morning.

“All the locals and the children are here. I’d say most of them would have eaten kai after the shake this morning, but we have stuff in the cake warmer if we need it, ”he said.

In Tokomaru Bay, 91 km north of Gisborne, hundreds of residents left their homes for higher ground for the second time. Some were sitting on deckchairs, others under umbrellas, while a local handed out fresh peaches to others sitting in the sun.

Gina Chaffey-Aupouri, who has lived in Tokomaru Bay for the past 60 years, said she had never experienced anything like this as she watched the water move strangely from the hill.

“This is the first time I have seen a sudden increase. They have happened about three times since the evacuation. At first, you see the sea and its stillness, then it begins to turn and go in all different directions. “

At Napier’s Hill Hospital, trucker Malcolm ‘Boots’ Bain seemed relatively unfazed by all the activity.

He was preparing to head to work in Napier Port when the sirens sounded.

“I saw everyone heading this way, so I went up the hill instead.”

In Whangārei’s Teal Bay, Jeff and Ros Lowrey were about to go out in their kayaks when the first warning sounded on their phones around 8.50 a.m. M.

“It was a beautiful sunny day with no swell and little wind,” Jeff said.

He was glad he got the warning before they were in the water. “I think it would have been nice in the water, but it’s coming back [that is dangerous]. “

In the Northland town of Ruakākā, Rhys Owen was at work when he received an emergency alert on his cell phone and then heard sirens sounding.

Getting into the car with one of his stepchildren, a co-worker and their two dogs, Owen was stuck “in quite heavy traffic” on Marsden Pt heading for the Ruakākā roundabout.

While there were no signs of panic as traffic piled up and sirens sounded, he remembers speaking with a hard look at the tall trees lining the road.

“If we have to go out and climb, we will.”

On the east coast north of the Matatā Strait, the police evacuated the camps and houses near the beach, blocking access to the lower section of the road that runs alongside the sea.

A coffee truck delivered its best deal of the year, while bored evacuees caught in traffic were hungry and children begged for a gift. The truckers took off their socks and relaxed, some sleep in the sun, their load is delayed.

Stranded in a police block, Courtney and Ava Miekle had planned to evacuate to higher ground near the Bay of Plenty Ōtamarākau.

Courtney Miekle said she was trying to get to Ava’s school, but the road was blocked.

Unable to return because the road was closed, they had had an impromptu picnic ordering chocolate milk and cakes from a nearby coffee cart.

By 1.30pm, the threat had mostly passed, the tsunami caused little more than strange tides, with no damage being reported, and people were informed that they could return from the hills and return to the cities from which they had fled at dawn.

At 3.43pm, the tsunami alert issued by NEMA after the earthquakes had been canceled.

However, people were told to remain vigilant to take extra precautions when it came to beach and ocean activities.

In a post-Cabinet briefing, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that when she entered the bunker in parliament this morning, two things hit her and it was hard not to feel like New Zealand is having a streak of bad luck.

But the country had also been “blessed” by having excellent emergency response teams.

Initial reports have shown minimal damage to homes and businesses. As of Friday night, the Earthquake Commission had only received 27 complaints from the entire North Island.

Emergency Management Minister Kiri Allan called on the public to take care.

“This has been an important event for all of Aotearoa.”