Hawke’s Bay: Civil Defense will review its communication of major earthquakes and tsunami threat

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defense says it will review its communication with the public during Friday’s three major earthquakes and subsequent red zone tsunami evacuation.

But it also says that in a significant disaster, personal responsibility is important and is a timely reminder that those in a tsunami zone should educate themselves and prepare for a major event.

Hundreds of people in the region self-evacuated in the early hours of Friday morning and more than 500 people moved to the top of Napier’s Bluff Hill on Friday afternoon amid sometimes fluid advice.

After the third major earthquake at 8.28am, an 8.1 earthquake near the Kermadec Islands, Civil Defense issued a beach and marine threat to Hawke’s Bay, calling on everyone in the tsunami red zone to evacuate to higher ground. .

This then led to a flurry of people trying to check if they were in the red zone, collapsing the Civil Defense interactive map.

It came just hours after the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defense Emergency Management Group raised its eyebrows for posting what appeared to be conflicting messages in the immediate aftermath of the first 7.1 magnitude quake to hit the North Island’s east coast at 2.27. A.M

THE FIRST EARTHQUAKE: ‘I GET STARTING’

The earthquake caused widespread “severe” tremors and woke up thousands of Hawke’s Bay residents, many of whom were evacuated to higher ground.

The Hawke’s Bay Civil Defense Emergency Management Group initially noted in a Facebook post that the 2.27 am earthquake was “unlikely” to pose a tsunami threat.

That led many locals to express their frustration, with people referring to messages from the government that if an earthquake is long or strong, go away.

Up to 30 minutes later, the post was edited to coincide with the national Civil Defense council to take refuge on higher ground if found in coastal communities.

“If there had been a tsunami, most people in the red zone would have been in the creek without a paddle,” said a concerned Hawke’s Bay resident who had experienced the deadly Christchurch earthquake 10 years ago.

From experience, he did not wait for advice from the public, but instead put his children in the car and “hit the road.”

BAD INFORMATION ALWAYS POSSIBLE

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defense Emergency Management Group controller Ian Macdonald said the ever-changing event meant misinformation was a possibility at times.

“There are areas of communication that need to be improved, but it is the nature of handling an emergency and, by its very nature, information is often incomplete and received little by little,” he said.

Macdonald said his team should await national advice before sharing information, which is often not immediately received.

“Based on the magnitude, depth, and location of the first earthquake, we knew early on that we were seeing something quite minor.

“Social media is there to keep people informed as quickly as possible, and if they make a mistake, correct it.”

SAMPLE PORT EVACUATION

Once the third earthquake struck, warnings were issued again, and people were told to expect wave activity up to a meter in height at Hawke’s Bay at 10.45 a.m., with unusual strong currents and unpredictable swells that they are expected to continue for several hours.

An evacuation siren from the Napier port and a voice could be heard over a loud speaker in Ahuriri and Marine Pde telling staff “this is not a drill” and that you should evacuate around 10.20 am.

Locals were advised to stay away from beaches and piers (up to 2m above sea level).

Coastal areas, including Central Hawke’s Bay and Waimarama beaches, were patrolled by emergency services to ensure that people stayed out of the water.

A woman working in Ahuriri, who did not want to be named, said that most of the people in the area did not seem concerned and some people had even gone swimming in the morning.

“Nobody was that stressed.”

Simon Osborne, a security and emergency management advisor at Napier Port, said staff headed to Bluff Hill at approximately 10.45 a.m. following advice from Civil Defense and Emergency Management.

“Once they warned us that we were in the red zone and we had to evacuate the port, we used the alert system that sounds like a siren but it is basically with a tone followed by a voice-over,” he said.

He said staff climbed the hill on foot through the port’s central tsunami gate and another near the western entrance.

Container operations at the port initially stopped at around 3 a.m. M., But they resumed normally at 7 a.m. M. Before the second and third earthquakes.

Napier Port CEO Todd Dawson said a tsunami evacuation drill conducted a few months earlier had “paid off.”

“People knew what they were doing, where to go and what to expect,” he said. “There can be 200, 300 or 400 people in the port at a time.”

Dawson said staff were given water, hot buns and sunscreen while they waited for everything to clear.

At 1:45 p.m., the port workers were allowed to leave Bluff Hill and resumed operations at 2:00 p.m.

CIVIL DEFENSE: HB DOES NOT HAVE TSUNAMI SIRENS

Macdonald reminded the public that Hawke’s Bay does not have a tsunami siren and never has.

“It is a common fallacy and causes a great deal of confusion here,” he said. “Fire trucks and individual policemen circulated with their sirens in order to get people’s attention.

“The only siren system we have in Hawke’s Bay is in Napier and it is not a tsunami siren, it is just a mass public alert system.”

Macdonald added: “Sounding the sirens for this event would have been a really thorny issue. More people are injured and killed in evacuations than in the event itself.”

Westshore Elementary School and Te Awa School also evacuated students and staff as a precaution.

Napier Central School hosted hundreds of other students from Te Awa School and Westshore School after they were evacuated as a precaution.

Although it was not in the red zone, Westshore School principal Martin Madden said they took a “precautionary response” by choosing to move students, who were supposed to participate in the school’s swim sports day, to a higher ground.

“It’s just not worth the risk,” he said.

He commended the efforts of staff, students, and the community alike; many parents had helped transport students to school on higher ground.

Madden was particularly grateful to the Napier Central staff and said he “couldn’t have asked for more.”

“They were really welcoming and provided some food.”

The Hawke’s Bay tsunami red zone does not include Napier’s CBD. Full maps here: https://www.facebook.com/hbemergency/posts/4482099631816472

WEBSITE CRASH AND PERSONAL LIABILITY

Hawke’s Bay resident Nicky Spencers said he was concerned about the handling of the event after the Civil Defense website crashed, calling the organization’s communication “egregious.”

“Where was the clear message saying that the red zone needs to evacuate? The important instruction was lost and it was hidden in the middle of its third message at the end of a paragraph, almost as an afterthought,” he said.

“The first thing people see when they go to your Facebook page is a post apologizing for the failure of your website.”

His local partner Peter Malcouronne said that Civil Defense should also have put clear timestamps on his posts.

“Given the severity of the earthquake, it is not unreasonable for people to expect a more timely response,” he said. “There are people with children in cars waiting to hear from them.”

Ahuriri resident Gillian Scott said levels of confusion were high after sirens and a loudspeaker were heard from Battery Rd.

“We thought maybe they were testing their emergency systems or warning people to stay away from the beach,” he said.

“I’m home alone and I’m recovering from a broken ankle, so I don’t have enough mobility to ask and I feel a bit anxious.”

Macdonald said the website’s problems were due to the high volume of visitors.

“It has been tested in the past and it worked well, but it did not work last night. And we will certainly see it in the future to increase its capacity,” he said.

He said lessons will be learned and changes will be made to systems and processes.

“We review each event and implement lessons and actions to address any issues that arise,” he said.

“But there is an element of self-responsibility. If you live near the coast, you need to know what tsunami zone you are in and an evacuation route – it’s a personal responsibility.”

PLACE A MASK IN YOUR EVACUATION HANDLE BAG

The municipalities and the Civil Defense reminded the public that the evacuation councils override the current requirements of the Covid-19 alert level.

Macdonald recommended putting hand sanitizer and masks in their evacuation bags.

“There have been many contingency plans since the inception of Covid and about concurrent events,” he said.

“One of the guiding principles is that life is more important: the immediate loss of life from an earthquake and tsunami could be terrible.”

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OTHER INTERRUPTIONS

The earthquakes also caused moderate disruptions to rail services and retail stores throughout the region.

KiwiRail COO Todd Moyle said that safety was “paramount” and that it was standard practice for the network in the impacted area to be shut down after significant seismic events, for inspections to detect damage to the tracks. .

“Shortly after the earthquake, we closed our network from Napier to Wairoa, from Tauranga to Kawerau and from Kawerau to Murupara, pending inspections by highway personnel,” he said.

He said that two registration services were stopped, but both had resumed their services and no other cargo services were affected.

Farmers director Michael Power said Hastings and Napier stores were closed to allow engineers to assess whether there was any damage as a result of the earthquakes.

“Engineers have completed their assessment and reported that both stores can reopen. Both stores have already opened,” he said.

A sign was also released on a building in Marine Pde, Wairoa, around 6:08 a.m. Friday.

Firefighters attended and secured the sign.

Cape Kidnappers was also closed.