TSUNAMI – WHAT TO DO?

Nearly all of us understand the danger posed by a tsunami, but about a quarter of us don’t know what to do while the first wave is making its way to land.

This is a fact pointed to time and again in surveys by the likes of the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, GNS Science and the Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office.

A GNS study on tsunami awareness and preparedness in 10 selected coastal areas of Wellington, Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne revealed that while 71 per cent of the 875 respondents rated a tsunami as the most likely natural hazard to affect their community, 26 per cent said they were unlikely to evacuate their property if a severe earthquake struck.

This figure concerns people such as GNS senior scientist Graham Leonard, who said it showed there was still confusion about warnings.

‘‘The survey also showed that up to a third of people don’t intend to evacuate quickly enough. They know the ‘Long or Strong Get Gone’ message, but if they hesitate, it means it’s not effective,’’ he said.

Just 7.3 per cent of people said they would start evacuating in under a minute, 54.6 per cent within 1-10 minutes and 25.9 per cent within 10-30 minutes.

‘‘We need 100 per cent of the New Zealand public to know that in a long or strong earthquake they need to evacuate immediately. Every minute and every metre inland counts,’’ he said.

Leonard said the survey was carried out in 2015, but a survey in Wellington following the Kaiko¯ ura earthquake in November 2016 showed it was still accurate, with about a third of people choosing not to evacuate.

‘‘We’ve really pushed the ‘Long or Strong Get Gone’ in the last three years and we’re planning a rerun of the survey so it

will be interesting to know if the ‘intend to evacuate’ number is higher,’’ Leonard said.

The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management’s latest annual disaster preparedness survey, released last month, raised a similar discrepancy.

It showed that while 85 per cent of people knew they need to ‘‘Get Gone’’ if they are near the coast when a long or strong quake strikes, 23 per cent believed they were unlikely to ever be in a disaster and so were not prepared.

Director of Civil Defence emergency management Sarah

Sarah Stuart-Black

Director of Civil Defence emergency management

Stuart-Black said optimism was one of three barriers to people getting

prepared, along with a lack of information and the perception t was too much effort.

‘‘Rather than just talking about hazards like earthquakes and tsunami in general, we encourage people to consider what an emergency might mean for them, such as having no power, no water, needing to evacuate, or not being able to get home,’’ she said.

A survey of 500 Wellington residents in June showed that just 50 per cent of people knew a strong earthquake was itself the warning to evacuate.

Forty per cent of people expected sirens; others expected text alerts or radio announcements.

Wellington Region Emergency Management Office manager of community resilience and recovery Dan Neely said the survey showed that much more had to be done to to increase awareness around this. He said the organisation would be undertaking a campaign next year informing residents that they should not wait for a warning following a strong earthquake, and that they should practise their evacuation.

‘‘We encourage people to consider what an emergency might mean for them.’’