‘This is for real’: Opotiki mayor
How a community of almost 10,000 evacuated in 45 minutes
When a tsunami warning threat came through on your phone telling you to evacuate, most people would be concerned about their own personal evacuation plan.
Opotiki mayor Lyn Riesterer had a little more on her plate — how to evacuate a community of nearly 10,000 people to safety. What’s even more remarkable — the town was evacuated in about 45 minutes.
On Friday at 2.27am, the Bay of Plenty seaside town was shaken awake by a strong, 7.1 earthquake off the east coast of the North Island.
Not many people went back to sleep; some headed for the hills. By 5am, most of those who evacuated had headed back home.
At 9am the message came through on the mayor’s phone that a mass evacuation of the district was about to take place, after a third big quake.
“We were possibly ready because we already had the bad earthquake early in the morning,” she told the Herald on Sunday. “That would have woken everyone up. Because it was such a big earthquake, in the back of our mind we were ready for something. All of a sudden all of our phones went off before 9am. It was the first of our alerts.
“‘This is for real, let’s go’ I said. Council staff packed up and left. Civil Defence managers moved to the high grounds of Opotiki golf course. Once everyone realised there was another big earthquake in the Kermadecs we knew the significance of that and the tsunami warning was a legitimate warning that everyone listened to.
“There was concern for a lot of our lower-lying settlements in the district. Almost every one of them is by the sea.”
By this time, most of the town had swung into action and were headed for one of a few high vantage points in the area, either south up the hill, or west up into the ridges of the town.
While residents were safe, the mayor said, the threat was very real, revealing there were small wave surges that hit the district’s beaches.
“There wasn’t the large wave that came in a Tokomaru Bay but there were surges and stuff coming up our rivers. Thankfully nothing really big. As mayor, you get the emails of estimated wave heights. I thought we would be able to cope with 1m, but we probably couldn’t cope with 3m. Evacuating was the smart and only move.”
So how do you get close to 10,000 people to safety in under an hour?
Riesterer says the brilliant response of Opotiki’s residents is to thank for the successful mass evacuation, as well as the swift reaction from schools, officials, businesses and care facilities.
“Once we got the alerts, everybody started messaging friends and wha¯nau to alert the ones who didn’t have a smartphone. We had neighbours knocking on doors, everybody moving to their planned piece of higher ground.
“Everything almost fell into place. Volunteers took people out to different maraes further south, schools moved out, early childhood places picked up everybody. Everyone stuck to their evacuation plans.
“The police went around and did a sweep telling the remaining residents to move. Ninety-nine per cent of people did what they were supposed to do and were evacuated in less than an hour.
“Last year’s evacuation walkthrough with schools played helped. Civil Defence managers know how far away people need to be back to be safe. Having all of that knowledge in place is vital.”
Residents didn’t go hungry, despite being evacuated for more than 5 hours. Local maraes were feeding evacuees while others at higher ground were dishing out food and water for patient residents.
After a wait of more than 5 hours, it was over and the community returned to normal life.
The community’s response to the tsunami threat has left the mayor glowing with pride and appreciation.
“I am so proud of our people, our community.
“When people are in difficult situations everyone rallies around and helps. Maraes were entertaining our children, keeping them calm and safe.
“I’m very proud and everyone feels the same. The comments afterwards down at the supermarket were ‘didn’t we do well?’ and ‘isn’t it neat how everyone looked after one another?’.
“As a community, we’ve done incredibly well. We need to dwell on the positives. They are the things that will set us in good stead for the next time this happens.”