Tsunami alert after third quake
A tsunami alert issued for much of New Zealand was cancelled yesterday and residents who were earlier evacuated in Northland, Bay of Plenty and Great Barrier Island were told they could return home.
The warning was issued by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) at 8.50am yesterday, following a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in the Kermadec Islands, the third earthquake yesterday.
Residents from Cape Reinga, in Northland, to Tolaga Bay, near Gisborne, were told to ‘‘leave immediately for higher ground or as far inland as possible’’.
That warning was in place until about 1.30pm when the advice was downgraded and people were advised to stay off beach and shore areas. It was cancelled at 3.45pm when NEMA said ocean observations showed any threat had now passed for all areas.
At the height of the alert, cellphones in high-alert areas received a tsunami alert and tsunami sirens were activated.
A Civil Defence mobile emergency alert sent to Aucklanders midmorning advised them to stay away from the sea, rivers and estuaries due to the marine tsunami threat to coastal areas.
Several tidal surges were spotted across the country throughout the morning but none appear to have caused any damage.
Northland
Earlier yesterday, Sheridan Waitai, of Nga¯ti Kuri which oversees the Kermadec Islands/Rangita¯ hua, said the iwi evacuated villages and campgrounds at Spirits Bay, Te Kao and near Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua.
‘‘It is remote up there and not very hilly, it is 12km from both coasts so a tsunami could technically cross that.’’
Ruaka¯ka¯ resident Rhys Owen was at work at HC Surfboards in Kepa Rd, which is about a 10-minute walk from the beach, when he received the first emergency alert on his cellphone and later heard the sirens going off.
Owen’s evacuation efforts were delayed by some ‘‘pretty heavy traffic’’ at Marsden Point heading towards the Ruaka¯ ka¯ roundabout.
There were a few trees along the road, so ‘‘if we have to get out and clamber up we will’’.
Owen, who shared his car with one of his stepchildren, a workmate and their two dogs, had arrived safely at a friend’s house in Prescott Rd by 10am.
‘‘Most people just standing around and waiting.’’
Barbara and Murphy Shortland, who live above Jacks Bay in Russell, said they witnessed some ‘‘unusual’’ tidal activity yesterday morning.
‘‘When we got up at 9 this morning the tide was out but by 9.45am it was high tide. I checked the paper and it was supposed to be high tide at 1pm,’’ Barbara said.
The tide came back in ‘‘really flat’’ as opposed to a ‘‘crashing wave’’, Barbara said.
The Shortlands said they felt ‘‘safe and well’’ alongside other Russell residents, who were ‘‘out on lawns and sharing balconies’’.
Bay of Plenty
In Whakata¯ne, traffic started to back up in the early hours of the morning as people started fleeing for the hills.
Apanui School, in Whakata¯ne, told parents on social media it had evacuated the school up Mokorua Gorge and that ‘‘traffic was crazy’’.
They told residents everyone was accounted for.
‘‘Your kids are safe, make sure you are.’’
In photos on social media, police could be seen at the Commerce St roundabout directing people inland towards Taneatua, while hundreds of others in the community were seen walking up the O¯ hope hill.
Auckland
The emergency alert sent to Aucklanders yesterday advised them to stay away from the water. Despite this, people could be seen fishing, swimming and paddle boarding at O¯ rewa beach about 11.50am.
About 1100 locals and visitors to Great Barrier Island, Auckland’s most exposed area at risk of tsunami, moved to high ground.
Great Barrier Island local board chair Izzy Fordham said police, Fire and Emergency NZ and the island’s own emergency response team told residents and farmers in lower lying areas they needed to move.
‘‘I’m pleased to say all were pretty on to it,’’ Fordham said.
Chlo¨ e Swarbrick, MP for Auckland Central which includes Great Barrier Island, said she had been in touch with local authorities who had mobilised resources to respond to the tsunami threat.
This included relocating the island’s medical centre to higher ground.
‘‘This is not their first rodeo,’’ she said.
‘‘When we got up at 9 this morning the tide was out but by 9.45am it was high tide.’’ Barbara Shortland
Jacks Bay resident