Posted on 05/04/2006 1:19:00 PM PDT by DieHard the Hunter
Hundreds of people in coastal areas faced chaotic early-morning evacuations as a tsunami alert exposed substandard emergency preparations nationwide.
Civil Defence is now the target of severe criticism for failing to tell a panicked public that a tsunami alert – triggered by a Tongan earthquake – posed no danger in New Zealand. The alert was cancelled within half an hour.
The communication breakdown has been savaged by regional mayors.
Residents in coastal areas, including Gisborne, headed for the hills in their hundreds fearing the worst. Some had been woken by frantic friends and family abroad, others by neighbours, after international media reported an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale had struck near Tonga at 3.26am (NZ time).
The Government has admitted the official response was not up to scratch and has ordered a review of emergency communications.
Civil Defence officials failed to alert regional authorities till after 5am and the Beehive bunker's national crisis management centre did not issue a media release till 6.54am – half an hour after the tsunami was predicted to strike the East Coast and three hours after the quake.
The tsunami alert was first issued by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at 3.42am (NZ time). The alert warned that Gisborne could be hit by a tsunami by 6.21am.
Civil Defence later blamed the resulting confusion on international media reports wrongly sparking fears of an imminent threat.
The alert came less than 18 months after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunamis in the Indian Ocean killed more than 220,000 people.
Questions are now being asked whether New Zealand authorities are prepared for a similar disaster.
The tsunami warning said the earthquake had the potential to generate destructive waves that could strike coastlines near the epicentre within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours.
The expected waves would threaten New Zealand and Fiji, and authorities were urged to take "appropriate action". The warning was lifted at 5.36am, less than two hours after the earthquake struck.
Emergency instructions for tsunamis – listed in Yellow Pages phone books nationwide – say to "listen to the radio for information". But broadcasters say yesterday's alert has highlighted serious deficiencies.
Newstalk ZB fielded calls from several district councils seeking advice and claimed the Beehive's emergency bunker was activated only after calls from the station.
General manager Bill Francis said attempts to contact Civil Defence to clarify media reports and broadcast information to listeners proved fruitless as no one could be reached.
State-owned Radio New Zealand also said it had trouble getting information. Despite growing confusion, Civil Defence waited till nearly 7am before issuing a statement confirming the warning had been lifted.
Civil Defence national controller Mike O'Leary defended the government department's response, saying staff were in constant contact with the warning centre and it became clear there was no danger about 4am – just 20 minutes after the first alert.
Officials decided against issuing a national warning, which would have resulted in the evacuation of up to a million people, he said.
Asked why coastal communities were not told there was no risk earlier, Mr O'Leary said officials learned of the "false" international media reports only at 6am. No one had foreseen people's reaction once news of the warning spread.
"We were actually taken quite by surprise. We didn't anticipate that international media would misreport this event."
Gisborne District Council chief executive Bob Elliott labelled the excuse "feeble", saying the resulting panic was totally unnecessary.
"I would have thought sheer common sense would have said, `Let's get a message out to emergency services and the media to say there is no such event'.' "
This fiasco rests fairly and squarely with Helen Clark and her Labor government, who passed a very expensive "Civil Defense Emergency Management Act 2002" -- which supposedly provided for a "coordinated response" to all emergencies, yet on a shoestring budget: with Helen and her crew "monitoring and coordinating" from a vault underneath the Beehive.
Entirely predictable.
Give me Dad's Army anyday.
ping
You mean this isn't Bush's or FEMA's fault? What's journalism coming to?
Yep. You either warned too few people or not enough people. You warned them too soon or you warned them too late. Some people will bitch about anything.
Some people will bitch about anything - I remember Rudy G saying you can pass out $100 bills in Times Square and three type of people will show up; those complaining you are passing out money, one group that it is not enough, and a third saying it is being done too slow.
> Yep. You either warned too few people or not enough people. You warned them too soon or you warned them too late. Some people will bitch about anything.
I've had some involvement in Civil Defense for a number of years. It is chronically under-funded and not taken very seriously.
I have a God Given Right to bitch and complain about it.
Damn fools. They should plan on the media misreporting because that is exactly what they do 90% of the time.
When I read that I said the same thing. LOL Should be fired for making that statement.
Just saw the truth of that at work. Somebody restocked the snack section and all you could hear for 10 minutes was: they didn't get this, they didn't get that. It's free food people! And if there's some snack you really really want there's two convenience stores within three minutes walk of the place and salaries here are pretty nice so you should be able to afford it.
,,, I'm still recovering from the worry. You know how oil prices go up just on the basis of worry, but the oil's pumped at the same rate? The great spot price racket. Well, if the east coast up Gisborne way had been hit by a tsunami there would have been a spot price for crayfish, worse than the spot price now - or the wave would have been big enough to deliver them to my door on the west coast. Either way, worry, worry, worry - and, of course, spot prices.
Me too.
It is chronically under-funded and not taken very seriously.
Same here.
(big grin!) Smarty-pants!
If you'd seen the Beehive bunker, and the process that our Government uses to activate it (as I have) you would be much less worried about the spot price of oil, and much more worried about the spot price of your arse, and the arses of your family and all those you love and cherish!
For all are at risk. And Helen doesn't know or doesn't care.
No kidding, mate: the real story is not and was not the tsunami or lack thereof. The real story is that our government cannot find its arse with both hands in the event of even a minor Civil Defense Emergency. And this is For Shame.
,,, voting the mudbags into office is what got Louisiana in the crap, as I understand it. We've got our share of mudbags in Parliament, so I'll politely decline that offer.
,,, we're on our own, for sure, if there's a disaster.
> ,,, we're on our own, for sure, if there's a disaster.
God Defend New Zealand, indeed. Helen won't.
Can't blame a guy for trying...
Thank you for your efforts in this field. I really do appreciate it.
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