Tsunami siren testing 1 April:
Yes, it's April Fool's Day, no it's not a joke

12 March 2012

On Sunday 1 April 2012, daylight savings weekend, Whangarei and Kaipara District tsunami sirens will be tested in coastal and harbour locations along the east coast from Bland Bay in the north of the Whangarei District, south to Mangawhai Heads in the Kaipara District.

The sirens will sound for 10 minutes at 9.20am and again for 30 seconds at 10am on Sunday 1 April 2012 and their blue lights will flash throughout the period of the test.

"The biannual tsunami siren testing is an opportunity to educate people about what to do when the sirens are sounded," said Whangarei District Civil Defence
Emergency Management Officer, Victoria Randall.

The correct action for people to take when they hear the siren is to turn on the radio, TV, computer or to contact someone who can access these sources of information,
to find out what is going on. Useful websites to check for information are: www.nrc.govt.nz/civildefence/ www.wdc.govt.nz/Community- SafetyandSupport/CivilDefence/
Pages/

"On Sunday 1 April, people should not hear that there has been a tsunami alert via the media sources mentioned, but just in case there is a billion-to-one coincidence and the test coincides with tsunami alert from the Ministry of Civil Defence, people who tune in will be given the information they need," Victoria said.

"People sometimes ask why a tsunami siren doesn't automatically mean to evacuate the coast. Giving people early warning that they need to seek information helps to prevent panic, ensures the public are well informed and ready to do what they should when instructions to evacuate are given.

"New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management gets news out to all media as soon as the possibility of a tsunami is known and we advise our coastal emergency networks and emergency services. At that point the tsunami sirens are activated to tell people to seek information"

Mrs Randall said there are 14 coastal communities identified within the Whangarei District. Each community has a Community Response Group, made up of volunteers from within that community.

The group coordinators are the key contacts for civil defence and each group has developed a community response plan. These plans are used by communities during a response to a civil defence event, including a tsunami. The community response plans, evacuation zone maps and tsunami sirens are tools Civil Defence use to alert and equip communities to respond to a tsunami event.

If you live on the Whangarei District coast and would like to know more about your nearest community response plan and evacuation zone maps, please contact the Whangarei District Council Civil Defence Emergency Management Officer.

The network of 70 sirens is managed by the Whangarei District Civil Defence Emergency Management Officer and maintained and activated with the assistance of Northpower using the existing ripple control system, free of charge.

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