Horowhenua District Council staff take part in national tsunami preparedness exercise

More than 100 Horowhenua District Council staff took part in a national tsunami preparedness exercise yesterday.

Exercise Tangaroa provided an opportunity for staff to test the organisation’s preparations for and response to a national tsunami impact, including processes, decision-making and communications; having set-up a temporary Emergency Operating Centre in Council Chambers.

Yesterday was day one of the three-day exercise and focussed on the period between when an alert is received and the first waves hit, including deployment of resources, informing the public, planning evacuations and arranging welfare assistance. On September 14 the focus will shift to the response after the tsunami has hit; then on September 28 the management of the longer-term recovery will be tested.

Exercise Tangaroa is part of the National Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Exercise Programme. It involved over 100 other councils and agencies throughout New Zealand, as a major tsunami would require a simultaneous national, regional and local response.

Customer and Regulatory Services Manager Mike Lepper, in his role as Council’s Emergency Operations Centre controller yesterday, says simulating a scenario is an ideal way to test preparedness for a real emergency event.

“Objectives include identifying where we can make improvements to ensure we are as prepared as possible, and further develop our Civil Defence Emergency Management response plan. The exercise will certainly provide valuable learnings for the future,” Mr Lepper said.

What is a tsunami?
A tsunami is a series of waves generated when a large volume of water in the sea or a lake is rapidly displaced. The first wave will not necessarily be the largest, and large waves may continue arriving many hours after the first wave. Unusual and hazardous currents and surges may continue for hours to days after the largest tsunami waves have passed.

What’s the risk to New Zealand?
New Zealand’s entire coast is at risk of tsunami. A tsunami can violently flood coastlines, causing devastating property damage, injuries and loss of life. Tsunami waves can smash into the shore like a wall of water, or move in as a fast moving flood or tide.

How much warning will we have?
Official warnings, through channels such as TV, radio, social media, apps and sirens, are possible for distant and regional source tsunami, which may take hours to reach New Zealand. However, a local source tsunami could arrive within minutes, which means there won’t be time for an official warning.

This means you must move immediately to the nearest high ground or as far inland as you can if you are at the coast and you experience any of the following:

feel a strong earthquake that makes it hard to stand up, or a weak rolling earthquake that lasts a minute or more
see a sudden rise or fall in sea level
hear loud and unusual noises from the sea.

For more about Exercise Tangaroa: http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/cdem-sector/exercises/exercisetangaroa2016/’

ENDS

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