Cook Islands learn from tsunami test mistakes

Thursday, 18 May 2006, 8:48 pm
Press Release: Radio New Zealand International

Cook Islands police say they have learnt from their mistakes during tsunami test

The Cook Islands police say they have learnt from their mistakes and will be better prepared following an international test of tsunami preparedness involving twenty-nine countries in the Pacific

It took emergency officials over two hours from the time they were informed of the mock earthquake triggering tsunami waves to inform local radio, television and print newsrooms.

Cook Islands television were given eight minutes warning whilst other areas were alerted after the tsunami would have struck.

It was the first official international test of the warning procedures since the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police in the Cook Islands, Ma’ara Tatava admits that human error was to blame for the slow response.

“Yes, lessons learnt, in fact we should have been better prepared because we had a real one a couple of weeks ago and we had our procedures in place, it’s just human error or people weren’t sure what they were supposed to be doing.”

The Deputy Commissioner of Police in the Cook Islands, Ma’ara Tatava

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