Seven hour delay in tsunami warning

They're safe and sound now, but Bill and Vicki Webb are concerned about the failure of the tsunami text alert system. Photo: Elaine Fisher.

In the seven hours it took for Vicki Webb to receive a tsunami warning text on Monday 'the world would have ended,” says her husband Bill Webb.

Both Bill and Vicki got test texts when they signed up to receive Civil Defence tsunami alerts, but when the real emergency happened following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake at Kaikoura – the system failed.

Bill received a warning text from Civil Defence at 4.30am on Monday, although it was sent at 2am – which would have been in plenty of time to evacuate – had it arrived on his phone.

'However, it was 9am on Monday before Vicki got any warning text on her phone. By then the world could have been over.”

The warning which could have saved their lives had a tsunami occurred was sent by a family member, not Civil Defence.

'I first found out about the earthquake and potential tsunami risk through a text from Vicki's son, a volunteer fireman at Tataka, sent to us at 12.15am - but it didn't arrive until 2.30am.

'However, when I turned on the radio there was nothing about a risk and the TV had a mention of an earthquake and tsunami risk for the east coast of the South Island – nothing about the North Island, so we went back to bed, thinking all was fine.”

At 4.30am, a text came through to Bill's phone telling him to evacuate, but no text was received on Vicki's phone. A check with the television channel revealed the warning had been cancelled at 4.15am.

'Text alerts are obviously not working and that is the reason we need to support the petition to install tsunami sirens along our coast. It's obvious Civil Defence can't rely on text messaging and not installing sirens is potentially putting thousands of lives at risk,” says Bill.

Papamoa woman Renee Ball has started a petition after sleeping through the mobile phone warnings of a potential tsunami, triggered by the Kaikoura earthquake.

Bill says all this illustrates why sirens are needed.

'Air raid sirens worked very well in Britain during the war. Seventy years on it's hard to believe we don't have even better technology to raise the alarm to tell people to evacuate in the event of a tsunami.

'Sure in a very severe earthquake they might not work but when the ground shakes so much you can't stand up, most people in coastal areas know it's time to head for higher ground.

'My worry is about the quakes we don't feel like ones in the Kermadec Trench which could generate a tsunami which could wipe out low lying coastal areas.”

Bill and Vicki operate contracting businessBill Webb Feed Solutions. They have legal obligations to keep their staff and anyone visiting their premises safe – and face very severe penalties should they fail to do so.

The same rules don't appear to apply to those charged with the defence of civilians in light of natural disasters, Bill says.

On her Change.org petition, Rene says communities needs a loud and effective wake up call to alert people of the threats of tsunamis.

'We live in an area where we extremely exposed to beaches and flat land but thankfully not far behind is hills which we could easily reach if we were alerted, prepared and quick to react to warnings but we need proper warnings,” the petition reads.

'Yes, if an earthquake was to hit Tauranga then that would be a clear indication that we are in trouble and need to move quickly but in November 14th case, we had no earthquakes, only a simple text message and this is not enough!

'Please sign this petition, let's make Papamoa and Mount Maunganui safer communities, let's get the warnings that we need and deserve!”

Renee Ball's petition can be signed at: https://www.change.org/p/tauranga-council-papamoa-mount-maunganui-needs-tsunami-sirens

You may also like....

11 comments

Another issue

Posted on 18-11-2016 08:01 | By penguin

There is another issue around texts. Some entities such as Google send updates during the night which are intrusive and annoying for sleep. Turning the sound off is a solution but then you don't hear the alert for real life emergency texts! Any bright ideas out there (apart from leaving the phone sound on)?


is there a solution?

Posted on 18-11-2016 09:50 | By Darth Vader NZ

Everyone is right in wanting authorities to provide a system to alert of a tsunami threat, be it txt or siren, part 2 of the problem then begins, there are NO adequate evacuation routes. Papamoa - has 3 evacuation routes, Parton road, Domain road, Sandhurst drive those in vehicles (major traffic jams) if new overpasses are damaged on those routes the wire rope barrier in centre of new highway stops vehicles crossing over, by foot its distance to higher ground that is the problem not the route taken. Mt Maunganui - evacuation across the bridge or via Te Munga, Matapihi road or climb the Mount. People have neglected the massive population influx at Xmas which would effectively condemn more people then save them, look at the traffic flow in the morning / afternoon now add panic to that, its a disaster of biblical proportions just like boxing day tsunami


Good comments guys

Posted on 18-11-2016 13:35 | By Papamoaner

With sirens, you can't turn anything off, and even if the siren near you fails, the one up the road would still warn you, because they are so incredibly loud, even when a long way away. Regarding Darth vader's second concern, a commentor called Terminator recently made a very good suggestion that people should get small motorbikes or trail bikes as part of their emergency kit. What a great idea! It is not uncommon to see whole families riding a single motorbike in Thailand.I once saw mum, dad and 3 kids, all on one bike. It's not just Papamoa either. The entire low lying Tauranga inner harbour areas are at risk too, as the council's innundation maps attest. Possibly more dangerous than the coast due to strong currents caused by water surging through the narrow harbour entrance.


!2 Hours Late

Posted on 18-11-2016 16:00 | By Jitter

My text message arrived at 12.20 lunchtime on Monday. I let CD know by email and the response was zilch. Great service. Get those sirens up asap.


warning txts

Posted on 18-11-2016 18:05 | By vonnie

I was woken at 2.15am 3.15am an 4.30am with txt messages from Civil Defence, an although we no longer live near the beach we very much appreciated the warnings. Sirens are the way to go as they cannot be turned off. Think there will always be a problem with traffic as there are not enough exit roads. thanks Civil Defence, job well done.


@penguin -- check your phone functionality!!

Posted on 18-11-2016 19:11 | By jed

I added the emergency civil defence number as a contact in my phone, then, customised the txt alert as an "emergency" contact with an air raid siren txt alert sound. So even if phone is volume down , night mode, with mute on, i will get a loud alert. Google "ios emergency contact". Android probably has something similar, or at least an app to do it.


warned by foreign friends before NZ civil defense

Posted on 18-11-2016 19:14 | By jed

Some friends in iceland sent me a txt before civil defense.


Get the sirens

Posted on 18-11-2016 20:28 | By Bay Citizen

Please, before it's too late, install sirens in Papamoa and the Mount. Text messaging is just not a viable solution 1) As we see above, texts sometimes take many hours to arrive. 2) A text message beep is just not going to wake anyone. 3) Like most people, my mobile is switched off at night, and that is never going to change.


Whats shaking nz app

Posted on 19-11-2016 00:42 | By Capt_Kaveman

is what i use and i received a text 14 mins after any quake over 4mag


Telecommunications at fault

Posted on 19-11-2016 08:06 | By freedomkiwis

I think it more likely that our telco companies are at fault rather than civil defense. I'm sure most of us have sent a text in the past that someone either "has not received" or it's arrived days later etc. I do believe our telco companies all leave a lot to be desired.


Text Message

Posted on 19-11-2016 22:10 | By roseh

I got my text at 2.15am 3.15 am and 4.30 am,I was very pleased with civil defence messages Job well done Thanks


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.