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National | Auckland Council

Orewa identified as most at-risk for tsunami

The Auckland Council will be spending over $2mil to install tsunami sirens in Auckland's most at-risk coastal areas.  GNS Science has already identified four of the most at-risk areas on the North Shore.

Orewa has been identified as one of the most at risk coastal areas which requires a tsunami siren.

Civil Defence and Emergency Management Head of Strategy and Planning, Craig Glover says, “We are looking at two to three years and what we're trying to do is roll these things out in terms of risks.  So we want to ensure that the risky areas receive these things first”.

Civil Defence spokesperson Craig Glover says mobile warning texts are also efficient for the general public.

“There are lots of technologies and tools that we can use and we want to make sure that we design something that's robust and fit for purpose for Auckland”.

In 2011, 10-foot waves hit the east coast of Japan killing more than 15 thousand people.  Early earthquake warnings failed.

Back home, the Auckland Council has already installed 14 tsunami sirens at 14 sites.

“The entire country is covered by emergency mobile alerting and it's the most effective way to get messages to the public.  However we do use every device at our disposal”.

Civil Defence and Emergency Management say installation will take place at the end of the year.