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The government has launched the first nationwide tsunami evacuation map.
The map enables a person to enter their address to find out if they are in a tsunami evacuation zone and where to go to stay safe, and directs them to in-depth local evacuation information.
While individual areas of the country have tsunami maps, this is the first time a single map for the whole country has been produced. It was developed by the National Emergency Management Agency in close partnership with the 16 regional Civil Defence Emergency Management groups.
The red zone on the national map includes estuaries, rivers, beaches and harbours. While waters may not necessarily flood overland, currents and surges could be dangerous for people in or near the water.
The orange zone is the area that could be flooded from a one to three metre high tsunami at the coast.
The advice for this scenario is to evacuate quickly – within 15 minutes – or consider going to the upper level of a two-storied building.
The yellow zone is the area that could be flooded from a tsunami larger than three metres high at the coast. This area only needs to be evacuated if directed to in an official tsunami warning, if there is a very large tsunami coming from across the Pacific Ocean.
Along with personal safety, the map will also come in useful for anyone looking to buy a property close to the coast or a tidal estuary, or in a different part of the country.
Being in a tsunami risk zone isn’t included in the LIM report on a property.
Government research institute GNS Science tsunami modelling shows tsunamis pose more of a threat in the north than closer to central Auckland. Omaha, Point Wells and Pakiri are particularly exposed.
The institute says seabed earthquakes are the most common cause of a tsunami in New Zealand, with the greatest risk for the north being from movement along the boundary of the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate, which sweeps out of the north-east, offshore along the east coast of the North Island.
The boundary pushes up the Southern Alps as it heads through the South Island.
There is also a risk from large earthquakes from around the Pacific Rim, including from Japan, Alaska and South America.
A tsunami from a close earthquake could reach NZ shores in under an hour, which is why the ‘long, strong, get gone’ message is so important.
“If you feel an earthquake that makes it hard to stand or lasts more than a minute, move immediately to higher ground or as far inland as possible out of tsunami evacuation zones,” the government says.
Waves from South America could take 14 hours to get here.
See the map: https://getready.govt.nz/en/emergency/tsunami/tsunami-evacuation-zones/
