My Account
Getting the message about disaster preparation. Orewa College students head to higher ground. Orewa College English teacher James Baker is in the territorial army, and came super prepared with a large backpack and flak jacket packed with emergency gear. This tsunami safe zone, indicated by a blue sign, is near Orewa Primary in Maire Road – the point that Civil Defence estimates the largest tsunami could reach.
“Organised chaos” is what many were expecting when Auckland’s first mass tsunami evacuation drill took place in Orewa last week and already there are things that Civil Defence observed which need attention should a real tsunami hit.
The practice evacuation, held on May 25, involved a Civil Defence briefing and drills at Orewa Primary and a mass walk from Orewa College uphill to Orewa Primary. Orewa Primary school hall and courts will be one of the sites used for displaced people.
Orewa North School students and staff practiced an earthquake drill and then headed up to the safe zone past Kensington Park.
Auckland Civil Defence’s head of emergency management operations, Aaron Davis, said he was very impressed with all the schools’ level of organisation.
He said the walk made it clear how long it takes to move large numbers of people, so it will be important to streamline the alerting system. He noted there were delays getting people across the intersection of Grand Drive and Maire Road, due to traffic.
“In a real event, we will need to get emergency services there quickly, as there is likely to be more traffic as people evacuate in their cars,” he said.
The drill will be evaluated not only by Civil Defence, but also by a team of social scientists from GNS Science, which had 12 scientists involved in the drill.
The walk from Orewa College to the primary is around 1.9km, and took the fastest around 25 minutes, with the tail end arriving around 20 minutes later.
A small group of local residents also walked with the college, including Sharon Mitchell who lives in Hatton Road.
She said it was useful to walk her evacuation route and hopes there will be more regular drills. “My neighbours are in their 90s and you do wonder what would happen to them if there was a real tsunami,” she says.
