On Wednesday morning, when my radio woke me up, there were a couple of news items about an earthquake in Samoa and a tsunami in the local area.
As the morning progressed, I heard about the possibility of a "one metre wave hitting NZ" and that the areas most likely to be affected would be the east coast, but Wellington was being warned as well.
What was not mentioned at all was when this "one metre wave" was supposed to hit. The impression I got was some time during the morning.
We live right next to the beach, only a few metres above sea level, so naturally I was very interested in the "wave" that may or may not be coming. As my youngest son had a 9:30 swimming class, with the swimming pool being right next to the beach, I needed to know whether or not be worried.
In the end, I decided that because we were on the west coast, a number of kilometres north of Wellington, that a "one metre wave" posed little danger, and we continued on to the swimming class as normal.
Now I hear that the "one metre wave" was actually a potential one metre surge, that could have travelled at great force and velocity inland destroying all that lay in it's path... Can I just say I am really annoyed at not being told just when this thing was supposed to hit and just what it could have been!
Naturally, there is criticism being levelled at Civil Defence for the scarcity of information given out.
[UPDATE] 11:52 I got my directions confused, ie where the wave was coming from, and where we are. Both errors have now been fixed.
Related Link: Civil Defence under review after tsunami threat
As the morning progressed, I heard about the possibility of a "one metre wave hitting NZ" and that the areas most likely to be affected would be the east coast, but Wellington was being warned as well.
What was not mentioned at all was when this "one metre wave" was supposed to hit. The impression I got was some time during the morning.
We live right next to the beach, only a few metres above sea level, so naturally I was very interested in the "wave" that may or may not be coming. As my youngest son had a 9:30 swimming class, with the swimming pool being right next to the beach, I needed to know whether or not be worried.
In the end, I decided that because we were on the west coast, a number of kilometres north of Wellington, that a "one metre wave" posed little danger, and we continued on to the swimming class as normal.
Now I hear that the "one metre wave" was actually a potential one metre surge, that could have travelled at great force and velocity inland destroying all that lay in it's path... Can I just say I am really annoyed at not being told just when this thing was supposed to hit and just what it could have been!
Naturally, there is criticism being levelled at Civil Defence for the scarcity of information given out.
[UPDATE] 11:52 I got my directions confused, ie where the wave was coming from, and where we are. Both errors have now been fixed.
Related Link: Civil Defence under review after tsunami threat
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