Our View: Tsunami warning a timely reminder

Nature can be such an inexact science.
Yesterday's powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake, which struck near the Kermadec Islands, threatened to send a wall of water our way with only 1000km and little time separating us from the epicentre of the quake.
When the news emerged shortly after the 7.03am quake, the clamour for information began from Northland to the East Cape.
With a huge coastline open to incoming trouble, a quake in the Kermadecs posed a real risk to Kiwis, due to its close proximity.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning in response to the quake.
A statement from Civil Defence was a little weaker, warning people to stay off beaches and stay out of the water - including the sea, rivers and estuaries and boating activities - as long as the alert remained in force.
As it turned out, there was no impact here with only a small wave generated that measured around 1m on islands near the epicentre.
But this incident should make us all aware that tsunamis are very real possibilities for us in the Western Bay.
The Indonesian, Samoan and Japanese tsunamis have shown us the true force of these walls of water and we should never be so ignorant to think it can't happen here.
Papamoa Progressive Association chairman Steve Morris is all too aware of the dangers and has renewed his call for the establishing of evacuation routes for Mount Maunganui and Papamoa.
He said it once again demonstrated the need for sirens and evacuation routes if lives were to be saved along the city's vulnerable coastal strip.
Tauranga City Council recently took the initiative and decided to spend up to $1 million on sirens to help alert the 50,000 residents who live along the low-lying coastal strip from Mount Maunganui to Papamoa.
Now the decision has been made, there can be no delay in implementing it.
Time is the only thing that is going to save people in the event of a tsunami being generated near us.
With time and safe evacuation routes, people can seek safe refuge away from the coast.
We certainly don't want to be looking back in years to come and wonder what difference might have been made had we acted with a little more speed in preparing ourselves for a tsunami.
The recent pictures from Japan show us that tsunamis are powerful, unyielding and incredibly deadly.
We have to help ourselves by making sure we are as prepared as can be if one should unfortunately ever come the way of the Bay of Plenty coastline.