Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said Monday's earthquake was probably the largest in terms of duration that had been felt in the region for a long time, and was a timely reminder about the dangers.
Acknowledging the loss of lives in other areas, he said the natural reaction after such an event was to worry about a tsunami, and vigilance was needed.
He noted that it took some time for the information to come through about the potential risk in Hawke's Bay, due to early reports that the earthquake was land-based and as such did not equate to immediate tsunami concerns.
"But then Geonet said the faultline went out to sea - an hour later we had a tsunami warning and then had to work out how big it was."
He said it took a while to get the message out to the Red Zone areas of Te Awanga, Waimarama, Ocean Beach and one street in Westshore.