Staff at Hopeha Homes bundled about 60 residents into vans, and evacuated from their beachfront location on Friday morning in just 10 minutes as they responded to the tsunami threat.
Although the tsunami advisory sent out following Friday morning's 7.1 magnitude earthquake was later cancelled, Hohepa Hawke's Bay general manager Andy White said the evacuation was great practice.
Hohepa provides services for people with intellectual disabilities, based on the principles of Rudolf Steiner.
On Friday morning, Mr White was alerted to the tsunami warning just after 6am. He rang the Clive site where residents were sound asleep, supervised by about 10 staff who had been working through the night, and told them to evacuate.
Mr White said if there was any reason for concern, "we evacuate, full stop", as it was wiser to begin moving straight away.