Kids Shake Out - adults not so much

Hawke's Bay residents got into the full swing of things for yesterday's national Shake Out drill.

Napier Civil Defence Manager Angela Reade said the exercise had been a huge success, with nearly 47,000 people signed up to "drop, cover, hold" in Hawke's Bay.

All but one of the city's 16 sirens sounded at 9.26am for five minutes. Mrs Reade said the Maraenui siren, which failed to sound, was found to be damaged by vandals.

"It was really disappointing, because the drill itself was a real success," she said.

About 100 schools from Hawke's Bay had signed up, with some taking special precautions to ensure all students participated.

"At Westshore and Eskdale School, their sirens are right on top of the buildings," Mrs Reade said. "So the kids were given special ear plugs to make sure their hearing wasn't damaged."

At Te Mata School in Havelock North, students slipped under their desks when the alarm bells sounded before being evacuated for a roll call.

Napier's Munroe St Countdown announced the drill over the loudspeakers. Checkout supervisor Mark Anderson said several of the customer-service personnel jumped under their desks when the time came.

However, not all businesses were as co-operative. Two Napier supermarkets said they did not participate because it was impractical.

Some Hastings business owners said the absence of any loud sirens meant it was difficult to get customers and staff to stop and "drop, cover, hold".

Heretaunga St West Unichem Pharmacy store assistant Mandy Treneman had expected more.

"It was a bit deflating," she said. "The way I read it was that you were going to get cars going round with sirens on the street ... when the time came we had customers in the store and it was a bit hard to just drop everything when you couldn't hear any sirens."

Safety in numbers

• 
  Hawke's Bay registrations: 46,958.
• 
  Who took part: Families 496, businesses 181, schools 103, pre-schools 119.