Nearly 50,000 get down for emergency drill

ALTOGETHER NOW: Waimarama School pupils Elijah Brightwell (left), Wairangi Gillies and Te Amohanga Mackie drop, cover and hold during yesterday's national earthquake drill. Photo / Warren Buckland

When the clock struck 9.15am yesterday, and when the emergency sirens sounded, people across Hawke's Bay began to drop, cover and hold.

Small business places and large, as well as schools and hospitality spots got into earthquake preparation and response mode as ShakeOut NZ was staged.

Nearly 50,000 people across the region took part in the national event, which for Bay residents was timely in the wake of a magnitude-5.8 earthquake that rocked and rolled the region this week.

According to figures issued by the Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group more than 1.3 million people across the country participated in the earthquake drill - with 48,600 of those from Hawke's Bay.

Group manager Ian Macdonald said he was pleased with the number people in the region who took part, especially the large number of schools.

Breaking down the figures into districts, 36,574 people registered in Hastings, while Napier had 18,614. Central Hawke's Bay had 4763 people taking part in the drill, while 1457 were registered in Wairoa.

"We had more than 31,000 schoolchildren taking part, along with over 5000 preschoolers," he said.

Mr Macdonald said ShakeOut was the perfect opportunity for families, schools, businesses and individuals to practise what they needed to do in an earthquake.

Joining the nationwide event, staff at NZME's Hawke's Bay Today offices in Hastings and Napier left their work on their desks to get under them.

Like several other businesses and organisations, staff at the Hawke's Bay Regional Council completed the drill and then undertook a full tsunami evacuation.

Mr Macdonald said anybody living or working along the coast during a strong earthquake that made it hard to stand up, or a weak rolling earthquake that lasted a minute or more, should move immediately to the nearest high ground, or as far inland as possible.

He said while most HBRC staff evacuated to higher ground at Tiffen Park behind the Napier Municipal Theatre, led by their team marshalls, others chose to do a "vertical evacuation".

"They went up to the second floor of the council's Dalton St building, which has been assessed as a safe alternative option for tsunami evacuation," Mr Macdonald said.

-For more information on getting ready to get through a Civil Defence emergency, visit hbemergency.govt.nz or Hawke's Bay Emergency on Facebook.