This is not a drill

Evacuees waiting out Friday's tsunami alarm at the Waitangi golf course. Photo / Peter de Graaf

There might have been a glitch or two, but authorities were generally well satisfied with the response to Friday's tsunami warning for much of Northland's east coast, and on the west as far south as Ahipara. Certainly, with four exceptions in the very far North, the tsunami sirens did their job, and the great majority of people who were required to evacuate to higher ground did so promptly and without complaint.

As it happened there was no danger, at least on land, although surges were recorded in a number of harbours and estuaries, including the Hokianga Harbour and the Tāipa estuary, but there were no reports of damage or lives being at risk.

The response to the sirens must have been gratifying to the authorities whose job it is to disseminate warnings of this nature. They sparked a mass exodus from coastal communities, most people happily accepting that discretion was the better part of valour. Images of tsunamis in Bali and Japan might well have played a part in that. Few would be unaware of the damage tsunamis can do, and there was certainly a high level of alertness to the potential danger of surges that might have resulted from the early morning earthquakes off the Kermadecs.

Evacuation plans that were put into practice at a number of Far North schools seemed to go well, even if some of those schools, including Kaitaia College, might not have appeared to be at any great risk, if any risk at all. Some Kaitaia residents were anxious, however, and seeking advice as to which hill they should head for, and the rumour mill was in full production, the writer being asked at one point if it was true that Awanui was under water. It wasn't.

There are lessons to be learned, however, including the fact that an ill-timed power outage will nullify the sirens, as happened on Friday in the very far North. That shouldn't be beyond the ability of solar power and/or batteries to remedy, but problems in areas lacking cell phone coverage might also have to be addressed. And it seems that work will need to be done in terms of how to provide for those who evacuate, in many cases at extremely short notice, and will need food, water and toilets.

Mayor John Carter, who was amongst those who took refuge at Kareponia, after personally doing all he could to ensure that no one had stayed home at Waipapakauri Ramp, was putting his mind to those issues late on Friday morning, by which time it had also become an issue at the Waitangi golf course. The initial tsunami warning extended from the Bay of Islands to Whangārei, although the sirens were reportedly not activated at Waitangi/Paihia until shortly before 9am. Journalist Peter de Graaf described the atmosphere there as "relaxed, almost festive," but that began to change around noon as hunger and the sun began taking their toll.

Countdown Waitangi and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds went to the rescue there, the latter providing a barbecue and tables, while supermarket staff delivered more than 500 sausages, 30 loaves of bread, bottles of tomato sauce and the day's supply of rotisserie chickens. They also handed out bottles of water, while the Paihia Fire Brigade supplied sunblock.

Prior to that evacuees had reportedly begun leaving, long before the all-clear was given. That came at around 1.30pm, and officially, until then, the danger was from from over. It has to be expected, however, that in the absence of any visible threat, initial enthusiasm for responding to sirens and official warnings will begin to wane fairly quickly.

Provision would also have had to be made for large numbers of people had a significant tsunami arrived, leaving them homeless, or at least unable to return home, and therefore unable to provide for themselves.

It was fortunate too that this evacuation took place on a beautiful autumn day. It would have been very different if it had been the depths of winter, when shelter from the elements would likely have posed much greater challenges.

None of that should be insurmountable for this district's Civil Defence, which in the past, most recently during the drought of the summer of 2019/20, has proved to be highly organised and efficient, but it does seem that there is work to be done. Friday's alarm might prove to be very valuable, an opportunity to identify gaps in current planning and allowing authorities to plug them, remembering that unlike other emergencies, such as flooding and fire, a tsunami might well severely reduce communities' ability to care for their own, as Ahipara did so well during the fire there in January.

Kaimaumau Road

It is good to hear that the Far North District Council and Kaimaumau Road residents are at least talking, amicably, about the problems that have prompted one of the latter to threaten to close public access to the western side of Rangaunu Harbour and East Beach, even if the ideal solution, sealing, is unlikely to happen.

The council's offer of judder bars and dust suppressant are reasonable, and long overdue, but it remains to be seen whether that will be enough to resolve the issue.

The short section of unsealed road is certainly very well used, to the point where it would probably have a better claim than many for sealing, if only over the short stretch in front of the residential properties. Judder bars would clearly reduce traffic speed, as did the chicanes that were put in place there years ago by the late Dick Heka, and which have been maintained by his family since.

They have reportedly been part of the problem, however, one resident claiming that aggrieved motorists have taken to hurling abuse, and even rocks, at homes adjacent to them. If that is true then the residents have every right to be aggrieved.

The chicanes might have always been illegal, but they cause no inconvenience, and no one has any right to take offence, certainly not to the point of hurling objects or abuse, by the need to slow down.

The council, meanwhile, says there is absolutely no doubt that the road is legal, despite assertions by some residents to the contrary, which is why it has continued to maintain it over the years. Not to an especially high standard, unfortunately - it would rate as one of the most corrugated roads in the Far North, at least until it was graded last week - but at least it has continued to provide public access to a very popular part of the coast.

One way or another the problem must be resolved, and there seems to be no reason why it can't be. The issue of people littering the beach might be more difficult.

Why some people would abuse a beautiful beach, or any beach for that matter, in any way defies explanation, but that seems to be the way of the world. It seems likely too that the people who are leaving their rubbish there are locals. That's what the residents say, and they are probably right given that many visitors to the Far North would have no idea how to find East Beach, and most would have no way of getting on to it from the end of the road.

Whoever's responsible, if greater care was taken not to despoil a magnificent coastal environment the conversation between residents and council might not even be taking place.