Civil Defence to fix tsunami failings

The Tsunami approaching the Ulimasao Marist Centre in Samoa. Photo / Supplied

Shortfalls identified in Civil Defence's response to the September 30 Samoan tsunami are being taken on board and rectified, the ministry's director says.

An independent report released yesterday on the way the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management responded to the tsunami identified a string of failings, particularly in the handling of public information.

Conducted by former secretary of foreign affairs and trade Simon Murdoch, the review said the Public Information Management (PIM) function of the ministry underperformed in the early stages of its response.

"Specifically, it delivered too little authoritative public messaging in the first two hours."

There were no single outstanding issues identified, but Mr Murdoch said the system, based on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) applying to individuals, teams and sectors, had not worked well when pressure came on.

"With hindsight, it appears that on September 30 some elements of these SOPs were unworkable for individuals or were not followed."

New Zealand Civil Defence director John Hamilton said the review and a separate internal one were "thorough and honest".

He told Radio New Zealand that on the day, the Civil Defence information flow to the public was slower than that from the national media, which was monitoring various sources of information from around the world.

Civil Defence had failed to appreciate the need to stand as the prime source of reliable information in emergency situations such as the one in question.

The review showed Civil Defence always appeared to be a step behind what was being reported by media.

The internal report showed the duty earthquake scientist at GNS Science had been given a pager to receive tsunami alerts when they were actually sent by email.

"That is an issue which caught us by surprise and we've taken steps with GNS Science to rectify that so that all the duty team are alerted swiftly as soon as an emergency is identified as an issue for New Zealand...," Mr Hamilton said.

Areas of "thin ice" in terms of personnel were also outlined.

Mr Hamilton said such potential weaknesses had been identified and efforts made to ensure there was a stream of duty personnel - particularly around public information - available.

He said Civil Defence was aware of its need to establish its authority and credibility as the source of information for the public in an emergency.

Civil Defence Minister John Carter said in a statement released with the review reports that "an ongoing and robust" relationship between the ministry and media organisations was a crucial part of correcting the process.

All 20 recommendations in the internal review report would be implemented, he said.

- NZPA