Perspective with Andrew Dickens: Here's my concern about the emergency alerts

So the national emergency alarm that bugged a nation was the big talking point in New Zealand today.

There's a million stories about the alarm, and here's mine: 

The first alarm yesterday afternoon at 4:30pm I welcomed. I'd been out and about and didn't know about the Russian earthquake. So I looked up the story and quickly ascertained there were hours before this could become a problem.

This was important because my partner was commuting home on a ferry at 5:40pm and we needed to know if anything would happen. I checked the AT app and phoned her and the day continued on as normal.

The next alarm this morning was interesting. We knew of the threat and we knew that it was around about then that waves would arrive. So I expected an update on the wave strength after tsunami monitoring across the oceans.

None of that info was there. It was the same alert as last night.

So, again, we looked up the story and again, we decided it would be fine so Helen went off to catch the 8am ferry. As she left, she said if there's going to be a wave then she'd rather be on a big boat than on the esplanade. I think that was a joke.  

As it turned out everybody ignored the alert this morning. People walked dogs on beaches. The north-western motorway causeway did not close. Nor did Tamaki Drive.

Then the Minister came on with Kerre to explain why we had these alarms. I thought the main takeaway from that was so that we could make an informed decision. Which my family did.

So I don't mind the alerts. I'd rather have a false alarm than no alarm at all in a dangerous decision. But the fear here is that people will begin to ignore all alerts and not make informed decisions - and that could end badly.

But my main concern is that the information did not seem to be updated in the 12 hours after the earthquake hit.  I wonder if our ocean monitoring is working - and if it isn't, then that's the real concern.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the national emergency alarm that bugged nation was the
big talking point in New Zealand today. Took back Cliff
right and sent her about it. There are a million
stories about the alarm, and here is mine. At the
first alarm yesterday afternoon at four thirty pm, I welcomed,
I've been out and about. I didn't know about a
Russian earthquake. It warned me there was a Russian earthquake.
There might be a tsunami. So I looked up the

(00:20):
story and I quickly ascertained that it is going to
take at least twelve hours for that wave to make
it here. So we should be sweet. Now this was
important because my partner commutes on a ferry every single
day and was coming home on a ferry at five
forty pm, and I needed to know and she needed
to know whether or not that boat was going to happen.
But you know, if it happened, then you do the time. Yeah,

(00:43):
you Well, we should be sweet. So I checked the
at app and I phoned Helen and we decided, yep,
should be sweet. It's not canceled yet. The day continued
on as normal. She came home, we went well, then
we ate did it, went bed, look watch Taly. You know,
was a family. But then we woke up this morning
and we had another alarm. And the alarm this morning

(01:04):
was interesting. We knew of the threat. We knew that
it was around about that time of the morning that
the waves should be arriving. Based on initial presumptions, I
expected an update on the wave strength after tsunami monitoring
right across all the oceans that had been passing through,
but none of that info was there. It was just
the same alert as last night. There's been an earthquake

(01:25):
in Russia. There might be some big waves. So again
we looked up the story and again we decided it
would be fine. So Helen went off to catch the
eight am ferry. She left the house. I've never seen
her since. I presume she caught a faery and she
went to work. And as she left, she said, look,
if there's going to be a wave, rather be on
a big boat than sitting on the esplanade. And I

(01:45):
thought that was a joke, but then again it might
not be. But there were she went on a boat.
As it turned out, everybody ignored the alert this morning.
People walked dogs on beaches. The northwestern Motorway causeway did
not close, even though it's at sea level. Did Tammockie Drive,
Nor did all sorts of marine parades right around New Zealand.
They didn't close. We all ignored the alarm. We all

(02:09):
said no, she'll be sweep. Then we had the Minister Mark.
He came on with Kerry to explain why we had
these alarms, and he talked well and the main takeaway
from all of that was that he wanted to inform
the people so we could make an informed decision. Now, frankly,
my family did. We heard the alarm, We looked at

(02:30):
the stuff that was around. We made an informed decision.
If we got wiped out by a tsunami on a
ferry at eight o'clock this morning, it would have been
our own stupid fault. We didn't. I don't mind the alerts.
I'd rather have a false alarm than no alarm at all,
than a dangerous decision. But the fear here is that
too many people will begin to ignore all alerts and

(02:52):
will not make informed decisions, and that could end badly.
But my main concern I'm going to ask people about
this later after five is the information didn't seem to
be updated in the twelve hours after the earthquake hit.
And I wonder if our ocean monitoring is working, because frankly,
I think the ocean monitoring is pretty important when it
comes to stopping a tsunami, or at least letting us

(03:13):
know a tsunami is on its way and we're all
about to die. But did it work or not? We'll
find out after five. It's eleven after four For more
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