Eastern Bay of Plenty Civil Defence would like to thank residents for a successful test of the alerting sirens and stingers on Sunday and the feedback received so far to help fine tune the system for the future.

On Sunday, there was a successful test of the fixed Civil Defence Alert sirens in Matatā, Coastlands, Whakatāne, Ōhope, Ōhiwa, Waiotahi, Ōpōtiki and Waihau Bay. The mobile alerting Stingers were also driven in areas of Ōhope, Whakatāne and Kawerau. All the sirens sounded at 10:15 am as planned in conjunction with the pre-recorded broadcast on 1XX, and the mobile alerts ran their various routes between 10:15 am and 11:15 am.

Eastern Bay of Plenty Emergency Management Coordinator Jim Tetlow was very pleased with the test and the feedback received so far.

“The sirens all went off as planned, and the simultaneous broadcast on 1XX meant that people who tuned in knew what was going on. I would also like to thank other local radio stations, in particular The Sun and Tumeke, who also kept their listeners up to date with what was happening during the tests.

“Not only was this an opportunity to test out systems, it was a great chance to raise the profile of the sirens and remind people what they are there for – they are not an instruction to evacuate, but to find out more information on the radio or online. From the feedback we have received, people have really caught on to that message.

“It was a test, and the nature of tests means that we have a few wrinkles that we know we need to iron out. While the sirens were widely heard, a few people reported being unable to hear them. These were mostly in areas at the farther end of the distance the sound will travel, which is reduced from the normal fire siren sound due to the constant tone.

“We also now have a much better understanding of how long the mobile routes take to drive, and this can now be more accurately factored into our future planning for any events where they might be used.

“All in all I am very happy with our test and the level of community support it received. I have heard from groups and families who took the opportunity to practise their plans and check they were well prepared. I hope that the test provided many other families with the opportunity to help themselves be better prepared for a real emergency,” Mr Tetlow said.

Lessons learned from test of email and text alert systems

Bay of Plenty Civil Defence operates a free, subscription-based text message and email alerting system to let subscribers know if there is a significant emergency in the region and what to do.

During the test on the weekend, most people received their messages at around 10:15 am as planned; however, some people did not receive them until much later.

Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Team Leader Angela Reade said that the focus was now on rectifying these issues.

“Overall, we were happy with the test, and most people seem to have received their text and email messages as planned. We are also really pleased with the buy-in from the community and the number of people who signed up to receive these alerts. This is a good sign that people are thinking carefully about their preparedness for an emergency and taking all the steps they can.

“However, we did have a number of issues, including some people not receiving messages until many hours later and some people not receiving them at all. There are a number of possible reasons for this, and we are working closely with the system provider and other relevant groups to get to the root of the problem to resolve it. This is a priority for our group at the moment,” Ms Reade said.  “This is why we test our systems to ensure that things run smoothly on the day.”

Residents are encouraged to sign up to the service and to follow Civil Defence on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the latest Civil Defence information.

“The system is robust, and the nature of a test like the one on Sunday is to ensure that we can improve it constantly. So feedback is important – if you received the messages or if you didn’t, we would like to hear from you on our website (www.bopcivildefence.govt.nz). Feedback will help us get a better handle on where and what time the issues were for some subscribers.

“A final thanks to all those who got involved with Get Ready week and took the opportunity to make sure their family and friends were prepared should a real disaster strike. We are all working towards a more resilient Bay of Plenty community,” Ms Reade said.