Media release from Bay of Plenty Emergency Management - 3 October 2023
People enjoying the Bay of Plenty coast will notice a change to the region’s tsunami evacuation maps this summer.
Instead of red, orange and yellow, they now show a blue tsunami evacuation zone.
Mayor Faylene Tunui is Chair of the Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management Group:
‘Families of the Bay of Plenty need to know what to do and where to go to keep safe in an emergency and for those who live, learn, work and play along our Bay of Plenty coastline, knowing what to do and where to go is key. People of the Bay of Plenty have let us know that the tsunami maps needed to be simple, easy to understand and the same across our region so that’s what’s been done – the same consistent messaging for the one same shoreline’.
Mayor Faylene Tunui says progress in tsunami science means future regional evacuation maps will have more detailed information:
‘Our Emergency Management Bay of Plenty team keep up to date with all the latest science, technology, data and modelling and are committed to keeping those of us who call the Bay of Plenty home as informed as we can. Reviewing the way in which we communicate with and inform our people (such as with tsunami evacuation maps) is one of the ways we can ‘get ready’ to keep safe’.
Clinton Naude is director of Emergency Management Bay of Plenty. He says if there is a potential tsunami, his team advises people in all evacuation zones to move inland or to higher ground.
“With tsunami, we could be dealing with very short timeframes, so we wanted to make sure people had clear guidance on whether they would need to stay or go. With our updated maps, it’s easy to remember ‘blue means go’; We are telling people to get out of the blue if there is a potential tsunami.”
Mr Naude says in most cases the boundaries of the tsunami evacuation zone (the blue zone) will be the same on the updated maps. But for region-wide consistency, some evacuation zone boundaries have changed, so people should have a good look at their updated local map.
There is also a new QR code that people can scan for ‘you are here’ imagery and other tsunami information.
“People who live in coastal areas are pretty clued up on what to do in a tsunami, but from time to time there will be changes because we always need to make sure we are supporting our communities as well as we can.
That’s why everyone should check the QR code or the online maps to see if they live, work or play in the blue tsunami evacuation zone. For some locations, the zone boundaries have changed. This includes parts of Opōtiki, Whakatāne and Pāpāmoa East.”
Mr Naude says the general advice for what to do in a tsunami hasn’t changed:
“Know your zone, have a plan of where to go and how to get there, and have a bag of essentials ready to go.”
Mayor Faylene Tunui says progress in tsunami science means future regional evacuation maps will have more detailed information:
“We need to stay across the latest science with tsunami, just like we do with things like geotech and flood risks. When new data and modelling for our region is available, we will make sure our tsunami evacuation maps reflect that. That won’t be for a couple of years yet- but watch this space!”
Bay of Plenty is not the only region to adopt the colour blue for the tsunami evacuation zone: Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Group also has a ‘blue zone’ on its maps, and in Wellington, there are blue lines on roads to show tsunami evacuation safe zones.
