1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: So the national emergency alarm that bugged nation was the 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:05,200 Speaker 1: big talking point in New Zealand today. Took back Cliff 3 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: right and sent her about it. There are a million 4 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: stories about the alarm, and here is mine. At the 5 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: first alarm yesterday afternoon at four thirty pm, I welcomed, 6 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: I've been out and about. I didn't know about a 7 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 1: Russian earthquake. It warned me there was a Russian earthquake. 8 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: There might be a tsunami. So I looked up the 9 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: story and I quickly ascertained that it is going to 10 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:24,760 Speaker 1: take at least twelve hours for that wave to make 11 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,799 Speaker 1: it here. So we should be sweet. Now this was 12 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: important because my partner commutes on a ferry every single 13 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: day and was coming home on a ferry at five 14 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: forty pm, and I needed to know and she needed 15 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: to know whether or not that boat was going to happen. 16 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: But you know, if it happened, then you do the time. Yeah, 17 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 1: you Well, we should be sweet. So I checked the 18 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: at app and I phoned Helen and we decided, yep, 19 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: should be sweet. It's not canceled yet. The day continued 20 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: on as normal. She came home, we went well, then 21 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: we ate did it, went bed, look watch Taly. You know, 22 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: was a family. But then we woke up this morning 23 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: and we had another alarm. And the alarm this morning 24 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: was interesting. We knew of the threat. We knew that 25 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: it was around about that time of the morning that 26 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: the waves should be arriving. Based on initial presumptions, I 27 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: expected an update on the wave strength after tsunami monitoring 28 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: right across all the oceans that had been passing through, 29 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: but none of that info was there. It was just 30 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: the same alert as last night. There's been an earthquake 31 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:27,919 Speaker 1: in Russia. There might be some big waves. So again 32 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,040 Speaker 1: we looked up the story and again we decided it 33 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: would be fine. So Helen went off to catch the 34 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: eight am ferry. She left the house. I've never seen 35 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: her since. I presume she caught a faery and she 36 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: went to work. And as she left, she said, look, 37 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: if there's going to be a wave, rather be on 38 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: a big boat than sitting on the esplanade. And I 39 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: thought that was a joke, but then again it might 40 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: not be. But there were she went on a boat. 41 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: As it turned out, everybody ignored the alert this morning. 42 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: People walked dogs on beaches. The northwestern Motorway causeway did 43 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: not close, even though it's at sea level. Did Tammockie Drive, 44 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: Nor did all sorts of marine parades right around New Zealand. 45 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: They didn't close. We all ignored the alarm. We all 46 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,959 Speaker 1: said no, she'll be sweep. Then we had the Minister Mark. 47 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,919 Speaker 1: He came on with Kerry to explain why we had 48 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: these alarms, and he talked well and the main takeaway 49 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: from all of that was that he wanted to inform 50 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: the people so we could make an informed decision. Now, frankly, 51 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: my family did. We heard the alarm, We looked at 52 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: the stuff that was around. We made an informed decision. 53 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: If we got wiped out by a tsunami on a 54 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: ferry at eight o'clock this morning, it would have been 55 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: our own stupid fault. We didn't. I don't mind the alerts. 56 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: I'd rather have a false alarm than no alarm at all, 57 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: than a dangerous decision. But the fear here is that 58 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: too many people will begin to ignore all alerts and 59 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,799 Speaker 1: will not make informed decisions, and that could end badly. 60 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: But my main concern I'm going to ask people about 61 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,359 Speaker 1: this later after five is the information didn't seem to 62 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: be updated in the twelve hours after the earthquake hit. 63 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: And I wonder if our ocean monitoring is working, because frankly, 64 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: I think the ocean monitoring is pretty important when it 65 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: comes to stopping a tsunami, or at least letting us 66 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: know a tsunami is on its way and we're all 67 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 1: about to die. But did it work or not? We'll 68 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,079 Speaker 1: find out after five. It's eleven after four For more 69 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks 70 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast 71 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.