This week we survived the tsunami, unlike a lot of unfortunate people elsewhere in the Pacific. But we were nearly swept away by the frustration of inept public communications.

If nature doesn't get you, the bureaucracy will. You'd think the information flow would be pretty organised these days, with technology advances and hard lessons learned from similar catastrophes of recent years. Plus, the media, especially the instant services such as SunLive, do their best to give the public quality information at a time of crisis.
But believe me, if the tsunami had been a serious threat here, we'd be toast. The communication from Civil Defence, via the media was woefully inadequate.
SunLive broke the story for local media in the Bay of Plenty, followed closely by some local radio stations. National and local media were urged by Civil Defence to 'listen to local radio” for information. So the population waited. And waited. And waited. Even the radio stations that were supposed to be broadcasting the 'advice” were perplexed, left in the dark.
The smart people, who have registered with SunLive's free service, were the first to be kept in the loop. The radio stations, which were supposed to be CD's conduit to the people, were starved for official news.
TV's Paul Henry put some well-informed questions to CD leaders and was scoffed at.
'So Paul Henry knows more than Civil Defence,” quipped a wisecrack. Well yes, turns out he did. Eyewitness reports poured out of Samoa. CD dithered on the information output with their heads in the sand.
MoreFM did not receive anything official to report until around 9.30 and this horrified staff there who were taking calls from the public who were in a state of panic. The most sense SunLive got out of anyone was Western BOP District Council, whose staff said the official word would come from EBOP. We kept our readers informed via a series of alerts gleaned from a number of sources, not many of them official.
Back on the radio, things weren't improving. Grayson on 95FM commented around 9.30 that they'd still not been informed of anything officially. That was at least two hours after the first reports and just 15 minutes before the tsunami was expected to make landfall in the BOP.
Then, throughout the day, Civil Defence Minister John Carter and others, amidst patting themselves on the back, were still saying, 'listen to the radio.”
Which we did, but all we heard was the Geebees telling us about 'Stayin' Alive” (how ironic) and the B52s urging us to 'Rock Around the World” which of course, the tsunami had already done.
Macy Gray then whined: 'I screamed at the top of my lungs, What's Going On?” Funny, we were all asking that.

Most puzzling in the SunLive newsroom, Environment BOP's communication team, who should have been keeping all the instant media and our readers well informed of the tsunami threat, were more concerned with sending us adjustments to the Hopper bus timetable.
Meanwhile, Environment Waikato helpfully sent out a release saying that Raglan, Kawhia and other west coast towns were being evacuated.
EBOP responded with a 'correction” advising the media not to use the word 'evacuation” because it caused panic.
Perhaps those two council communications teams need to get together to sort out their terminology.

Don't panic
So what little advice was forthcoming from officials said 'don't panic”, they then had the rescue helicopter fly over the beach with a loud hailer telling them to get off, which naturally caused a number of people to do just that. Panic. One of our team witnessed the fastest downings of a latte and abandonment of a beachside café in the history of the Mount.
If there was prize for most foolhardy, it goes to the kayaker who paddled out a kilometre to meet the wave; and the surfers who stayed in the water hoping to catch it.
All in all, a shonky effort by officials to keep the public informed and safe. If we'd had to evacuate, it would have been too late.
SunLive did a pretty good job of keeping you updated, despite the lack of assistance from the very sources who should have helped. Thanks to the many SunLive readers who messaged their praise on this coverage, including those from Priority One, Department of Conservation and some members of emergency services speaking privately. Your support is appreciated. That is the whole point of being registered and a regular reader: you get it first, fresh and fast. Instantly updated. Some days our lives will depend on it.
We'll continue to do our best to deliver, ahead of anyone else, regardless of the ineptitude of the sources!
It reminds me of a civil emergency in the eighties. The floodwaters were raging. Between taking photos, I pitched in with the sandbagging while waiting for a chance to interview the Civil Defence official. He had been 'unavailable” all day and into the next morning. Eventually I just rocked into his office. I found the guy sitting in an office with a labelling machine and a line up of pretty yellow hard hats, putting their names and titles on.
I just laughed, left and went back to help the locals mop up.

Parting thought:
She gave us a law that 87 per cent of the people don't want. She threw a tantie because she didn't get the leadership. And like her smoking buddy Nandor, she stayed long enough to qualify for the copious taxpayer-funded pension and perks. Now Sue Bradford has resigned from Parliament. Sue Bradford, like Tsu Nami, has left quite a mess to clean up.
I'd like to take the opportunity to offer a heartfelt parting word: 'Goodbye.”