After Monday's earthquake, Michael Buchanan, of Kakanui, got a call from his daughter in Mendip Hills, Cheviot.
``Daughter's lost her house. The chimney just missed the baby.''
She told him about the quake and that a tsunami warning had gone up.
Mr Buchanan then raced down to the Kakanui River mouth to raise the alarm for freedom campers staying in the area.
``That was before the 'official' alarm was up. I was between two campervans honking the horn . . . they were not happy. I stood well back from the door because I thought some might be American and thought they might be armed.''
Waitaki District Council spokeswoman Alena Lynch said no official evacuations were conducted along the North Otago coast.
She confirmed Kakanui was the only community to run a tsunami warning alarm about 4am.
``We didn't need to evacuate anybody . . . we kept a close eye on developments through the night.''
She said there were no reports of damage to buildings in North Otago or to the coastline.
Whitebaiter John McKeown, of Kakanui, came down to the Kakanui River about 9am believing it was safe to fish because the quake was further up the country, despite Emergency Management Otago notifying the public of a beach and marine threat that was not lifted until noon.
``I haven't seen or felt any unusual water conditions.
``I did adhere to the first warning this morning, then there was an all-clear.
``If there was a surge in here I'd be out of here.''
Fellow fisherman Bill, of Oamaru, who would not give his last name, believed it was safe to fish at the Kakanui River and if it was not , ``we'd be off lickity-split''.
``The tide has been behaving itself. There's been nothing unusual here. We're keeping a pretty sharp eye on it.''
He had been fishing since before 7am.
