The image of coastal settlements being engulfed by waves of water strikes fear into the hearts of many, but good tsunami response planning can limit the impact of such disasters and "explode myths" regional council staff from Otago and Southland say.
About 45 regional council staff, civil defence planners and members of the public attended a Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management regional tsunami preparedness seminar in Balclutha last week.
Otago civil defence emergency management group co-ordinator Lamorna Cooper said seminars were aimed at encouraging local authorities and community groups to adapt national guidelines to formulate disaster relief plans suitable for their region.
"The programme is about signage, education, sirens - the whole nine yards.
The priority is to develop plans with the community rather than for the community.
The study identifies areas at higher risk and then allows local authorities and everyone involved in civil defence and emergency response planning to develop a robust plan to increase resilience of communities," she said.
Southland Region Civil Defence co-ordinator Neil Cruickshank said the seminar "brought council up to date with planning at a national level".
Southland Regional Council was developing disaster contingency plans for coastal communities in addition to existing signage programmes implemented in towns such as Riverton.
"It is hard to quantify the risk for coastal settlements [in Southland] but nationally it is probably not as high as some areas in Canterbury or Gisborne.
Threats might be from a South American earthquake or a localised event, so we have to weigh up factors in each scenario and have discussions around what each community wants to see happen."
Mr Cruickshank said misconceptions about the nature and appearance of a tsunami could add to the danger to the public.
"There are some common myths about the waves which can be more like a storm surge than a continous wave.
"There are reports of people seeing them as a novelty and going to watch.
"Authorities will need to think about things like transport and evacuation logistics because not everyone will be able to leave in an orderly way."
The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Asia, which killed an estimated 250,000 people, was a "huge wake-up call" which highlighted the need for local authorities to break information down to be more useful to the public, he said.
Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management director John Hamilton said seminars would be held with 16 regional civil defence emergency management (CDEM) groups, which are made up of the local authorities, welfare agencies, emergency services and utility companies.
