More tsunami sirens installed

Additional tsunami sirens are being installed along the Christchurch coastline, adding 25 sites to the 22 that have been in place since 2012.

Christchurch City Council is installing the sirens in Spencerville, North New Brighton, Ferrymead, Mt Pleasant, Redcliffs, Moncks Bay, Sumner and Taylor's Mistake.

The first will be installed by the second week of April and all will be installed by 25 June, 2015.

The Council's Manager of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, Murray Sinclair, says locations for the sirens have been selected based on recent tsunami modelling. The Canterbury coast is subject to local, regional, and distant source tsunamis. In historical times, several large tsunamis that originated in South America have significantly impacted the Canterbury coast.

"The need for additional sirens to be installed was identified prior to installation of sirens in 2012. With the installation of further sirens at the additional 25 sites, our tsunami warning system will be complete," Mr Sinclair says.

Tsunami sirens will be tested as usual following the end of Daylight Saving, Sunday 5 April, at 11am.

The sirens will be sounded for up to three minutes.

"This will be the third year that the sirens have been tested. Residents in these areas where sirens are installed are becoming familiar with the sirens being tested," Mr Sinclair says.

"There is no need to be concerned when you hear the sirens being tested on Sunday. This is part of our raising awareness of what the sirens sound like. It is also a good time for residents to think about their own preparedness should another emergency affect Christchurch or Banks Peninsula," he says.

The siren sound is a low-pitch repeated tone. It is audible within a few blocks of the beach. The sirens are designed to be heard in the worst-affected tsunami inundation areas.

More information can be found on the Council's website at http://www.ccc.govt.nz/tsunamiwarnings.

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