No Waves on Kapiti’s shoreline

February 28……..2010

Warnings of a rise in sea level and an increase in wave height along Kapiti’s shoreline turned out to be a bit of a fizzer after one of the biggest earthquakes, in the world, (8.8) was recorded in Chile.

It sent a tsunami racing halfway round the world prompting GNS Science New Zealand in association with  New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management to issue warnings that coastlines of New Zealand could be threatened and the coastline of the Kapiti coast was no exception.

With the Met service predicting a fine weekend with light winds and calm seas that’s how it turned out for the entire weekend.

But many leisure activities around New Zealand were disrupted because of the nationwide tsunami warnings.

Closer to home the first event to be affected was a mass nude photo shoot at Wellington’s Breaker Bay, and the dragon boat race on Wellington Harbour was also cancelled due to concerns of safety from Civil Defence.

On the coast at Raumati beach it was business as usual with the Women’s & girls Triathlon & Duathlon kicking off at 9am.

Boaties arrived at the beaches on the coast heading out for a day’s fishing heedless of warnings given.

And many just went about their business, going for a stroll along the beach or to go swimming.

So it was a day of warnings and no emergency, but a good rehearsal for a major disaster — when and if it comes.