The Ministry of Civil Defence has defended its response to a tsunami threat on Thursday saying it followed its processes to the letter and erred on the side of caution.
Confusion arose after alerts were issued over a period of two hours by the Pacific Tsunami Centre and the Ministry of Civil Defence about the tsunami threat to this country.
Just as New Zealand was having the threat confirmed and activating its National Crisis Management Centre, the Pacific Center was cancelling its alert.
The alerts followed a magnitude 7.6 earthquake near the Kermadec islands.
National Controller David Coetzee says Civil Defence is better positioned to assess the real threat of a tsunami to New Zealand.
