'No tsunami' - Civil Defence clarification

5:17 pm on 27 November 2017

Civil Defence accidentally sent a tsunami warning over Twitter this afternoon, but said it was retracted seconds later.

Civil Defence sign

Photo: Civil Defence sign

A Civil Defence spokeswoman said the tweet was sent during a drill to test the system and it was sent live in error.

It stated the warning was issued after an earthquake. But it was immediately deleted and a clarification was issued.

A message sent out on the main Civil Defence account at 4.15pm said:

"Clarification: There is no tsunami warning in effect for New Zealand."

The department sent out a tweet about a tsunami warning at 4.09pm, which was deleted a short time later, then the clarification was tweeted out.

Last night, director Sarah Stuart-Black deemed a mobile emergency alert test a success with people in all regions with cellphone coverage receiving their message.

On Sunday, Civil Defence tested its nationwide emergency mobile phone alert system, pushing a test alert to about one third of mobile phones enabled to receive the notification, which is about two million handsets.

Civil Defence said it expected the number of phones capable of receiving the message to increase over time as people replaced their phones with newer models.

Last month, many were woken when test alerts were accidentally sent out in the early hours of the morning.