Tonga Met’s tsunami warning drill raised concerns on Wednesday, 15 February 2017, when they sent out a real tsunami warning by email.

The “URGENT Tsunami Warning” email, sent at 10.24am to a long list of recipients, including media and government agencies, caused confusion at the highest levels.

“This is the test right?” asked Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Siaosi Sovaleni four minutes after receiving the email warning from Tonga Met.

Tonga Met's phones must have been busy because at 11:06am they sent out another email stating “the previous URGENT Tsunami Warning message was just for a Test Exercise”.

Prior to the tsunami drill only certain agencies were advised of it, so not everyone who received the email were aware that it was only a test.

Viola Ulakai from Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) told Matangi Tonga they knew in advance as they were issued with a public notice a while ago about the tsunami exercise so they could prepare alerting the public.

TBC then delivered radio and TV announcements about the exercise so the public would not panic when the actual drill took place.

Tonga Met time-stamped their tsunami warning at 10:08 am stating that a tsunami was only minutes away - but the email was sent out at 10:24 am. 

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Explanation

The day after the exercise a statement explaining the Tsunami warning drill was released by MEIDECCC -  Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communication.

It said the Tsunami warning drill had been planned to coincide with a region wide Tsunami Exercise called PACWAV17 by other Pacific countries, which sit on a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes frequently occur.

"The purpose of the exercise was to test tsunami warning and respond procedures, communications and readiness of first responder agencies to respond to tsunami events and to test the siren alerted systems that are in place," stated Tonga’s Director of Meteorology,” 'Ofa Fa'anunu. "The Tsunami hazard risk for Tonga is real and is considered extreme. It has the potential to cause mass loss of human life and destruction to property. Niuatoputapu 2009 is a constant reminder of this," he stated.

Meanwhile in Parliament, while Members commented on the benefits of having a tsunami siren, the Speaker Lord Tu'ivakano suggested to next time make it loud enough "so that we can hear it".

'Ofa stated that Nuku'alofa was one of the most vulnerable cities to a tsunami because of its location near the Tonga Trench. “Our biggest threat comes from a local tsunami triggered from the Tonga Trench.

"Tonga sits on a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes frequently occur like Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Japan. These places are where most tsunami are generated from.”

Paula Pouvalu Ma‘u (CEO MEIDECCC), stated “this was the seventh exercise conducted here in Tonga since 2006 and it is the first time that it is fully controlled by one of our own institutions”.

“We know our individual responsibilities to the public. Let us take it seriously as if it is a real thing happening”.

However, people who were confused by the false alarm hope that if the real thing really happens, that Tonga MET will write on their alerts. "This is not a test".