Wollongong At The Centre Of State Emergency

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday April 3, 2007

By COURTNEY TRENWITH

ILLAWARRA was at the heart of yesterday's tsunami alert, as the NSW Tsunami Emergency Plan was activated for the first time.

The State Emergency Service initiated the plan from its Wollongong state headquarters after an 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck near the Solomon Islands.

Manager of planning Andrew Gissing said it was the first time the plan had been put in place in response to a real situation.

Only stage one - the warning - was executed.

The SES sent out warnings to marine fraternities as well as media who alerted the public.

The Wollongong headquarters also monitored the situation and updated the services throughout the day.

University of Wollongong natural hazards expert Ted Bryant said yesterday's warning was necessary, despite the only outcome being a 15cm rise on the coast of Queensland.

He said the earthquake had been large enough to generate a tsunami and Australia would have been in its path.

"There's nothing between Australia and the Solomon Islands, we face the Solomons," Associate Professor Bryant said.

"Unfortunately the (tsunami warning) technology has its limitations and we don't know how big it is likely to be until it registers on a tide gauge."

The NSW Tsunami Emergency Plan was developed during 2003-04 and also involves NSW Police, Surf Life Saving NSW, volunteer coast guard, marine rescue agencies and other emergency services.

"Warning arrangements and actions today all went quite well," Mr Gissing said.

"After every event you go back and review what you did and if there's lessons to be learnt there's lessons to be learnt.

"But so far so good," he said.