Towards tsunami-safer schools in the Wellington region of New Zealand: Evaluating drills and awareness programs

This study researches tsunami preparedness activities undertaken in schools in the region in association with the New Zealand 'ShakeOut' exercise. In November 2015, a survey was carried out in 17 schools from several Wellington tsunami evacuation zones. The authors expect that the results of the present study will help inform school-based tsunami preparedness guidelines for New Zealand schools.

The results of this study reveal that:

• Preparation is critical, given that tsunami is one of the greatest life-safety risks for students attending school within the Wellington tsunami inundation zones.
• The 'ShakeOut' drill provided a pivotal point around which some schools undertook tsunami-related activities.
• The safety of students could be increased in future if the 'ShakeOut' drill were linked to tsunami planning and preparedness activities.

Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Volume 31, Issue 3, July 2016, Pages 59-66. This document is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.