Rangitīkei to take part in national tsunami exercise
Rangitīkei District Council and its emergency response team will put their emergency management arrangements to the test next week as part of a national tsunami exercise.
October 07, 2026
Exercise Pacific Wave (PacWave) will take place on Wednesday 14 October and will simulate the response to a tsunami threat affecting New Zealand.
As part of the exercise, Council will activate its Civil Defence emergency response arrangements, with staff establishing a temporary Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in the Council Chambers.
An EOC is the team and coordination structure activated to help manage Council’s response during an emergency. For this exercise, it will operate from the Council Chambers while construction of Council's new purpose-built Emergency Operations Centre continues.
The Rangitīkei New Zealand Response Team (NZRT-22) will also take part, carrying out a simulated evacuation of coastal communities and beaches within the district and testing portable communication systems that could be required during a real emergency.
The exercise provides an important opportunity to test how our systems, procedures, people and communication work together before they are needed in a real event.
It will test notification and escalation procedures, emergency response activation, information management, tsunami response plans, early decision-making and coordination between local, regional and national agencies.
The regional Group Emergency Coordination Centre in Palmerston North will also participate, coordinating activity across territorial authorities in the Manawatū-Whanganui region and supporting national coordination.
To create as realistic a scenario as possible, participants will receive limited information in advance about exactly when exercise activity will begin and how the simulated event will unfold.
Members of the public may notice emergency management activity around the district on 14 October, including simulated evacuation activity in coastal areas. This is part of the exercise and does not indicate a real tsunami emergency.
Following the response exercise, Council will also test its recovery arrangements, including how the district would transition from responding to an emergency into longer-term recovery.
During a genuine emergency, people should continue to follow official Civil Defence information, alerts and instructions.