St John has been notified of a tsunami threat following a magnitude 8.1 earthquake north-east of New Zealand near Kermadec Islands region this morning.
We continue to operate emergency ambulance services throughout New Zealand, so please continue to dial 111 for an ambulance in an emergency.
In the immediate ten minutes after tsunami notification, ambulance crews in low-lying areas of high-risk (Northland and the Bay of Plenty/East Coast) were asked to hold responding while a process was established for the safety and protection of ambulance officers and patients.
A process was immediately initiated whereby our ambulance crews continue to respond in these areas but there is an additional safety assessment required by a senior manager and clinician to ensure appropriateness, and this process remains in place currently.
“We are taking a dynamic risk assessment approach and continue to respond as it is safe to do so.”
Currently we have no incident responses waiting and have stood up our National Crisis Coordination Centre to monitor the situation while working with other emergency partners.
As this continues to be a developing situation, we will keep you informed as more information comes to hand.
Please attribute to Dan Ohs, St John Deputy Chief Executive - Ambulance Operations
-ENDS-
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ngaire Jones
St John Communications Advisor
M 021 0549135
E ngaire.jones@stjohn.org.nz