Sarah McMillan/cvnznews.com
Emergency officials have apologised after the New Zealand Civil Defence website went down at the exact moment thousands of South Islanders were seeking information on a tsunami warning triggered by Thursday night’s earthquake.
The magnitude 5.9 quake, centred near Te Anau at 9.14pm, rattled homes from Queenstown to Invercargill and sent a sharp jolt through the lower South Island. Within minutes, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) issued a tsunami warning for the stretch of coastline between Milford Sound and Puysegur Point, advising people in low‑lying areas to move to higher ground.
On Facebook, Civil Defence directed the public to its website for “the most up to date information”. Instead, many were met with a stark “404 Not Found” message. Journalists attempting to verify details were also locked out, leaving social media as the only functioning channel for updates.
The public reaction was swift — and sharp. “When the Civil Defence link doesn’t work 🫣,” one person wrote. Another added, “Imagine having one job and the moment you are needed, crash. Hope everyone that needs to hear this gets the info.”
Speaking on RNZ’s Morning Report, NEMA’s director of Civil Defence Emergency Management John Price defended the agency’s wider response. He said the emergency mobile alert system successfully pushed evacuation instructions to 30–40 people within ten minutes of receiving scientific advice from Earth Sciences New Zealand.
Price acknowledged the website failure but stressed that digital platforms are only one part of the emergency toolkit. “You cannot always rely on technology,” he said, pointing to radio, mobile alerts, and personal judgement. “If it’s long or strong, get gone. We must rely on our own ability as humans to do the right thing.”
In a later statement, NEMA apologised for the outage, saying preliminary checks suggested a firewall issue caused the crash. The agency said its systems undergo regular stress testing — including a major test on June 14 — but the fault appeared to be new and unexpected.
NEMA urged New Zealanders not to depend on a “single point of failure” during emergencies, emphasising the importance of multiple information sources and personal preparedness.
As of Friday morning, the tsunami warning had been lifted, and no significant wave activity was recorded along the Fiordland coast. The earthquake, however, has reignited questions about digital resilience in moments when seconds matter.
