Schools part of tsunami drill executed and responded within time - Leweniqila

The five schools that were part of a School Tsunami Drill were able to respond and move out of the danger zone in 5 to 7 minutes.

National Disaster Management Office Director Anare Leweniqila has confirmed that the School Tsunami Drill response from schools was a success as the 5,000 students and 150 teachers and staff were assembled at their respective assigned evacuation centres in 20 minutes.

He adds that following the first mock Tsunami warning issued at 11.40am yesterday the Mineral Resources Department had given the schools and the emergency responding agencies 38 minutes to get to the safe evacuation points.

Leweniqila highlighted that the five schools were able to do this in 20 minutes.

The schools who were part of the School Tsunami Drill included Suva Grammar School, Veiuto Primary School, Stella Maris Primary School, Sacred Heart College and Draiba Primary School.

Leweniqila says that the National Disaster Management Office will now work with the drill umpires who will assess the government response agencies and schools involved in the effectiveness of the drill.

He says that the lessons learned will help the documentation of the order of instruction on how the School Tsunami Drills are to be carried out before they roll it out to other schools, Universities, the private sector and government agencies in 3 months’ time.