The Government's planned tsunami text alert system should tailor its messages depending on people's location, a tech expert has recommended.
Acting Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee on Saturday admitted there were significant delays in getting warnings to the public in some areas following Monday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake.
Paul Spain, a tech commentator and entrepreneur, says using text messages will work well because almost everyone has a phone.
But they would work even better if the messages were personalised based on the user's location.
"Somebody that's nearby might get a very specific message telling them what the likelihood is of a tsunami in that area, how big it might be and how far it might come ashore," Mr Spain told Newshub.
"Somebody that's further away either might not get a warning at all, or if they do get a warning it would be much more toned down."
Personalising the message would avoid recipients thinking it was a generic tsunami alert and not relevant to them, he says.
Prime Minister John Key, currently in Peru, told reporters there is money available to spend on improving the country's tsunami warning systems.
"My understanding from Nikki [Kaye, Minister of Civil Defence] was that it was certainly turning out to be quite a lot more expensive than we'd thought, and we've been shopping around to see if we can get a better alternative."
The current timeframe is 18 months, but Mr Key and Mr Brownlee have both said they want something better in place a lot sooner.
Mr Brownlee said on Saturday he was unaware $500,000 of taxpayer money had already been spent on a radio alert system called 'Tsunado'.
It has since been shelved, despite Tsunado director John Hamilton saying two years ago it would be a "critical component" in Civil Defence alerting.
"I'm the Acting Minister, I haven't been in the role very long," says Mr Brownlee. "I'm not aware of [Tsunado] - but I will look into it."
Newshub.
