Tsunami zones

If you feel an earthquake long or strong, get gone – don’t wait for official warnings!

This means you must immediately evacuate all tsunami evacuation zones if there’s an earthquake that either:

• lasts a minute or longer
• is so strong you can’t stand.

Kāpiti tsunami evacuation zones

It's vital for everyone in Kāpiti to know if they live, work or play in a tsunami evacuation zone. Kāpiti has three evacuation zones: red, orange and yellow. 

Knowing your zone is important when there’s time for official warnings, too – it's possible that for regional- and distant-source tsunami some zones won't be evacuated.

Red zone

The red zone in Kāpiti is the beach and sand dunes. This is the highest risk area and the first place people should evacuate from if there’s any tsunami risk.

Orange zone

The orange zone is the dune area by the beach, and the nearby streets. It is likely to be evacuated during official warnings and evacuations.

Yellow zone

The yellow zone runs 200–300 metres inland from the beach, and includes low-lying areas close to rivers. The highest risk for this zone is from a local-source tsunami generated by a long or strong earthquake.

Zone maps

From time to time, tsunami evacuation maps are updated with the latest scientific information. It's important to check regularly to make sure your zone hasn't changed. If maps are updated, we'll push out information to let everyone know. You should also be familiar with the information in the Kāpiti tsunami evacuation brochure[PDF 5.77 MB].

You can type your address in the tsunami evacuation zone finder to check if you might need to evacuate.

• you’re living in a zone if your property shows up red, orange or yellow
• zoom out to see if there’s a zone close by, as you might be living near one.
• go to Get prepared.

The maps below give details for specific zones and areas:

• Tsunami evacuation zones – Ōtaki[PDF 1.18 MB]
• Tsunami evacuation zones – Te Horo to Peka Peka[PDF 1.47 MB]
• Tsunami evacuation zones – Waikanae[PDF 997 KB]
• Tsunami evacuation zones – Paraparaumu to Raumati[PDF 1.11 MB]
• Tsunami evacuation zones – Raumati South[PDF 1.1 MB]
• Tsunami evacuation zones – Paekākāriki[PDF 471 KB]
• Tsunami evacuation zones – overview[PDF 2.34 MB]

Remember, if there is a long or strong earthquake, evacuate all zones immediately. Do not wait for official warnings, as a tsunami might be only minutes away.

If there are official warnings over the radio or other channels, pay attention to what colour zones are being evacuated. For more information about different types of tsunami and tsunami warnings, see Civil Defence's Tsunami page.

Using these maps

These tsunami evacuation zone maps were updated in 2018 by Greater Wellington Regional Council, working with GNS Science. The purpose of these maps is to identify tsunami evacuation zones, to direct people to head inland and get out of all zones after a long or strong earthquake. 

To develop these maps, a wide range of tsunami-generating earthquakes were modelled to depict worst-case scenarios for up to a 1:5,000-year tsunami event, coupled with a high tide. While the modelling used to develop these maps makes them more than just indicative, they do not provide information at the individual property level. This means they should not be used to undertake a tsunami risk assessment on a particular property, which would require further information.

Tsunami assembly areas

Tsunami assembly areas are large open spaces where people can immediately gather outside of the tsunami evacuation zones. It's important to note that there won't be welfare facilities available.

Tsunami sirens

Based on expert scientific advice, we don’t have tsunami sirens in Kāpiti, or in the wider Wellington region; you can find out more at WREMO's position on tsunami sirens.

Remember – long or strong, get gone.