A good result overall was the feedback from the Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management Group following this morning's regional alerting system test.

The biggest piece of feedback from the public on the group's Facebook page was the amount of time taken between the test time of 10am and when people received their alert text, according to Emergency Management Bay of Plenty director Clinton Naude.

'Unfortunately people tend to believe that once a text message is sent, it's an immediate thing that people will receive it at the other end,” he says.

'While we pushed the send button to over 40,000 text subscribers at 10am, and we had confirmation that the texts had left the alerting system at 10.03am, unfortunately because of the way the service providers then have to process a large number of texts people will find that they are received at different times.

'Because of this, it's really important that people are getting their civil defence information in all the ways they can – whether that's through also downloading and setting up the Red Cross Hazards App, liking our Facebook page, or just being aware of natural warning signs which mean when an earthquake happens.”

Clinton says it is also pleasing to see more than 800 of those subscribers signed up for the text alerting in the past few days.

'It really shows that while these exercises are largely to help us ensure our systems are working, people are taking it as an opportunity to make sure they are prepared. I encourage everyone to take this as a reminder to check their own emergency kits, ensure that they know their evacuation routes and also ensure that they have an emergency plan for their pets.”

Today's test did not include the Emergency Mobile Alerts, which will be tested by the Ministry of Civil Defence at a later date.

For more information about how to receive alerts visit www.bopcivildefence.govt.nz.

FAQs

I'm signed up but didn't get a text – why?

If you're pretty sure you're subscribed, then email info@boprc.govt.nz and they can check their records. If you've changed your service provider recently then you do need to re-register.

What's the difference between the text alert and the emergency mobile alert?

One is a regional service that you subscribe for (the text alert), while the other is a national system that can push to every capable mobile phone in New Zealand. Today's test only involved the text alerting.