The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has apologised after sending out a false tsunami warning this afternoon.
Residents of Castlepoint and the Wairarapa got an unwelcome pre-Christmas message aimed at them around 1:25pm, warning of a tsunami "following the magnitude EventMagnitude earthquake near Castlepoint".
NEMA deleted the message after three minutes from Twitter and said in a statement across social media that it was "issued in error".
"This was part of a training exercise in which a live environment was mistakenly used. We apologise for any alarm this may have caused," the agency said.
Reactions to the apology online were mixed, but largely understanding.
"That’s okay! This is why we run tests!" one Facebook user replied.
"Nice one… we now know where our shoes and socks are and will resume wrapping Christmas gifts" said another person on Twitter.
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