The Oamaru primary school hosted a New Zealand ShakeOut national broadcast, teaching pupils to take the right action to "drop, cover, hold" during an earthquake, and move to higher ground during a tsunami evacuation.
Pupils demonstrated the "drop, cover and hold" techniques in the school hall, before lining up in age groups to walk across the road to the hill behind St Patrick’s Basilica for the tsunami evacuation.
National Emergency Management Agency, Earthquake Commission (EQC), Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher and local emergency services members attended the event, and gave out spot prizes.
"It’s good to know in case something happens ... and where to go after an earthquake," Ivy-Belle said.
She enjoyed being able to see "behind the scenes" of filming the event, while fellow pupil Jack O’Neill said he loved being on national television.
EQC chief resilience and research officer Jo Horrocks said it was "fantastic" to come to Oamaru, and facilitate making more "hazard-aware leaders".
Children were great "influencers" and the right demographic to be teaching information to to lead the way, Dr Horrocks said.
St Joseph’s was selected for the national broadcast, as the school was 200m from the Oamaru shoreline, putting the school in a "yellow" tsunami evacuation area.
